But if you change your nature you will go home a new man or woman, with the power and discipline to conquer your old Goliaths. He was so right.If you only change your behavior, then you will be the same person you were when you left home, subject to the same problems that plagued you then. It is not what I want you to do, it should be what do you want to do? There was a moment of silence and then he made this insightful observation: You are not just asking me to change my behavior you are asking me to change my nature. One day in frustration he blurted out: What then is it you want me to do? I replied: You have missed the point. When I first entered the field as a mission president, I met several times with a missionary who was struggling with obedience. King Lamoni recognized that Ammon was a consecrated missionary, for he said: “Even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.” (Alma 18:10). He has an unrelenting quest to be exactly obedient. May I discuss some of those, so that hopefully we too might become like Peter and leave our all on the altar of sacrifice.įirst, a consecrated missionary puts on the altar of sacrifice any streak of disobedience he may possess, however large or small it may be. Perhaps we have one or two things which we lack, that we hold back from the sacrificial altar, that prevent us from becoming a consecrated missionary. Peter, overhearing the conversation and understanding there could be no shortcuts to eternal life, no holding back, declared in contrast: “We have left all and followed thee.” (Luke 18:18-28). Sell all thou hast and distribute unto the poor and come follow me.” But it was too much to ask, and he went away sorrowful, unwilling to put his all on the sacrificial altar. Then the Savior declared, “Yet lackest thou one thing. He had kept the commandments from his youth up. Sometimes good men, perhaps even great men, cant quite bring themselves to put everything on the altar of sacrifice, and in the course lose their eternal lives. The consequence was devastating, as they were struck dead (Acts 5:1-10). Under the law of consecration they were to turn over the entire sale proceeds to the church, but secretly they kept back part of the price. The scriptures tell us that they sold a piece of land. Such was the case with Ananias and Sapphira, his wife. Sometimes there is a temptation to withhold part of the offering. I have all eternity before me, in which to enjoy myself. And when the Spirit of God is upon me, I think it matters but very little what I suffer, what I sacrificed, whether I secure the honor or dishonor of men, or where I die, if it so be that I can keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish my course with joy. If it is the will of God that I should spend my days in proclaiming this Gospel and bearing testimony of these things, I shall think myself highly privileged and honored. On September 7, 1856, shortly after learning of his call by Brigham Young, he offered the following tender reflections and prophetic insights: “I have desired, after travelling for twenty-five or twenty-six years, mostly abroad, to stay at home and minister among the people of God, and take care of my family but God’s will be done, and not mine. Perhaps he thought, “Haven’t I given all that a mortal could be expected to give? Don’t I deserve to spend some time with my family and friends? Can’t I just relax for awhile? But Parley P. One can imagine the feelings that must have swelled up in Parley’s heart. President Brigham Young called him to serve yet another mission this time in the eastern states. He was hopeful that he could now remain at home and enjoy his family, but such expectations were short lived. He had just returned from his latest mission in Chile. He had served as a missionary for more than 25 years of almost constant labors. The book of Omni records the depth and breadth of that covenant: “Yea,come unto me, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him.” (Omni 1:26).The law of consecration is the law of the temple, it is the law of the celestial kingdom, and it is the law of a celestial mission. Every missionary who has been to the temple has covenanted to consecrate his all. It is a willingness to give every ounce of energy,every conscious thought, and every drop of passion to this work to submit our will to God’s will whatever it may be. It is a missionary who is willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice and to hold nothing back.
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