This verse comes from the joyful reunion of Ammon and Alma. They have separated during missionary work. When reunited, Ammon is so joyful his joy exceeds his body’s ability or strength. He collapses from the joy. As Alma records the event he poses this question and provides this wonderful explanation.
Imagine that! Joy is a part of the Gospel! With all the convoluted turns religion has taken in history, it is wonderful to be reminded of this. The Gospel is not dour, harsh, critical, abusive, oppressive or burdensome. It is joyful. It is light, happy and beautiful. It offers such joy as will overcome your ability to endure it. Alma’s verse ties this joy to what he describes as “penitent …seeker of happiness.” From this we know joy, penitence and happiness are linked together. Such an idea is worth examining.
In contrast to this formula for joy, life offers us many sources of unhappiness. The world is crowded with them. Between excesses and insufficiencies of time, resources, talent and ability, we find life is almost never in proper balance. Yet here is how we can find true and lasting joy. It does not require you to have distractions from Hollywood, recreational drugs, or a winning sports team. It requires penitence and humbly seeking after happiness. What then does it mean to be “penitent?” What does it mean to “seek happiness?”
What does it mean to be penitent?
Penitence is another way to describe repentance or the process of change and growing beyond sins limiting your happiness. It comes as you allow Christ to “succor” you through the power of the Atonement. Through penitence, people do away with the darkness in their lives and add light instead.
Joseph Smith equated salvation with gaining knowledge. He describes sin as error caused by ignorance: “A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God.” (DHC 4: 588.) Joseph’s equation also appears in the scriptures: “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.” (D&C 130: 18–19.) Penitence, therefore, involves pursuing greater “intelligence” or knowledge of the truth, by “diligence and obedience” to the commandments.
If you think about that for a moment, you will see something profoundly different from what most religions teach and most people believe. Instead of merely conforming to religious rites, Joseph is saying you need to learn things to be saved. You will realize “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.” (D&C 131: 6.) The more penitent you are, therefore, the more you will try to learn. You should be on a quest. The quest is for light and truth. If you are not engaged in this search, then you are missing the point of this second estate.
There are Latter-day Saints who are actually biased against this quest. Instead of searching for the deep things of God, they proclaim: “leave the mysteries alone!” Yet Joseph Smith taught: “I advise all to go on to perfection, and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness.” (DHC 6: 363.) If it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance, then the folks who insist on keeping their ignorance are insisting on their damnation. In light of this, Christ’s parable about the fellow who buried his talents makes more sense. We cannot rely on what we have. We either increase it by our relentless search for more, or we will be damned. It wasn’t just good advice to search deeper and deeper into the mysteries; as it turns out, that is the only way anyone can be saved.
Those who oppose deeper knowledge believe it is enough simply to have a testimony of the Gospel. They believe they can keep their talent, not invest it, and return it to the Lord at the end. Too late they will say: “I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.” (Id.)They turn Paul’s warning about the latter-days on its ear. For them they are ‘never learning but always able to come to the knowledge of the truth.’
Penitence, on the other hand, requires curiosity and willingness to gain more light and truth. Unless you are increasing in light and truth, you are not progressing or accomplishing all that you should while on this earth. Here, you are supposed to be “added upon.” You are intended to explore learning, gain understanding and obtain light and truth, which is intelligence. It is obtained by obedience to the Gospel and experience, and not through study alone.
Every one of us has the capacity to be penitent and increase whatever light and truth we have. Everyone can search into the mysteries of God to gain greater understanding of how God acts in their lives. However, only those who are sincerely penitent can make the discoveries available. Only the humble follow the Lord’s simple program for enlightenment. It requires someone who is willing to accept the Lord on His terms.
This great program for joy requires one to be willing to follow in a path defined by keeping commandments, doing good, finding charity within, and developing the capacity to love. It is simple enough for anyone to do. It is plain enough for anyone to obtain if they will only obey. It is easy enough that anyone can do what is required. The process is rejected most often because of its simplicity. (It is not easy, but it is simple.) The proud always find it unappealing. Its simplicity is offensive to the sophisticated. The world wants us all to be sophisticated. That shouldn’t trouble you. Through simple means you can do what the great ones of this world cannot. If you will just follow Him, you will find what you are looking for, and He will show you what you must do. But you must seek Him on the terms He requires.
What does it mean to seek happiness?
The happiest of people are those who live without fear. Fear is the opposite of faith and hope. Fear, anger, and selfishness are Satan’s counter to faith, hope, and charity. You cannot be happy when your life is influenced by fear, anger and selfishness.
Faith is more than belief. It is a principle of action, and requires you to do something about your belief before you can have faith. The Lectures on Faith, Sixth Lecture is a study worth reading. In the Book of Mormon context, faith involves heavenly visitations.
Hope is more than a wish. As we have discussed previously, hope requires you to secure a promise from God. It requires you to be at rest - secure in the knowledge the Lord has promised you a glorious resurrection. Hope is waiting for the time of the Lord’s promise to be fulfilled. As sure as God’s word cannot fail, your hope is secure in Him. But you must obtain that hope from Him, by getting him to make a promise to you.
Charity is a gift from God. It allows you to love others unconditionally. When resting secure in your own future state, you can love and and hope for others in a way you could not if you still worry about your eternal welfare. Happiness comes from having charity for others. Mormon describes how it is obtained in a letter to his son: “And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.” (Moro. 8: 26.)
In contrast, fear is always negative. It is the absence of faith. Moses’ experience is a great illustration of how fear works. “And it came to pass that Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.” (Moses 1: 20.) Fear is one of the emotions of hell. For those who are unprepared, fear will be their primary emotion on the Day of Judgment. Fear haunts the conscience of those who know they have sinned.
Unfortunately, fear is also something we inflict upon each other. Unrighteous dominion of others, particularly under the guise of priestly authority, almost always has as its objective, to cause fear. Whether it is an unjust husband, or a dictatorial Bishop, no one has ever been authorized to bully others under the guise of their pretended authority. Priestly authority can only be asserted in conformity with the limiting criteria of Section 121 which requires “gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned.”
Joseph Smith envisioned an association of Saints which left every member free to believe as they felt best. He was opposed to strictly confining the Church to a body of creeds or necessary beliefs. Speaking about a Church disciplinary proceeding which involved accusations about an Elder Pelatiah Brown, Joseph Smith spoke against excommunicating him, or any other person, because of an error in doctrine or belief. Joseph said: “I did not like the old man being called up for erring in doctrine. It looks too much like the Methodist, and not like the Latter-day Saints. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be asked out of their church. I want the liberty of thinking and believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It does not prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine.” (DHC 5: 340.)
Joseph viewed the Church as a benign, tolerant institution. Apparently, the Lord did as well when, in a revelation intending to limit priestly abuse, He warned: “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called, but few are chosen. No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—(D&C 121: 39–42.)
It is scary to be under the thumb of someone who insists on the right to dictate your beliefs. The Lord wanted nothing of the sort to take place. He revealed His position against it. Nevertheless, we continue to see those who insist they have the right to dictate and impose fear upon others simply “by virtue of the priesthood,” or some office within it. Of course, the Lord has already explained such men do not actually hold priesthood when they behave that way. It simply cannot be exercised in unrighteousness. It is impossible. Whenever anyone attempts to do so, they immediately lose their authority. The heavens simply do not, have not, and never will acknowledge such unrighteous acts. Men are free to attempt it, but the Lord will not honor them, their pretended authority, or the acts performed as they behave in such a manner.
By the time of the Restoration of the Gospel, mankind had ample historical evidence to know there is always abuse of religious power. Everyone knew St. Augustine’s and Bishop Ambrose’s ideas became the reason for Grand Inquisitor Torquemada’s torture in the name of religious purity. It was therefore easy for men to see the sense of Section 121’s limitations on priestly authority. Without it, Latter-day Saints would be in danger of following the same downward fall.
In spite of the scriptural limitations on priestly authority, we see ill-informed Latter-day Saints making fantastic claims about the extent to which everyone must conform to their views in order to truly “sustain the Brethren.” These people use the backdoor approach of controlling others through the idea of “sustaining the authorities.” They make claims for Church leaders which the Church leaders have never made for themselves. Such individuals seek to abrogate agency, limit the effect of the Lord’s words in Section 121, and undo what Joseph Smith taught about the freedom every Saint enjoys to their own beliefs. These “Brethrenites” are really advocating a new and different religion from the one restored through Joseph Smith and governed by the revelations given us. This new and different religion seeks to substitute the worship of men, for the worship of the Lord. “For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant.” (D&C 76: 99–101.) They are damned. They need to be reintroduced to the Gospel so they can receive the testimony of Jesus.
Brethrenites make fantastic claims for the Church President which exceed the claims Church Presidents make for themselves. These are competing views. On the one hand, we have the gentle and persuasive spirit of President Hinckley’s sermons and teachings. In this we see the Divine standard in operation. On the other hand, we have the militant insistence upon giving up our agency. This one insists saying or thinking anything contrary to some pretended standard would be contrary to “sustaining the Prophet.” The contrast is startling. President Hinckley does it right, and gets it right. He persuades, teaches, and informs with gentleness and meekness. He does not make demands. Therefore, demands made in his name by these Brethrenites would undoubtedly offend him. Fear inflicted upon others through this process comes from the Adversary. Those who attempt to intimidate and cause others to fear through this process are working in opposition to the Lord’s mantra of “faith, hope, and charity.”
Those who worship men think a little authority, as they suppose, is a license for unrighteous dominion. They claim God has delegated the power to remit sins to man, basing that belief on John’s comment to His Apostles: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (John 20: 23.) But they fail to recognize or respect Christ’s imposed limitation on that power, as He explained to His Nephite Apostles: “And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people,according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just.” (3 Ne. 27: 27, emphasis added.) Men are allowed no personal discretion in the use of priestly authority. Unless they conform to the direction of the Spirit, they have no authority. (See D&C 121: 36.)
When Brethrenites are frustrated by scripture and the spirit of meekness in accomplishing their ends, they respond with anger. This is the second in the Adversary’s great counterfeit of “fear, anger and selfishness.” Anger is also a negative emotion originating from below. It is never proper to respond with anger. The Lord has revealed the way: “Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith.” (D&C 121: 43–45.) Notice how “reproving” is limited and controlled to those limited occasions when “moved upon by the Holy Ghost.” Think about that for a moment. It means whenever you “reprove” another, the reproving must be acting under the influence of the Holy Ghost. You can’t just lash out. You can’t just relieve yourself of your frustrations. You must curtail and bind your reproof into the channel permitted by the Holy Ghost. If you do not feel inspired by the Spirit, you should not reprove.
Notice too how “reproving” is joined with “showing forth an increase of love” and letting the one reproved “know that your faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.” It also requires you to “be full of charity” throughout this process. This isn’t a license to rebuke others. Rather it is a limited, controlled outlet which requires nobility and humility in anyone who takes it upon themselves to rebuke another. It is an extraordinary standard. It is a standard worthy of anyone who would claim to have authority from God and to be acting for Him. This is the reason why, although many get called to priestly office, so very few of them are actually chosen for eternal glory. It is the reason why the Lord’s parables reflect pessimism about the numbers of those who will survive the Day of Judgment. If you want joy, you need to follow these standards.
Anger comes from being fragile, even brittle, in one’s beliefs. It demonstrates a lack of confidence in the course being pursued. Contrast Joseph’s hope in the Church’s future with those Saints whose anger is kindled by our critics. Joseph said: “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (DHC 4: 540.) Joseph’s faith and hope was founded on his knowledge of the Lord’s intention for this work. He knew it would advance boldly, nobly and in conformity with the purposes of God. He knew it did not require the anger, abuse, intolerance and fear of small men attempting to force conformity and compliance. If this work can survive persecutions, rage, mobs, armies and calumny, it is not threatened in the least by critics or skeptics. There is no need for an angry reaction to the trifling doubts of petty disbelievers, whether in or out of the Church. We do not need to be brittle about it, for the Church is in the Lord’s care.
The Church is destined to succeed through inviting, not through demanding. It is intended to prosper through love, not through intimidation. Indeed, it cannot prosper through intimidation; it can only be set back. Well-intended Latter-day Saint bullies can never help the Church.
This is not just good advice. It is an absolute. The only way you can convert someone is through gentle persuasion. Coercion will not work. Any success from coercion is temporary; lasting only for the duration force is applied.
A friend was coerced into paying past tithing as a condition of getting his temple recommend when he first took his wife to the Ternple. His bishop used his authority to issue a Temple recommend as the means to compel this fellow to pay tithing on earnings which he had made before his baptism. The bishop wanted to make certain this convert understood how important a matter paying tithing was in the Church. When the bishop made it clear he would not allow the Temple marriage to occur without the payment, the young man was shocked and protested he lacked the financial means to pay. The bishop told him he had a motorboat he could sell to come up with the money. After realizing he could not comply with the bishop’s edict any other way, the young man sold his boat, met the bishop’s demands, and obtained his Temple recommend. He went to the Temple and was sealed to his wife. But he never again returned to the Temple, has never paid tithing since, and has remained inactive in Church. That occurred over thirty years ago, but he still harbors a deep resentment of the bishop’s use of coercion to compel payment of tithing which came due before his baptism. The bishop won the battle, coerced the payment, and used the authority of the Temple recommend to accomplish his goal of coerced conformity. But it did not persuade, it did not convince, and it did not convert. Instead it alienated, offended, and created deep resentment which remains painfully unresolved after decades.
A missionary I knew complained to his mission president about a mandatory minimum number of weekly hours spent in a street-contact program which was not working and interfered with more positive work. His concerns were dismissed as insignificant and resulted in the mission president accusing him of not “sustaining” him as a leader. The president extended this idea of not “sustaining” him to not sustaining the Prophet, from whom his call as a mission president had been issued. The mission president demanded the elder return his Temple recommend as a form of discipline to compel the missionary to back down and to make the point about who was in control. The elder returned his recommend, but the coercion so dispirited the missionary, so troubled him by the use of power as leverage to back him down, that he became disinterested and ineffective in the work. The mission president ultimately sent the elder home a month early from his mission, and left a deep wound in a young man who was trying to improve the work of his mission by a heartfelt comment. Rather than reasoning, persuading, and using meekness, the president used coercion. He got his way. He forced the elder to relent. But the long term result was both tragic and out of harmony with the criteria for use of authority in Section 121. This work of parlaying a local church leader’s personal demands into a test of church members’ “sustaining of the Prophet,” is unfortunately not isolated. It is a tool increasingly used by aggressive local church leaders. Surely, this process has not been cleared with the Prophet as a means of leading church members in local stakes and wards.
Temple recommends are opportunities for Priesthood leaders to bestow blessings. They are opportunities for service for the living and the dead. They were never intended to become tools for coercion. Yet, in the minds of some holding Church offices, this is a way to compel others to back down and surrender their will. Even when that works, it is temporary and does not persuade the person compelled to surrender what they really believe. Without meekness, gentleness, persuasion and pure knowledge to bring others to a conviction something is right, control will not convince. It may convince someone they cannot win a fight, but that will not change their heart, align their will to the truth, or convert them.
We cannot, for example, convert others by demanding they be baptized. We tried that in Europe and South America with the “baseball baptism” program. This was where children were only allowed to participate in Church sports programs if they were willing to be baptized. Although this resulted in large numbers of baptisms, it did not convert any of the people whose names were added to the Church records. In the future, if circumstances were ever to permit Latter-day Saints to use food storage as a tool to compel the hungry to be baptized in order to be fed, it would result only in people getting wet. No one who is compelled to change, whether by Torquemada using the rack, Pope Pius XII using convenient Nazi troops in the Balkans, or our using hunger as a tool when the occasion arises, will ever be converted. Coercion only works for so long as the coercion remains. As soon as it is lifted, people flee. And when this happens, history preserves a record, and the truth ultimately will be the measure of all men’s acts. If we feed people who disagree with us, without limit or condition, history will remember the deed in honor. When we coerce them, and require them to be baptized as a condition for our sharing food storage, history will record it as another Inquisitorial-style religious terrorism, and a great opportunity will be lost. At present, our inspired President Gordon B. Hinckley has humanitarian aid going out worldwide unconditionally. Baptists and Evangelicals who regularly condemn our faith have been blessed and aided by the Church’s hurricane relief in Florida, New Orleans, and the Gulf of Mexico without any condition or demand. It is among our finest acts. It will result in honor and praise for President Hinckley and the Saints whenever history reflects on these kind acts. They are, in the deepest meaning of the word, “Christian.”
All our acts will be noticed and recorded. When we err, our critics are quick to point it out. When they do, they are doing us a service. We should never have attempted to get by doing it with an ulterior motive in the first place, and we deserve the criticism of the critics when we are wrong.
It is foolish to believe we can hide our unethical acts. We can get away with abuse only temporarily. Without using the tools of Section 121, the powers of heaven cannot be handled. They slip through our hands even as we struggle to grip them.
The Lord in His wisdom will always allow truth to survive and prosper. The angry victors of one moment are later remembered as cruel relics of a bygone era. We cannot suppress our critics, we can only empower them. Sterling McMurrin was not, by any standard, a shining example of faith. He was an LDS intellectual who, at one time was on the faculty at BYU. He left BYU to join the faculty at the University of Utah, where he was well known for openly doubting the Church. His agnosticism and ignorance of the Spirit, however, did not deter him from wanting fellowship with the Saints. He, and others like him, should always have a place among us. Skepticism is useful to raise questions which we should go find answers to for ourselves. A good question is a wonderful thing. It can provoke a search which can lead you to God’s presence. Without a quest for an answer, you will not be driven to your knees to converse with God. Inquiries to Him are how you get to know and meet Him. If you are not making inquiries, you will never learn from Him. So men like Sterling McMurrin should be valued members in the community of Saints.
President David O. McKay knew how valuable a skeptic among us could be. Rather than fearing and becoming angry with Brother McMurrin, he supported and comforted him. When he was threatened with excommunication by his bishop, President McKay came to meet with him in private. In that meeting President McKay reaffirmed the right of Brother McMurrin to be skeptical. As they discussed the threat of excommunication, President McKay said he would defend Brother McMurrin:
He said, “They can’t do this to you. They can’t do this to you!” I kind of smiled and said, “Well now, President McKay, you know more than I about what they can do, but it looks like this is what they are going to do.” He said, “Theycannot do this to you!” There was a pause, then he said, “All I will say is that if they put you on trial for excommunication, I will be there as the first witness in your behalf.” I said, “Well, now, I can’t imagine anyone having a better witness for such an occasion.” (McMurrin, Sterling M. and Newell, Jackson L.,Matters of Conscience: Conversations with Sterling M. McMurrin on Philosophy, Education and Religion; (Signature Books, Salt Lake City; 1996), pp. 198–199, italics in original.)
President McKay went on to advise Brother McMurrin: “you just think and believe as you please. Now that’s my advice to you, Sterling. You just think and believe as you please.”(Id., p. 199.) Events like these always come to light. As they do, later generations view the nobility of a tolerant and confident President McKay with the recognition it deserves. We see in this exactly what the Lord directed. We see a man who, acting in conformity with revelation and therefore as a Prophet, using his position to show what it means to live according to the words: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guilt—” (D&C 121: 41–42.)
The final great failing of mankind is our “selfishness.” The Lord frees us through selflessness. It is the great escape from our earthly prison. We must lose ourselves if we want to find Him. We must surrender our will to His to find the same freedom that He enjoyed. This does not mean surrender to men. It means surrender to Him. He never asked us to follow another man. President Brigham Young stated: “What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire of themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path that the Lord dictates, or not. This has been my exhortation continually.” (JD 9: 149–50.) We are supposed to be selfless in responding to the Lord’s demands, not to the demands of any man or men. The difference is profound. The answer to happiness does not lie in joining another religion, but in following the Lord. You must have the Spirit to be able to distinguish. If you lack the Spirit, you will not be able to decide these matters for yourself. Of course, anyone who lacks the Spirit has never become the Lord’s, in any event. Those who are His, possess the Holy Spirit. They are prophets, for the testimony of Jesus includes prophecy.
Do not be mistaken by this distinction, however. You do have a responsibility to sustain and uphold the presiding authorities of the Church. We need them. They are entrusted with the management of the affairs of the Church. They are entitled to our support, our prayers and our listening ear. We tune them out at great risk, at the peril of our own salvation. They are given to us as gifts, even though they are frail mortals. We judge them with the standard by which we will be judged. Therefore, our standard for them should show such charity as to set a standard of judgment we could also pass. I would recommend, therefore, you view Church leaders with affection, tolerance and forgiveness.
The Gospel is based upon happiness. Alma writes of this as the “great plan of happiness.” Your affiliation with the Church should bring you happiness. Your faith should be filled with joyfulness. The Gospel is intended to awaken in you security, love, and hopefulness which increase your joy for life.
If you find you are entrenched in fear, anger, and selfishness, then something is wrong. Delightful people should never have their joy curtailed by small-minded and oppressive others. You should not surrender your agency to the opinions of others. It is just fine if you are misunderstood and viewed harshly. It is almost the ideal if people speak about you falsely and misunderstand your true intentions. You are most closely following Him when you suffer under these burdens. He told you: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matt. 5: 10–12.) If you are going to do it right, persecution is part of the package. You get to be understood by Heaven, but misunderstood by your fellowman. There is deep satisfaction in knowing you are more interested in what the Lord thinks of you than in caring about the opinions of men. It is liberating. You will find yourself, as you lose your good name and reputation among men. Unfortunately, you may also be called upon to lose your good name among fellow Saints. We can be pretty hard on each other. We should know better, but we don’t. So you need to be tolerant, forgiving and patient even with the Saints. This will free you to find joy. For when you are given offenses, but return good for bad, you grow into something bigger and better. You get to know Him.
The Gospel aims to reunite you with God. Although it is administered through an organization made up of your fellowmen, in the end it is a personal journey between you and the Lord. The frailties, failings and excesses of your peers do not make them less. It only gives you the chance to become something more.
They are weak. So are you. Love them anyway.
They err. So do you. Love them anyway.
They will bump into you, step on your feet, and shove you about. This is because you have not yet loved them enough to break their hearts and draw out their compassion. Their failings are wonderful, and allow you to see what you lack. Love them for it, for they present you the opportunity to perfect charity.
There is joy which can only be experienced by the truly penitent, humble follower of Christ. Those who experience it almost invariably must endure the misunderstanding, abuse and harshness of others. They learn to love them anyway. You can do this as well.
The profound, brief lesson contained in Alma 27:18 cuts to the core of the Gospel itself. You can know joy beyond the capacity of your mortal body to contain. But it comes only after joining the ranks of the “truly penitent.”
I hope this verse, and the others discussed in this work, will aid you in becoming another “humble seeker of happiness.” We can never have enough of such people. The supply seems to diminish as our numbers increase. We are all busy, harried and jostled about in the ever-growing crowd of Saints. Crowd management makes it hard for Church leaders ever to have time to notice all the effects of their decisions. Rest assured, however, that almost all negative results of decisions made or policies implemented are unintended. Your Bishop, Stake President, Quorum leader, Relief Society President or other authorities, are all trying to do what is right. Give them the benefit of any doubt. As Joseph put it, “If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you will follow the revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven as my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours - for charity covereth a multitude of sins.” (DHC 4: 445.)
When done right, the Gospel is joyful. If you are not finding joy, then you need to repent. You do not need for others to repent. They are just as they should be. It is your internal turbulence which needs to be calmed. Trust, forgive, submit and obey. Seek for faith, hope and charity. When you find fear, anger and selfishness, you can know you have discovered symptoms which require treatment. Treat them with penitence. Search into truth and light.
Now, go and be happy.