During the Lord’s visit to the Americas, He commanded the Nephites to call the Church after His name. He preached and taught them eternal values, principles and doctrines and then asked this question: “What manner of men ought ye to be?” His answer to His own question must have stunned everybody present as He said, “Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27). This is considering the kind of life He lives, the set of immeasurable trials He passed through, and the greatest sacrifice He made for humankind, offering His redeeming love and giving His life a ransom for the sins of the world.
The Lord, His works and attributes are the perfect standards of worthiness for all of us. For so many of us today, this would seem a ridiculous impossibility. Yet the Lord admonished us, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 also recorded in 3 Nephi 12:48). Then together with this declaration, He assures us as he did Nephi that, He will not give any commandment, save He shall prepare a way that we may accomplish the things which He has commanded us (see 1 Nephi 3:7).
As we reflect on these seemingly unbending and intractable standards of worthiness, let us consider for a moment some pieces of scriptures. In Doctrines and Covenants 98:12, the Lord promised, “…he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept…” “…here a little, there a little…” (Nephi 28:30) until we “…receiveth more light, that… groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day“(Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve counseled: “So we should be striving attribute by attribute, to become more and more like him; including developing the spiritual manners, which accompany living after the manner of happiness (2 Nephi 5:27).”
“So for us, putting off the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) and becoming instead a man of Christ (Helaman 3: 9) does not occur automatically, it occurs in the process of time (Moses 7:21).”
We should not worry therefore if we are short of the Lord’s standard of worthiness as of this moment in our lives for as long as we are truly striving with real intent and profoundly working towards becoming like Him. Perfection is not in this life.
Fundamental to our belief is the knowledge of God the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. It is very important of us to know and believe that everything on earth is subject to Deity. Without the testimony of the Godhead there is no way we can ever start to follow the patterns of worthiness set forth by the Lord Himself. The first standard then is to believe in God, the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost (see Articles of Faith No. 1).
At home, we have my son’s charcoal version of Jesus Christ and the prophets drawn on a canvass under the theme Doctrine & Covenants 1:38: “What I the Lord have spoken I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the Heavens and earth pass away, my words shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
The President and prophet of the Church is God’s oracle on earth. He serves as the mouthpiece of God in all His dealings upon the earth. As such it is part of our worthiness to sustain him. The Apostles are likewise anointed as prophets, seers and revelators. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are called as special witnesses of the Christ and are commissioned to direct and govern the church under His hand and to bring about Heavenly Father’s righteous purposes and to guide His children into the strait and narrow way that leads to life eternal. As we raise our hands to the square, we bind ourselves with a sacred duty to support and sustain them.
If we are to be men of Christ, we have also to sustain all those who are called upon and anointed to preside over us. If we are in the quorum of the Priesthood, we have to honor and respect the words of our quorum president. If we are in the branch or ward, we have to give due respect and honor to the calling of the Branch President or Bishop. If we are in the District or Stake, we have to highly esteem the District President or Stake President as God’s anointed servant. We have to support them as they are chosen by God to lead us. Only then can we say that we are walking along the pattern of worthiness that the Lord has set forth.
Central to God’s plan of happiness is the family, the fundamental unit of society, the church and in eternity. As part of His standard of worthiness, the Lord has given us a perfect pattern of righteous family life as armor and shield against the fiery darts of the adversary. Some of these patterns are expressly recorded in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 and in many scriptural passages. We read: “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord…(Ephesians 5:22); Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church…(verse 25); So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies…(verse 28); [Wives], see that [you] reverence [your] husband…(verse 33); Children, obey your parents in the Lord…Honour thy father and thy mother… that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth... fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4).” This is the pattern which the Lord wanted of us as we set in order our families and strengthen the bonds of our relationships. What a pattern indeed; what a standard!
In The Family Proclamation, the First Presidency declared: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 27:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”
As we try to abide by this parental standard of worthiness, we need to feel as did John the beloved who said: “I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4).
To live the law of chastity is an eternal covenant. Breaking the law is a very serious sin. It is “…most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost.” (Alma 39:5). “Fornicators” and “adulterers” shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. (see 1 Corinthians 6:9). Those who “commit adultery…shall not have the Spirit.” (Doctrine and Covenants 63:16). No wonder that the Lord requires all to obey and abide by the law of chastity with a covenant and promise, if we are to be counted His disciples.
Included in the Lord’s standards of worthiness is our regular attendance in Sacrament Meetings, Priesthood meetings and other church meetings. We are likewise commanded to magnify our callings in the church, it being part of our Priesthood covenants. “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God. And also all they who receive this Priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father” (Doctrine & Covenants 84:33-37).
We are to be honest in dealing with our fellowmen. President John Taylor once said, “We should be strictly honest, one with another, and with all men; let our word always be as good as our bond; avoid all ostentation of pride and vanity; and be meek, lowly and humble; be full of integrity and honor; and deal justly and righteously with all men.
“It is proper that men should be honest with themselves…, they ought to be governed by truthfulness, honesty and integrity, and that man is very foolish indeed who would not be true to himself, true to his convictions and feelings in regard to religious matters.”
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? God said. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). In 1833 the Lord revealed Section 89 known as the Lord’s Law of Health or the Word of Wisdom, stating among others that coffee and tea and other harmful substances are not for the body. We are to refrain from these substances if we are to be counted worthy to stand.
Tithing faithfulness is also a standard of worthiness in the Lord’s church. It is not that the Lord wants His church to have abundant financial reserves. Tithing is a standing l law in the land of Zion (D&C 119), yet it is subordinate to an even higher law in the Celestial Kingdom---the law of consecration. Tithing is one of the great tests of personal righteousness for church members. “By this principle,” says President Joseph F. Smith. “The loyalty of the people of this church shall be put to the test. By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it.”
There are yet still other established standards of worthiness that we each are expected to abide. These are not to push us toward and against the wall and rob us of our agency. These are to help us see the glory and preeminence of our existence as sons and daughters of God. These requirements of righteousness will make us understand and appreciate our worth in the kingdom of God.
Speaking about the beauty and grandeur of creation President Russel M. Nelson said, “…Ponder the magnificence of all you see when you look in the mirror. Ignore the freckles, unruly hair, or blemishes, and look beyond to see the real you—a child of God created by him, in his image....
"The magnificence of man is matchless. Remember, glorious as this physical tabernacle is, the body is designed to support something even more glorious—the eternal spirit that dwells in each of our mortal frames. The great accomplishments of this life are rarely physical. Those attributes by which we shall be judged one day are spiritual. With the blessing of our bodies to assist us, we may develop spiritual qualities of honesty, integrity, compassion, and love. Only with the development of the spirit may we acquire 'faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence' (D&C 4:6).
"Pattern your lives after our great Exemplar, even Jesus the Christ, whose parting words among men included this eternal challenge: 'What manner of men ought ye to be? ... even as I am' (3 Nephi 27:27).
"We are sons and daughters of God. He is our Father; we are his children. Our divine inheritance is the magnificence of man. May we honor it and magnify it." (Russell M. Nelson, "The Magnificence of Man," BYU devotional, March 29, 1987).
Such are the profound reasons why the Lord establishes standards of worthiness for us to follow while we are yet tracking the narrow way of our eternal journey.
The Lord, His works and attributes are the perfect standards of worthiness for all of us. For so many of us today, this would seem a ridiculous impossibility. Yet the Lord admonished us, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 also recorded in 3 Nephi 12:48). Then together with this declaration, He assures us as he did Nephi that, He will not give any commandment, save He shall prepare a way that we may accomplish the things which He has commanded us (see 1 Nephi 3:7).
As we reflect on these seemingly unbending and intractable standards of worthiness, let us consider for a moment some pieces of scriptures. In Doctrines and Covenants 98:12, the Lord promised, “…he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept…” “…here a little, there a little…” (Nephi 28:30) until we “…receiveth more light, that… groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day“(Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve counseled: “So we should be striving attribute by attribute, to become more and more like him; including developing the spiritual manners, which accompany living after the manner of happiness (2 Nephi 5:27).”
“So for us, putting off the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) and becoming instead a man of Christ (Helaman 3: 9) does not occur automatically, it occurs in the process of time (Moses 7:21).”
We should not worry therefore if we are short of the Lord’s standard of worthiness as of this moment in our lives for as long as we are truly striving with real intent and profoundly working towards becoming like Him. Perfection is not in this life.
Fundamental to our belief is the knowledge of God the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. It is very important of us to know and believe that everything on earth is subject to Deity. Without the testimony of the Godhead there is no way we can ever start to follow the patterns of worthiness set forth by the Lord Himself. The first standard then is to believe in God, the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost (see Articles of Faith No. 1).
At home, we have my son’s charcoal version of Jesus Christ and the prophets drawn on a canvass under the theme Doctrine & Covenants 1:38: “What I the Lord have spoken I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the Heavens and earth pass away, my words shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”
The President and prophet of the Church is God’s oracle on earth. He serves as the mouthpiece of God in all His dealings upon the earth. As such it is part of our worthiness to sustain him. The Apostles are likewise anointed as prophets, seers and revelators. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are called as special witnesses of the Christ and are commissioned to direct and govern the church under His hand and to bring about Heavenly Father’s righteous purposes and to guide His children into the strait and narrow way that leads to life eternal. As we raise our hands to the square, we bind ourselves with a sacred duty to support and sustain them.
If we are to be men of Christ, we have also to sustain all those who are called upon and anointed to preside over us. If we are in the quorum of the Priesthood, we have to honor and respect the words of our quorum president. If we are in the branch or ward, we have to give due respect and honor to the calling of the Branch President or Bishop. If we are in the District or Stake, we have to highly esteem the District President or Stake President as God’s anointed servant. We have to support them as they are chosen by God to lead us. Only then can we say that we are walking along the pattern of worthiness that the Lord has set forth.
Central to God’s plan of happiness is the family, the fundamental unit of society, the church and in eternity. As part of His standard of worthiness, the Lord has given us a perfect pattern of righteous family life as armor and shield against the fiery darts of the adversary. Some of these patterns are expressly recorded in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 and in many scriptural passages. We read: “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord…(Ephesians 5:22); Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church…(verse 25); So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies…(verse 28); [Wives], see that [you] reverence [your] husband…(verse 33); Children, obey your parents in the Lord…Honour thy father and thy mother… that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth... fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4).” This is the pattern which the Lord wanted of us as we set in order our families and strengthen the bonds of our relationships. What a pattern indeed; what a standard!
In The Family Proclamation, the First Presidency declared: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 27:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”
As we try to abide by this parental standard of worthiness, we need to feel as did John the beloved who said: “I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4).
To live the law of chastity is an eternal covenant. Breaking the law is a very serious sin. It is “…most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost.” (Alma 39:5). “Fornicators” and “adulterers” shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. (see 1 Corinthians 6:9). Those who “commit adultery…shall not have the Spirit.” (Doctrine and Covenants 63:16). No wonder that the Lord requires all to obey and abide by the law of chastity with a covenant and promise, if we are to be counted His disciples.
Included in the Lord’s standards of worthiness is our regular attendance in Sacrament Meetings, Priesthood meetings and other church meetings. We are likewise commanded to magnify our callings in the church, it being part of our Priesthood covenants. “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God. And also all they who receive this Priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father” (Doctrine & Covenants 84:33-37).
We are to be honest in dealing with our fellowmen. President John Taylor once said, “We should be strictly honest, one with another, and with all men; let our word always be as good as our bond; avoid all ostentation of pride and vanity; and be meek, lowly and humble; be full of integrity and honor; and deal justly and righteously with all men.
“It is proper that men should be honest with themselves…, they ought to be governed by truthfulness, honesty and integrity, and that man is very foolish indeed who would not be true to himself, true to his convictions and feelings in regard to religious matters.”
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? God said. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). In 1833 the Lord revealed Section 89 known as the Lord’s Law of Health or the Word of Wisdom, stating among others that coffee and tea and other harmful substances are not for the body. We are to refrain from these substances if we are to be counted worthy to stand.
Tithing faithfulness is also a standard of worthiness in the Lord’s church. It is not that the Lord wants His church to have abundant financial reserves. Tithing is a standing l law in the land of Zion (D&C 119), yet it is subordinate to an even higher law in the Celestial Kingdom---the law of consecration. Tithing is one of the great tests of personal righteousness for church members. “By this principle,” says President Joseph F. Smith. “The loyalty of the people of this church shall be put to the test. By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it.”
There are yet still other established standards of worthiness that we each are expected to abide. These are not to push us toward and against the wall and rob us of our agency. These are to help us see the glory and preeminence of our existence as sons and daughters of God. These requirements of righteousness will make us understand and appreciate our worth in the kingdom of God.
Speaking about the beauty and grandeur of creation President Russel M. Nelson said, “…Ponder the magnificence of all you see when you look in the mirror. Ignore the freckles, unruly hair, or blemishes, and look beyond to see the real you—a child of God created by him, in his image....
"The magnificence of man is matchless. Remember, glorious as this physical tabernacle is, the body is designed to support something even more glorious—the eternal spirit that dwells in each of our mortal frames. The great accomplishments of this life are rarely physical. Those attributes by which we shall be judged one day are spiritual. With the blessing of our bodies to assist us, we may develop spiritual qualities of honesty, integrity, compassion, and love. Only with the development of the spirit may we acquire 'faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence' (D&C 4:6).
"Pattern your lives after our great Exemplar, even Jesus the Christ, whose parting words among men included this eternal challenge: 'What manner of men ought ye to be? ... even as I am' (3 Nephi 27:27).
"We are sons and daughters of God. He is our Father; we are his children. Our divine inheritance is the magnificence of man. May we honor it and magnify it." (Russell M. Nelson, "The Magnificence of Man," BYU devotional, March 29, 1987).
Such are the profound reasons why the Lord establishes standards of worthiness for us to follow while we are yet tracking the narrow way of our eternal journey.
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