Line upon Line

No one gets out of this life without battling temptation. No one is free from being stained by the sins of the world. Access to sin is more flagrant and pervasive today than ever before. If one temptation doesn’t get you, the devil is ready with another around the corner. I could list all the ways whereby we can be led off the covenant path by subtle, infiltrating, blatant, and encroaching evil. When teaching Gospel Doctrine a few years back, I asked the class to help me make a list of Satan’s technique and temptations. Writing feverishly, in minutes the whiteboard was completely filled and the Spirit was completely gone. I quickly erased the board, and the idea came to mind: don’t hand the microphone to the adversary.

I have been thinking about death and my personal readiness because I recently had an anaphylactic reaction to a drug and went by ambulance with lights and sirens to the hospital. I don’t remember much. As I have recovered, I’ve wondered about Alma’s statement: “For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors” (Alma 32:34). I’ve thought about being “reconciled unto Christ… and continu[ing] in the path until the end of the day of [my] probation” (2 Nephi 33:9). I’ve pondered crossing the bridge from mortality to eternity and meeting Jesus Christ, the keeper of the gate. “There is none other way save it be by the gate.” He employs no servant at the gate “for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name” (2 Nephi 9:4).

In the weeks since, I remembered Thornton Wilder’s novel, “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.” In the story, five townspeople plunge to their deaths crossing a rope bridge that fell. Most everyone in the two towns on either side of the bridge crossed it several times a day. Why were those five on the bridge at that moment? No amount of philosophical introspection can provide a complete answer. The main reason those five died that day is because they were on the bridge when it collapsed.

I wonder what will matter most at the gate. Is there a preeminent attribute to acquire during our days of probation? After years and years of admonishing his fellow Nephites to keep the commandments, the prophet Nephi ends his writings with the words: “For thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey” (2 Nephi 33:15). As a young man he said: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded” (1 Nephi 3:7). I am thinking that obedience may be that foremost attribute.

Jesus Christ was the most obedient in premortal life: “I, the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying…. My Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:1-2).

Jesus Christ was the most obedient in mortality. Take for example the reason Jesus chose to be baptized. In what ways did “the Lamb of God… fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water? … Notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments” (2 Nephi 31:5-6, italics added).

Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient to the Father even after His resurrection. When He appeared to the Nephites in what would become America, he said:

• “I was with the Father from the beginning” (3 Nephi 9:15).
• “I have suffered the willof the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:11).
• “And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear recordof the Father (3 Nephi 11:32).
• “I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me. (3 Nephi 11:32).
• “I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father” (3 Nephi 12:19).
• “Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (3 Nephi 14:21).
• After Jesus administered the sacrament, He said: “This doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you” (3 Nephi 18:10).
• “I must go unto my Father that I may fulfil other commandments which he hath given me” (3 Nephi 18:27).

And this is a mere sampling. Jesus spoke of His Father over two hundred times in 3 Nephi 1, 9, 11, 12-21, 24, 26, 27-28.

This mortal bridge we transverse is a test. The Lord explained to Joseph Smith the why of the Missouri persecutions: “I will try you and prove you herewith…. I will prove you in all things” (D&C 98:12, 14). Abraham learned the plan of salvation is for this one purpose: “We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). The Apostle Paul asked the Corinthians to “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). He repeated the plea to the Galatians: “But let every man prove his own work” (Galatians 6:4).

Elder Bednar said that in obeying, we do not give up our free will; we exercise it. “Obedience is neither a chore nor a burden; rather, it is the source of true happiness in mortality and eternity. We do not yield or give up our happiness when we obey. Obeying causes happiness. Obedience frequently is referred to as the first law of heaven; it is also the key which opens the door to the happiness intended for God’s children in the great plan of happiness” (https://www2.byui.edu/Speeches/Bednar_Jan2004.htm).

Why did Adam offer sacrifices to the Lord?
Answer: Because he was obedient.
“And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me” (Moses 5:6).

Why are humans less than the dust of the earth?
Answer: Because all of God’s other creations obey Him implicitly.
“O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God” (Helaman 12:8).

How may all humankind be saved?
Answer: By obedience.
“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”

How can you show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that you love them?
Answer: By being obedient.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Satan’s doctrine preaches love of self rather than love of God: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.” If you resist that temptation, he modifies it: “Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 28:7-8).

Nephi said this is a false, vain, and foolish doctrine (2 Nephi 28:9). Alma said: “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10), and as quoted above, Elder Bednar said: “Obedience causes happiness.” When I identify false doctrine and learn true doctrine, when I turn away from temptation and make obedience my priority, I will stay on the covenant path and be more prepared for my moment on the bridge at San Luis Rey.