Saturday, October 29, 2011

Just Do It!

While driving home from Savannah we passed a police officer who had pulled someone over. After passing him I kept a close eye on him in the rear view mirror and grunted as he pulled into traffic. I thought 'Great, now I really have to go the speed limit.' While fighting the urge to speed I was constantly looking over my shoulder wary of becoming his next 'victim'. I voiced my frustrations and my teaching companion simply said 'just go the speed limit.' Oh how simple that would have been but sometimes I like to do my own thing (I guess you could say I am a little stubborn at times) and instead I continued to look over my shoulder as I pushed between four & five over the speed limit. If I actually went the speed limit I assumed that I would be left in the dust by the surrounding vehicles or tailgated until an opportunity to pass me arose.
How often do we push the limits to simply not be left behind by our friends or be looked down upon by the crowd? I know I do it far to often and its generally because of an assumption. We must learn here in this life that if we want to become different from the world we must live in the world but not of the world or in other words we must live God's standards and not the world's. His standards are not always the easiest or most convenient to live but He has promised that if we do we will have "peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come" (D&C 59:23).
Why live life on the edge and be constantly looking over your shoulder with guilt? It makes no sense and yet we do it over and over again.  "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon" (3 Nephi 13:24, Luke 16:13). I know that this is true. I know that though something might be easier to do or not do at the time doesn't mean it is the right choice. We must follow our Savior and be exactly obedient to Him and His commandments. Today I was reading in Preach My Gospel under Faith in Jesus Christ (p.62-63) and it said  "Having faith causes us to try as hard as we can to learn about and become more like our Savior. We want to learn what His commandments are and then obey them." If we want to become different from the world we must be different from the world! We must follow our Savior "at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God" (Mosiah 18:9).

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