Actions and desire

Did you know that during the Jaredite civilization, Morianton came and won over the land, establishing himself as king?

“He did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favor in the eyes of the people.” (Ether 10:10)

He took away all of their grievous taxes and let them live wonderful lives!

But the catch?

“He did do justice unto the people, BUT NOT unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord.” (Ether 10:11)

He sought to gain favor with his subjects and to ease their burdens.

But he never turned to the Lord and repented of sins.

He was a blessing outwardly to many people, but he didn’t save his own soul and turn to the Lord.

Did you know it’s possible to do good things without gaining a relationship with Christ?

It’s possible to go to church and fulfill your calling just to socialize.

It’s possible to pay tithing just to keep your temple recommend, so you aren’t left out of the temple for the upcoming wedding.

It’s possible to post a bunch of #givethanks pictures just so other people don’t judge you for not doing it. 😉

But…

We often hear that we gain testimonies of principles as we follow them – so how do we do this without being hypocrites?

I think it all comes down to one thing.

Desire.

When we are struggling to want to go to church in order to worship the Lord, we can still go with a desire to want to go to church more often in the future.

If paying tithing becomes a big challenge, we can still pay it with a desire to gain a stronger testimony of it in the future.

If we don’t want to participate in another social media challenge, we can try to post with a desire that it will become more authentic and fill us with gratitude and peace.

Doing righteous actions is fantastic. Blessing lives through our example, our service, our money, our testimony… that is amazing.

But are we neglecting our own hearts? Or are we using our actions to turn our hearts to our Savior?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black