There’s this pattern that I’ve noticed that comes with gospel living:
God loves us so much.
He wants us to become more like Him and His Son.
That can seem a bit vague and overwhelming, so He also gives guiding commandments that help keep us on the right path of truth.
Most of us start our gospel journey because we realize how much we love God.
Whether you realized that as a young child, learned it as an adult, or anything in between, most of us have felt love and wanted to give love.
So then we start keeping the commandments to make sure that our “love” is actually developing us closer and closer into the Divine.
And then we sometimes get stuck here.
Keeping the commandments.
Just keep the commandments.
Tick those boxes. Get a perfect score.
Ahhh, totally fell off the track there. Try to keep the commandments even better.
And we slowly start to lose sight of the WHY.
Why are we keeping commandments?
Why are we given commandments?
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
He wants our heart. He wants our soul. He wants our might.
But only if we are ready to willingly give them to Him.
Just to be clear, commandments are amazing and absolutely necessary, and doing our best to keep them is essential in molding our character.
But we’ve gotta keep that WHY in mind.
Does your heart really want to do what Jesus asks you to do?
Does your whole soul desire to be able to enter God’s presence?
Do you use all your might to listen to the Spirit and follow revelation and commandments?
THESE are my life goals. To be able to firmly answer “YES” to all three of these questions.
It’s a huge, lifelong task, but what God really wants is my heart.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
