Dad's Ward Conference Talk 2/18/17

I have often considered how it would be to coach Michael Jordan. How would you do it? What could you possibly teach him? How do you help someone that is more than you? I believe the only thing you could do would be remind them of the basics. These have been my thoughts and feelings as I have prepared this talk.

In priest quorum last Sunday the question, “What is the purpose of your life?” was asked. We had a lot of great answers: Serve others, Share gospel, Develop our talents etc.

Elder D Todd Christofferson taught: Being born again, unlike our physical birth, is more a process than an event, and engaging in that process is the central purpose of mortality. So what is the purpose of your life?

I Remember Bishop Larsen teaching about the many hats a person wears during his lifetime. Hats like employee, student, child, sibling, parent. The list goes on and on. He taught as we are putting on and taking off the many hats we wear, remember we should always be wearing the t shirt participating in the Plan of Salvation. Troy Taylor made this point perfectly when he told us of his experience at work and his partner’s comment, “This is work, not church”. Troy then explained to us he has made the goal to be the same person no matter what he is doing, the perfect example of wearing different hats but always sporting the same t shirt.

2 Nephi 2:27 reads, “Wherefore men are free according to the flesh and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil, for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”

It sounds so simple. Last week Keith McLean pointed out the simple things sometimes seem to be the hardest to do.  As I pondered more on this scripture I thought who would possibly choose captivity and death. Why would someone knowingly do that?  I have made a lot of decisions in my life and I don't remember any of them being that simple. Satan has a way of confusing or bedazzling the choice of captivity and death. He makes it sound appealing and exciting. He is crafty. I wonder if he scrapbooks? What would his face book page look like?  What would it say? My pondering sometimes needs a little self-control.  As I continued thinking about this scripture I noticed the word “all”, a three letter word. A word I can spell. It has footnotes that grabbed my attention. As I chased these footnotes I came across scriptures that talked about the atonement, scriptures that talked about God's purpose. For example Moses 1:39 reads “This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” The Plan of Salvation is God's work; it’s his hobby, his passion. It is all that he does. He is perfect; he must be pretty good at it.

So our life’s purpose is to participate in the plan of happiness, but how do we do that? Choose between good and bad. Then repent if we make a mistake. I believe the Plan of Salvation is more than a test we must pass. Brian K Ashton in the last general conference said, “Repentance or the atonement of Christ is not just a backup plan in case our plan to live perfectly fails. Continual Repentance is the only path that can bring us lasting joy and eternal life.” So all the time I have viewed Repentance as an eraser has been wrong. True the atonement can wash away our sins, but it is so much more. The atonement allows us access to the Holy Ghost. Brother Ashton went on to say. “As our constant companion, the Holy Ghost gives us additional power or strength to keep our covenants. He sanctifies us, which means to make us free from sin, pure, clean and holy through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The process of sanctification not only cleanses us, but it endows us with needed spiritual gifts or divine attributes of the savior and changes our very nature, such that we have no more disposition to do evil.” So for me the atonement is something more than an eraser, something more than a way to fix a mistake after it has been made. It is also like sunscreen. Something I need to apply constantly, it not only heals but gives me access to the protection of the Holy Ghost. As the world becomes more and more wicked, I will need to apply this sunscreen more and more frequently. It can change my very nature. I have always thought how awesome it would be to be like the people of King Benjamin.  They were sanctified by the Holy Ghost to the point that they no longer had a desire to do evil, but desired to do good continually. If we could be sanctified in this way, no more desire to do bad, that would definitely be a plus on this journey through life.

So how can we have this mighty change occur in our life? Brother Ashton continued. “Each time we receive the Holy Ghost into our lives through faith, repentance, ordinances, Christ-like service, and other righteous endeavors, we are changed until step by step, little by little, we become like Christ.

I like to put things in a context that I can relate to. It makes it easier for me to grasp. We are here on this earth to participate in this mighty change. It is like remodeling your home. All (that simple three letter word) the materials and supplies have been provided and paid for by our Savior. We have the plans drawn up by the ultimate builder our, Heavenly Father. Talk about bonded, licensed, and insured. Years of experience, references. He has it all. The Holy Ghost is on board to do the heavy lifting. What could possibly go wrong?   How can we not be excited for the finished product? So if it really is that simple, why do we have such a hard time with it?

It is Satan; he seems to always get in the way distracting us, confusing us, and putting doubt into our minds. If he can get us to just stop trying or participating, he wins. So how do we combat this problem? I have come to the conclusion what I need is hope.  What is hope and how will that help? As a child I was taught that faith without works is dead. Faith is work, it is an action. So faith without works is not faith. What I believe is that faith without hope soon fades away. Discouragement sets in and our faith or action dies. Let me explain it this way. Think of a football game, one you have watched that had a fourth quarter comeback, one where there was a trick play. We have all seen one. Now think generally after the win the reporter always ask the superstar about the winning drive and that pivotal play. How did it feel? What were you thinking? Tell me about that last play? More than once I have heard the player say yah we have run that play more than a hundred times in practice , and it has never worked. That's how I picture hope, you know in the game when the coach sent in the trick play everybody in the huddle was excited, every player believed it was going to work and they were going to win.  Nobody was saying come on really you know how many times we have tried this, it never works. That's not how it goes down everybody is excited. They break the huddle, slap each other on the butt, and run to the line of scrimmage excited for the outcome. Running the play is faith, hope is the attitude they run it with. Void of this attitude of hope the play would surely fail and the game would be lost. Eventually the players would quit even running the play.

That's how we need to go through with our personal remodel. We allow the spirit in to get the renovations done. By exercising our faith, taking action, continually applying sunscreen (the ATONEMENT), making or renewing covenants, giving Christ-like service and living the best we know how. If this is done with hope, our faith or actions will endure the many setbacks that are sure to come. We will not get discouraged and quit or give up, allowing Satan control. One example my family is pretty good at family prayer on Sunday night. Now that we hear from Mitch on Mondays we do well that day too but by Friday it rarely happens. If we started each week with the attitude that we are never going to stick with it, we would eventually just give up. With no action or faith on our part, the sunscreen or atonement wouldn't be available to us. The spirit would be forced to leave the remodel or sanctification would stop. Our progress is damned and we would be headed straight for captivity and death. But if we start each week with the hope that this is the week we are going to succeed and win the game even though it has failed the previous thousand times we have tried, we show faith.  We are blessed with the power of the atonement, the Holy Ghost sanctifies us a little more, and we get a little closer to eternal life. I need to take the sacrament hoping that this time I will make it all week, not just until Sunday afternoon before I chase the spirit away. We just need to keep that hope going. The second we lose hope is the moment that we allow Satan in. He fills our minds with discouragement and doubt driving us to apathy and inaction. That is the only way he can win. We have been given All that we need. We have the ultimate contractor. So let's grab on to hope, exercise our agency, and make the covenants we need. If you’re not baptized, get with the missionaries. If you haven't been to the temple or your recommend is expired, let's get the problem fixed. Put on your All shirt participating in the plan of salvation.