‘Are we changing our behavior or our nature?’ — by Elder Tad R. Callister
The Church News, page 28, February 16, 2020
King Benjamin taught that we transform our natures as we become ‘submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lords seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father”. (Mosiah 3:19) That is the key – to cheerfully submit our will to God’s will, however difficult or inconvenient it may be.
One missionary shared with me that he slept in one morning. His companion said to him, “It’s time to get out of bed.” The missionary responded, “I don’t want to.” His companion replied, “It’s not about what you want, it’s about what the Lord wants.” The missionary then told me, “I got out of bed. I have never forgotten that — a mission is about what the Lord wants, not what I want.”
Similarly, life is about what the Lord wants, not what we want, but fortunately what He wants is always what will bring us the greatest happiness in life. There are no exceptions to this consequence. We can learn that lesson the hard way or the easy way.
A change in nature comes when we are obedient, not because we have to, but because we want to — when there is an overarching, burning desire to do the Lord’s will because we love Him.
One missionary told of her gradual change in nature. At first, she was obedient because she was fearful not to be; then she was obedient because she wanted the blessings; and finally, she said, she was obedient because she loved the Lord.
In the end, submission of our will is the greatest gift we can give the Lord in small repayment of all He has done for us. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell observed: “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other tings we ‘give’ are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.” Submitting our will is at the heart of changing our nature.
As we strive to submit our will to God’s – to think and live more like Him – we are transformed from the carnal man to the spiritual man. And in that process, a refining and purification take place that gives us the eternal perspective and spiritual stamina we need to make positive, lasting changes in our lives. Then, at year’s end, we have not only made behavioral changes but character changes, and we become, as Peter said, “partakers of the divine nature”. (2 Peter 1:4). This is in fulfillment of our paramount goal in life.’
Elder Tad R. Callister is an emeritus General Authority Seventy and former Sunday School general president.
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