“Thou Hast Not Feared Them and Hast Not Sought Thine Own Life”

Bryan Richards

Joseph Smithtaught that one of our goals should be to prove to the Lord that we are willing to serve him at all hazards. This means that we are willing to lay down our life for the cause. It means that we are willing to submit our will to the Lord’s. It means that we are willing to follow the counsel, ’For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it’ (Matt 16:25). Nephi is a great example of this principle. He was willing to preach to hardened Nephites. At the peril of his own life, he openly declared the wickedness of secret combinations in the very presence of these secret murderers. He undoubtedly had proven himself in a myriad of different ways in a myriad of circumstances which are not recorded in our abridged record. He had served the Lord “at all hazards.”

Joseph Smith

“After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized…then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God…When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 150)

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