In this week’s sections the Lord tells us what we are supposed to be like. In telling us this He also describes His own personality (the character of God).
Today I am assuming you have already read the assigned sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, as well as the historical chapters from Saints available online in the scriptures. If you don’t know how to access these chapters, please just ask me and I’ll show you where they are. Ask your question at the bottom of this page in the Comments section. These three sections, along with the lesson manual, have a huge selection of doctrine that can be addressed and discussed. The topic that comes to my mind more than any other this week has to do with the character of God, so that is what I will talk about first.
General assumptions
Since this week’s scriptures don’t say they are discussing the character of God, I suppose I need to explain myself and where I am coming up with my thinking. It is my personal experience and learning that tells me that God, my Father in Heaven, doesn’t ask anything of me that He doesn’t already do Himself. God is not a man of double standards. In the scriptures we are not told to live in such a way that is foreign to the way God, Himself lives. If the scriptures tell me I am to be patient, for example, I must assume that I will find examples of God’s patience all throughout the scriptures. Why would He want or require that I develop a characteristic that He hasn’t already mastered Himself?
One of the key and defining characteristics of the full gospel of Christ is that it teaches us we are responsible to seek to know of and understand the character of God. We can’t become like someone we know nothing about. Our lives must be devoted to learning of Christ, who is already just like our Father in Heaven. As we learn of Christ and his personal characteristics this gives us objective sights on which to set our goals. Christ is clean, whole, and pure before God. By learning to live, think, and feel as Jesus does, I am able to become more like him. Becoming more like Christ is what prepares us to live in the presence of our Father with pleasure and joy, just like Christ does already.
Power
Between this week’s sections and the talks recommended within the lesson manual, we are told that heavenly power, whether through the priesthood or the powers of heaven, are available to those who live a certain way. If living by what is taught in these scriptures gives me power in heaven and power on earth then cannot I say with certainty that these are also the kinds of behaviors and attitudes that give God His power? Can I really rationally think that God can behave in a way other than what we are taught to do in the scriptures and still have ultimate power in the eternities? No. That thought makes reason stare in disbelief.
God’s work and glory is to bring to pass our exaltation and eternal life. He wants us to live as He does, so we can experience the same joys He already lives with all the time. Everything the scriptures tell us to do facilitates the changes we need to make in order to reach the stated end of receiving exaltation and eternal life. This is what tells me that what we are being told to learn to be like is a description of what God is already like. He has, of course, already perfected all of these attributes, while we are only learning to incorporate them while facing the challenges of the mortal body and the mortal experience. This life in mortality is where we are best equipped to learn how to exercise so many of the godly virtues.
How these virtues bring us power in the priesthood and heavenly power will be discussed as I get to those verses in the scriptures.
Individual character traits
The following verses all come from Doctrine and Covenants 121.
34 Behold, there are many , but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
35 Because their are set so much upon the things of this , and to the of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—
36 That the of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be nor handled only upon the of righteousness.
To be chosen
Every worthy male member is able to hold the priesthood of God. These are they who are called to hold and exercise God’s priesthood. But what does it mean to be “chosen?” In earthly terms to be chosen means that someone other than oneself picks you to have a favored statis for something. We often think of being chosen in terms of things like when we were in school and teams were being picked by the most favored students in class. To be left out or to be left until last was the source of many an emotional issue to be dealt with for years to come.
But in verses 35-36 the Lord points out that in the realm of spiritual and heavenly power we choose ourself. If we don’t get chosen by Him to possess these important powers it is because we exclude ourselves because of our own choices and behaviors. God wants us to possess, eventually, all heavenly and priesthood powers. Note here that women hold priesthood power through their covenantal relationship with those powers. So we aren’t just talking about men who have been given direct responsibilities within the priesthood of God to act in God’s name for the salvation of His children. Both men and women are equally responsible to obey the “principles of righteousness” if we want to be given the priesthood powers and the heavenly powers.
God’s important point in these two verses is that since His powers are inseparably connected to righteous living, being too focused on the cares and concerns of this life cause us to be kept away from those powers that bring us eternal joy. We have talked in other lessons about our need to have an eternal focus to our life. Only when we learn to look beyond this life to the promises of eternity can we learn to make decisions based on our eternal welfare and not just on what might benefit us today (in this life). This is the eternal perspective I’ve talked about that God requires us to develop in this life. The things of God must become more important to us than the cares of this world. His powers cannot be trusted to someone who can’t see past their own nose. God’s powers (and He hasn’t described them yet) must be obtained by learning to see this life as He sees this life, as temporary and as the period of testing it is.
How to be unchosen
Verses 37-40 are talking about what has already been mentioned. It starts by referring to the authority given to men who have been ordained to the priesthood. Remember that this is God’s priesthood. His power operates on specific principles of righteous living. God never deviates from His own learned goodness. We haven’t learned to be as good as He is, yet. The following verses teach us why we can’t possess God’s power, and the heavenly powers that bring us everlasting joy. We must learn to review our own lives and examine our attitudes and behaviors from His point of view. Until we do, and we make the requisite adjustments to our behaviors, His powers will never be ours. This is why repentance and the Savior’s atoning sacrifice are so important to us. They make these changes possible.
37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to our , or to gratify our , our vain ambition, or to exercise control or or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
38 Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to against the pricks, to the saints, and to against God.
39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little , as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise dominion.
40 Hence many are called, but are chosen.
What surprised me when I read verse 37 was that I suddenly realized this applies to God, Himself. When we cease to try to cover our sins, gratify our pride, and our vain ambitions, when we cease exercising control, dominion, or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, “in any degree of unrighteousness,” that is when the heavens will embrace us and obey us as they obey God. That is when we will become godly and holy people. It is the behaviors He wants us to exhibit that will be shown us in the next few verses that will cause the heavens to rejoice in our behavior. When we are as trustworthy as God (eventually) we will have the same kind of power He has, but not until. The closer we come to living like He does, the more the universe will be willing to heed our petitions, for then they will be more fully guided by the influences and counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is what causes us to become “chosen.” That favored status is based on how much we are willing to do to obtain that favored status. It isn’t up to anyone but us to obtain it.
Principles of righteousness
41 No or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the , only by , by , by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
“No power or influence” – I may not have actual power over anyone’s behavior, but we all have influence in the thoughts and feelings of others by how we treat them. Just because I have a position of leadership as a teacher or a member of a presidency, or even as a neighbor to someone who might be in need. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of” my priesthood, my position, or any advantage I might have to influence someone else. God doesn’t say we shouldn’t have power and influence on others. He says we shouldn’t use those powers and influence in unrighteous ways.
The specifics of how we are supposed to wield our power or influence is strictly by “persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.” Now look at that list and ask yourself how many of those things God lives up to in your own life. How often does He try to persuade you to do right? How long has He suffered with your own resistance to listen to and to do what is right? Has He been gentle in His nudging through the Spirit to get you to read the scriptures and to say your prayers? Does His Spirit teach us to be meek and to love in genuine ways (genuine is the opposite of feigned or faked)? God is describing His own behavior. This is how we are supposed to behave.
42 By , and pure , which shall greatly enlarge the without , and without —
No matter what the situation is, the Lord is always kind, tells the truth, is honest, never misrepresents Himself, and never tricks us into anything. He is so open, transparent, and honest that He never needs to apologize for anything He does.
43 betimes with , when upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;
44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of .
Examples of these two verses are found throughout the scriptures, though we don’t hear about the details. For example, the brother of Jared was chastised by the Lord for three hours, yet instead of being angry with the Lord for the dressing down, the brother of Jared was more devoted to God afterward than he had been before. The Lord really does take His own advice, because it really works as promised.
Eternal power
In the last two verses of this section we learn a couple of very important things. Firstly, to understand the doctrines of the priesthood (and the gospel in general) we must be full of charity and be consistently virtuous. Only then will we be able to come to understand that the doctrines of the gospel of Christ work, and why they work. Secondly, when we are full of goodness as described in verse 45, the Holy Ghost will be able to help us in ways that currently we may struggle to experience. God also promises us that those who achieve this state of righteousness will gain “an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”
45 Let thy also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy wax strong in the of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant , and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of and truth; and thy shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
The lesson I learn from this last verse is that God never needed to take His power and position in the universe, because the promise is that by virtue of how He lives power flows to Him without compulsion forever and ever. He is so good, so trustworthy, and so righteous/holy that all things willingly and gladly obey Him. This is a condition that doesn’t just apply to God, but to anyone, male or female, who becomes like Him.
God shall be with you
In section 122 the Lord describes many of the trials and tribulations Joseph Smith had been through, as well as some hypothetical ones. The Lord’s point to the prophet, and to us, because what God promises to one He promises to all, is that to the person who is faithful to their covenants God will be with us forever.
9 Therefore, on thy way, and the priesthood shall with thee; for their are set, they cannot pass. Thy are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.
Remember that God was the one who determined ahead of our mortal experience who would be born where, and when. He has seen the entire history of the earth and knows how this all plays out. This last verse assures us that nothing the wicked can do to us, though it seems like a lot at the time, can go beyond what God has planned and allowed for. They cannot defeat Him. They cannot hurt our soul. We are safe in God’s hands no matter what happens in mortality. This is His promise to all of us.
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+Dear Brother Kelly, my wife and I truly are thankful to the Lord for ‘hooking’ us up with your inspired thoughts on Gospel subjects. We know with surety we did not ‘stumble’ onto your website by mistake. Thank You!!! We have studied this weeks D&C section but no not where to find historical chapters from Saints, on line. Further direction is needed. Again, thank you
Jerry, I am so pleased you want to find the online Saints material to study! When you open the churchofjesuschrist.org site, select Libraries then Scriptures, choose Doctrine and Covenants from among the Standard Works displayed. For this week’s lessons, as an example, scroll down to Section 121. Once the scriptures display in the center of your computer screen, at the top of the text you will see what looks like a couple of “photos” of pictures right next to the top of the text. I have a dark background, so mine show up as a light blue. Yours will probably be a darker bluish green color. When you click the icon of the photos the panel on the right opens up. Select something to read. The scriptures disappear and you get the option to read scripture selections or selections from the Saints book. Those will all show up in the right panel. I find it very handy, and always read this material before I even read the scriptures themselves, so I have a context when I read the revelation that came at that time.
I hope this helps, and I’m please that you find my material helpful. Let me know if I need to explain anything further or include screen shots. :)
Kelly
I do enjoy so much reading your articles. Thank you.
May I please ask of how do I access the according scriptures, reading and church history for each of your articles?
I am so pleased you want to find the online Saints material to study! When you open the churchofjesuschrist.org site, select Libraries then Scriptures, choose Doctrine and Covenants from among the Standard Works displayed. For this week’s lessons, as an example, scroll down to Section 121. Once the scriptures display in the center of your computer screen, at the top of the text you will see what looks like a couple of “photos” of pictures right next to the top of the text. I have a dark background, so mine show up as a light blue. Yours will probably be a darker bluish green color. When you click the icon of the photos the panel on the right opens up. Select something to read. The scriptures disappear and you get the option to read scripture selections or selections from the Saints book. Those will all show up in the right panel. I find it very handy, and always read this material before I even read the scriptures themselves, so I have a context when I read the revelation that came at that time.
I hope this helps, and I’m please that you find my material helpful. Let me know if I need to explain anything further or include screen shots. 🙂
Kelly