Latest / Scripture Central / ”Stand Forever” Ep. 19 | The Truth—Who Are You? Part III | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

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”Stand Forever” Ep. 19 | The Truth—Who Are You? Part III | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

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The Lord doesn't talk about building 1 self esteem.
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People usually know the difference between flattery and
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truth, and although they may bask momentarily in the warm
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glow of flattery, they are changed by truth.
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You can deal with almost anything so long as you are
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dealing with the truth, and good people recognize and trust truth
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when they hear it. If you feel like you're not good
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enough, like you don't measure up, or you're deficient, welcome
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to the club. It's a big club.
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While the standard of the Lord is the highest, don't ever think
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it is only reachable by a select few who are most stable.
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Do not believe that it isn't true.
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Hello, my name is Larry Corbridge and this is episode 19
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of the Stand Forever series. Today we continue our focus on
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the question, who am I in? In past episodes we considered
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your dual nature, both divine and natural, and and who you
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were before this life and your preparations there for what you
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are to do here in this life. Today we will consider who you
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are within the circumstances of your life here and now.
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There is more to man than his divine origin and potential, as
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important as that is. You are not one-dimensional,
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rather a a complex being and it is a mistake to consider the
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question who am I only in the grand transcendent sense.
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You should also ask, who am I? In a more earthly vein, within
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the context of your life here and now, considering your
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interests, your achievements and roles, who you?
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Who are you and who are you in the process of becoming?
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How do you define yourself? How do you see yourself?
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What is the perspective, the framework, model or paradigm in
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which you view yourself? Who are you?
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It seems to me in a way we all live in, in boxes.
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Every person has a box. Inside your box is the stuff and
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circumstances of your life. All you know and believe, all
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your experiences, your community and neighborhood, city, town and
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country, your church titles and education, the relationships of
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your life, the people with whom you have contact, the media and
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all They tell you the roles of your life, your work interests
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and passions, your possessions, wealth, however Uyghur meager or
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great they may be, and and you, all of that is in your box.
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From the outside, most boxes look alike, but when you see
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what is inside, no two boxes are the same.
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They are all quite similar and yet very different.
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They are all boxes, but they all hold different stuff.
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Your box is your world. It is not the whole world, but
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it is all your world. And with the expansion of global
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interests and communications, more and more of the world gets
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inside your box. How you see yourself really is
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very important, maybe monumentally important, but
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almost always you see yourself within your box.
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And that it seems to me to be a mistake.
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Consider, for example, some of the things inside my box.
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I grew up mostly around horses, cattle, ropes, saddles, farm
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equipment, grain and hay, hired hands, and pretty hard language.
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By age 3 I was riding Ted, a big draft horse.
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I watched only two kinds of shows on TV, westerns and more
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westerns. As a toddler.
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I was blubbering one day about having to wear a bib and my
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mother asked me why it upset me so.
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I said I never saw a cowboy wear a bib.
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That was the last day I had to wear one.
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How I viewed myself changed my world, even at the age of 3.
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From age 10 and on I worked very long hours.
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Ranchers work for many years that followed up at the crack of
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dawn and work until it was too dark to see.
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Wash up for dinner and eat at 9:30 at night, go to bed and do
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it all over again the next day, and the next day after that, and
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then after that. For years I never resented it.
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I never questioned it. There were occasional magical
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moments. The smell of fresh moan, hay or
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dew on the Meadow in the morning, or the smell of sweat
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of a horse when the saddle is removed.
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The feel of a rope in in my hand, The creak of the saddle
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under my weight, or the quick movement of a cow horse beneath
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me, veering from one side to the other to push a steer in the
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direction it should go. The sound of a mourning dove.
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The whinny of a horse or the bawling of cattle in the
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distance. The sight of a calf or a colt
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beside its mother, or one of the most beautiful sights in all the
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world. Almost any horse, almost
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anytime, almost anywhere. Those times, the magical
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moments, were the exception and not the rule.
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The rule was unrelenting, grinding hard work.
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But those exceptions, those magical moments, outweighed and
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gave purpose and meaning to the work.
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They made all the hard work worth it.
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During the school year, we lived in Provo as my father was a
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professor at BYU in agriculture economics.
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I always wore a Western shirt, boots and a scarf to grade
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school. I would have worn my hat had it
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been allowed. I was oblivious to the fact that
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no one else, I mean no one else, and all of the Provo school
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district dressed like I did. I have no recollection of
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thinking I was weird or different.
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For me, it never occurred to me to dress any other way, never
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entered my head. On one occasion, one of my
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teachers asked my mother if I owned any shirt other than the
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two western shirts between which I alternated day-to-day, from
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day-to-day. The American Quarter Horse
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Association was almost as sacred as the church.
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I read books about training and shoeing horses.
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I subscribe to the Western Horsemen and read the American
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Quarter Horse Journal, and In Short, I was a cowboy.
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It defined who I was. It dictated what kind of clothes
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I wore and how I acted. The cowboy way became the
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standard by which I measured myself.
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There were many other roles such as son of a noble father and an
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Angel, mother and brother to wonderful sisters, and an
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exemplary brother. I later assumed or accepted
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other roles such as missionary and many others in the in the
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church. I became the husband of a
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wonderful and righteous woman, father of five noble sons, and a
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lawyer by profession. Several of these different roles
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blended from time to time along with the other stuff in my box
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to make it to make up my reality the way I defined and saw
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myself. The mix of all of it became my
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paradigm, how I saw the world and myself in it.
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Your box is different from mine, but it defines who you are just
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the same. Other people have other things
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in their boxes. They have other roles.
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They assume. They have other models.
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They may view themselves as a surfer, a border, an athlete,
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laborer, wage earner, homemaker, salesperson, computer
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programmer, entrepreneur, or a myriad of titles, callings and
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assignments assumed along life's path.
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They have other experiences and as a result, different beliefs.
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Their associations, relationships, and community are
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different. Your box usually defines who you
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are, where you live, what you do for a living, what callings you
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have, your appearance, what kind of car you drive, how you
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interact with other people, how you comb your hair, wear your
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clothes, how much money you have in the bank.
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What you do for recreation, how you use your free time, what
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teams you support, how you see yourself within the framework of
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your immediate roles and possessions, how you act, how
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you stack up in comparison to everyone and everything else in
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your box. And from that, from all of that,
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you decide how you measure up and who you are.
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Everything in your box blends together and defines who you
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are. But it is a mistake.
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It's a mistake to be defined only by your box.
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When you look around and see you have maybe less than others, or
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that you not as as attractive or as smart, clever, witty,
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talented as other people, you may greatly, greatly
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underestimate who you are. Your box may seem empty compared
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to other boxes around you. The roles you hope to have
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filled may be missing. You may not.
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You may not be a husband or father or wife or mother or
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athlete, laborer, leader, musician, race car driver,
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artist, or as attractive as you would like.
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You may not have the house or car or money in the bank as
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others. If there are no defining roles,
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if your box seems empty, you may sadly and mistakenly conclude
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you are nobody. Or you may be one of the
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fortunate few who has more, is more attractive, more capable,
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more engaging. Your your box may be overflowing
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and looking around you may wrongly conclude, even
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unconsciously think you are really somebody better than
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those with less in their boxes. We define ourselves the same way
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and yet in different ways. The process is the same, but the
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result is radically different because the mix and the standard
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of measurement is different from one box to the next and to the
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next, as each person has different stuff in his box.
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As the Lord said in the preface to the Restoration, every man
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walketh in his own way and after the image of his own God or box,
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whose image is in the likeness of the world and whose substance
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is that of an idol which waxeth old and shall perish.
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Although many of the roles in your box are worthy and
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admirable models that inspire you to greater heights, and
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although many of those roles are necessary, they are almost all
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transitory. John summed up the problem with
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most of what is in your box in five words.
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The apostle John, he said, and the world passeth away.
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The problem with most of what the world offers isn't only
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worldliness, evil, and sin. If absolutely everything the
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world offered was good, and it's not, but if it if that were the
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case, it would still be subject to a fundamental flaw.
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It doesn't last except for your character knowledge,
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relationships, and the roles of husband and father, wife and
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mother. Everything.
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Everything else in your box is transitory.
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It passes away. It doesn't last.
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If you define yourself by temporary roles, your sense of
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self worth and focus will shift when those roles end, or if you
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don't get the roles or or achieve what you want.
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If you are not called to be the next Bishop, made a high priest,
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or if you can't be a cowboy as you hope, frustration,
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discontent and disappointment will be the result and you will
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be adrift until you find some other defining role, some other
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hook on which to hang your head if you ever do.
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As a result, if you were defined by most of what is in your box,
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your concept or vision of yourself will be interrupted as
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the mix within your box changes. There's also another problem
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with this stuff in your box. Now listen to this.
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It's not good enough alone to enable you to rise to the level
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of your potential. Almost everyone adapts to 1's
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environment. Take two or more people and put
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them together and watch what happens.
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They will adjust to each other. A mission president, for
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example, may pair a weak missionary with its strong
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missionary, hoping the first will raise the level of the
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second. Usually the weak missionary is
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better for the experience, but it is very hard for the stronger
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companion to not become worn down and drop a notch or two.
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Usually they meet somewhere in the middle.
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This tendency to unconsciously adopt the attitudes and behavior
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of another is what sociologists call mirroring.
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Almost always people adjust to one another.
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They adapt to the group and in time, an unconscious and
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unspoken agreement. Often a silent truce is reached
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regarding a comfortable level of expectations and conduct.
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It is a compromise, a truce of mediocrity.
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Almost always, those expectations undershoot your
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best potential. Yes, environment is important.
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It is very important important what gets inside your box.
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If there's anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report and
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praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
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You want that stuff in your box because it will affect who you
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are and who you become. You must also regularly shovel
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out the junk. The better the mix inside the
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box, the higher the standard, and the more you will achieve
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and the better you will become. But even still, no matter how
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good the mix within the box, it is never good enough to raise
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you to the full potential of your better self.
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The potential of your worst, worst self is in your box, but
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your highest potential is greater than anything inside
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your box. Nothing in your world is
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sufficient to reveal your full potential, nor enable you to
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realize it. You can't see it because it it
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isn't there, and if you can't see it, you can't achieve it.
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You may sink to the lowest levels of your box.
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You may be pulled down by the darker influences and believe as
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a result there is no way to escape from the lower reaches.
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You may look, look around, and wonder if you are the least
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among the people of your world, disheartened by the talents and
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capacities of others with whom you have made no truce of
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mediocrity. They seem to achieve much more
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than you believe you can ever achieve.
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You may be overwhelmed by problems, pushed down flat to
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the bottom of the box under the great weight of life's burdens,
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afraid because of the great uncertainty in your box,
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discouraged by the disappointments, and with
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nothing more. You may see no hope, no reason
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or ability to rise any higher and you would be right inside
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your box. There is no hope, there is no
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ability or reason to rise any higher.
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Or you may rise to the highest level within your box and think
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you have conquered the world, unaware of the real world is in
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fact much more and much bigger than your little box.
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Although your box is your your world, it is not the whole
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world. But unless you look outside your
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box, you won't know that. And there you sit, alone in your
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box, oblivious to your greatest potential.
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Must, much less how to achieve it.
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The only way to not become a product of your lower
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environment is to be exposed to a higher one that will supersede
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everything else in your box. Occasionally, occasionally,
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someone stands up and looks outside his box.
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He looks up and beyond his box. He sees more.
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He catches a glimpse of another way, the only way to fulfill His
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divine potential, the only true standard, the one thing.
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What manner of men, IE to be? The Lord asked.
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Verily I say unto you, even as I am, He said.
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That is the model, that is the paradigm.
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Think outside the box, otherwise you will rise no higher than the
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best of your box, which is far less than your true potential.
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Every challenge you face in your box, every hard thing you
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confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every
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unfairness, conflict, sadness, tragedy, every disappointment
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and heartache, every temptation, every opposition happens for one
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purpose only. To give you an opportunity to
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look outside your box, see what He did, and apply the teachings
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of Jesus Christ in your box. As you look up and out to Him,
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as you keep your eye on Him, you are changed to become more like
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Him. But there's a problem.
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He's not in your box. It is not his intent to blend
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into the mix and merely raise the average of everything else
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inside your box. You have a record, scriptures
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that tell you about him, but you can't watch, observe and study
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him as you can others within your box because he's not there.
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As a result, it is far easier to accept and emulate the more
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immediate, immediate examples in your box.
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You must looked deliberately outside of your box to see him,
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and if you do, you will see yourself clearly in his bright
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light rather than the dim glow within your box.
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Instead of adjusting to your box, you will adapt to Him.
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Rather than adapting to the group, rather than the
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unconscious, unspoken truce of mediocrity, you will make a
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singular agreement with the Lord, a covenant to remember him
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always. You will adapt to Him and
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eventually He will take you out of your box all together.
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His offer is take it or leave it.
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There is no negotiation, no compromise here.
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The terms are set, but the offer is the most favorable ever made
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to man. There is no reason to negotiate
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because a better deal can't be made.
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The best deal ever is already on the table.
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It can't get any better. You give yourself to Him what
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little you have and are, and in exchange you receive God's
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greatest gifts. You receive His Son, His Spirit,
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and His life all that God has. Look outside the box to Him who
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is the light of the world and reflect His light within your
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box. It may may not be your intent,
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but you will raise the average in your box.
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Not everyone in your box will like that.
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Don't be surprised by that. Learn to please the Lord above
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pleasing anyone in your box. In rebuke of Joseph Smith for
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acceding to the expectations of another of above the Lord.
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He was told this by the Lord who said you should not have feared
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man more than God. The fear of man is concerned for
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approval inside your box. Our greatest concern should be
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approval from without. That is the fear of God.
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The Lord said if men persecuted him, they will do the same to
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you and you will be blessed for it.
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Nephi predicted that in our day, the devil will, in Nephi's
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words, rage in the hearts of the children of man and stir them up
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to anger against that which is good.
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If you look outside the box, if you focus on the one thing, you
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will feel the anger against that which is good.
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You can't please the Lord and everyone within your box.
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Jesus also said woe unto you when all men shall speak well of
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you. It is a sorry and weak soul who
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attempts to please everyone in his box.
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Don't be defined. Don't see yourself only by
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what's in your box. Look in your box.
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Pay attention to what's there, but also look up, out and
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beyond. Yes, define yourself by looking
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in, but also looking up and out. Think out-of-the-box.
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It is world's better to be a humble disciple of Jesus Christ
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than the King or Queen of your box.
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As you see yourself within your box, especially when looking up
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and out, you may wonder if you are good enough.
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We may be more focused on self today than any other timer
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people since the dawn of time. Self worth, self esteem, self
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help, self fulfillment, self promotion, self importance and
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self-image are top of mind. In the common denominator is
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self. We are preoccupied with self.
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Of all of those notions, the most important is self-image.
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How you view yourself is important and does make a big
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difference. Not in the sense of having a
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positive or negative view of oneself, rather having an
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accurate one. The question should not be do
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you like yourself, rather do you see yourself clearly?
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That's the issue, we often do not see clearly, especially as
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to self perception. We think we do, but deception is
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to be unaware by definition. Unaware of truth, Unaware of
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things as they really are. If you are a runner for example,
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and time yourself, you will probably discover you run slower
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than what you thought. When you measure the distance,
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it is often not as far as you imagined.
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A a few others may underestimate, but either on
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either way we are often wrong. When when you see a snapshot or
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a video of yourself, you may be surprised at times by a behavior
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or something in your appearance. Appearance different than what
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you thought. You see yourself in a different
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way in the bright light of day. You may be disappointed to see
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how you really look or behave. Someone else may be happily
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surprised, but either way, the truth is often a surprise.
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Happy or not, a common notion about the judgement is that we
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will see a rerun of our life. If that is true, I'm not looking
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forward to it. Not only because of all the
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stupid things I have said and done, but worse yet, the ones I
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never saw and don't see. The mistakes I know about are
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bad enough, but those I never saw maybe worse.
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Repentance begins with seeing you can't fix what you don't
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know is broken. You don't need to throw a
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spotlight to discover all the weaknesses you don't see.
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Just don't hide or ignore the ones you do.
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Adam and Eve hid from the Lord because they were ashamed.
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That strategy won't work any better for us than it did for
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them. Hiding.
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Hiding is never a good idea. The Lord said, I will give unto
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the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here
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a little and there a little. And that may also mercifully
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apply to gradually seeing ourselves more clearly.
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While you can't fix what you don't see, you also can't fix
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everything all at once either. He also said, And if men come
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into me, I will show them their weakness.
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I give unto men weakness, that they may be humble.
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And my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves
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before me. For if they humble themselves
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before me and have faith in me, then, he said, will I make weak
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things become strong unto them? Part of the process of coming
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unto Christ is an increasing awareness of your weakness, and
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gratefully that process is a gradual one.
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Whether your vision is obscured by the great mist of mist of
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darkness or sing through a glass darkly, you often do not see
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clearly. You can't chart a course to
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point B the destination without knowing where you are.
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Point A and part of where you are is getting an accurate fix
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on who you are. The 1980s and 90s gave birth to
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the self esteem craze that has permeated much of social
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thinking for decades. The premise is that crime,
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poverty, abuse, teen pregnancy, other social ills and even
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pollution are the consequence of low self esteem and conversely,
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high self esteem produces high performance.
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So therefore raise self esteem, stand back and watch the world
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to get better, or so they say. An entire cottage industry
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blossomed with feel good self esteem books, video seminars and
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audio tapes. Business consulting took up the
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cause to improve productivity by boosting self esteem.
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Welfare recipients were given workbooks to boost self esteem.
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Everyone on the team gets a trophy just for signing up.
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It was institutionalized and embedded in the American
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education curriculum. Red pens were scrapped in some
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cases. Some schools did away with
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grading. Parents readily embrace the
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cause, hoping to raise children to conquer the world.
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From home to school and back again, children have been told
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the likes of you are adorable, you're wonderful, you're
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awesome, you're OK just the way you are.
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You can do anything. Even better, repeat those same
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mantras or others like them while power posing in front of
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the mirror. You can even write one on the
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mirror. The outcome of the self esteem
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craze is a generation that yes does have higher than average
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view of themselves and yes they do view themselves as special.
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But they also are more narcissistic and feel entitled
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to quick success because they are special.
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And oddly enough they suffer from higher rates of depression.
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And there is no evidence the gang of social ills that was to
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be run out of town has Even so much as batter deny at high at
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the high self esteemers. The self esteem craze is
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grounded on two false premises. The first is the central thesis.
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High performance is the result of high self esteem, raise self
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esteem, and greatly improve people's lives and productivity.
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There may be a correlation between the two, but there's
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little data to support the proposition that high self
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esteem causes high performance. Those beating the drum did not
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consider the opposite and the more likely proposition that
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high self esteem is the result of high performance.
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It is more likely successful people have higher self esteem
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because they are successful than the other way around.
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The second faulty premise is that you can become awesome or
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wonderful simply by saying it over and over.
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It is delusional to think people will become wonderful and
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special just by chanting it. The most successful
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televangelist today are those who preach at feel good gospel
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of optimism, hope, destiny, harvest, increase and bounty at
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the exclusion of sin, guilt, shame, repentance, redemption or
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suffering. It is a message aimed at
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connecting with the most people by making them merely feel
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better about themselves. Self promotion, self importance
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and positive thinking are at the heart.
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It is a gospel in which God, God worships his children rather
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than the other way around, children worshipping God.
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It exchanges the hope of a gospel centered on Christ for a
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wishy washy, self-centered, self exalting message of
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psychotherapy. It is the philosophies of men
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mixed with Scripture and it fills the pews.
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It resonates with a lot of people because we all like to
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feel good. By way of contrast to the feel
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good gospel, consider, just consider the teachings of King
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of King Benjamin, which had an extraordinary effect on all who
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heard it. Here are a few examples of what
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he said, quoting from King Benjamin.
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If you should serve the Lord with all your whole souls, yet
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you would be unprofitable servants.
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Another. And now I ask, can you say out
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of yourselves? I answer you, Nay, you cannot
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say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth.
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Another example, Ye are eternally indebted to your
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heavenly Father to render to him all that you have, and are
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another. And now I say unto you, my
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brethren, that after you have known and have been taught all
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these things, if you should transgress, and go contrary to
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that which was has been spoken, that you do withdraw yourselves
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from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you
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to guide you in wisdom past, that you may be blessed,
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prospered, and preserved. I say unto you, that the man
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that doeth this the same cometh out in open rebellion against
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God. Therefore he listeth to obey the
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evil spirit and become becometh an enemy to all righteousness.
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Therefore the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in
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unholy temples. That's a long one.
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Here's another one. O all ye old men.
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Also, ye young men, and you little children, who can
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understand my words, for I have spoken plainly unto you that you
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might understand. I pray that you should awake to
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the remembrance of the awful situation of those that have
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fallen into transgression. Another example.
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For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the
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fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he
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yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the
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natural man, and becometh a St. through the atonement of Christ
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the Lord. And becometh as a child,
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submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing
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to submit to all things which the Lord seeth to inflict upon
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him, even as a child doth submit to his Father.
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I know this is a lot, but here's a couple of other examples of
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King. But what King Benjamin said.
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And again I say unto you, as I have said before, that as you
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have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if you have
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known of His goodness, and have tasted of His love, and have
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received a remission of your sins, which causeth such
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exceedingly great joy in your souls, Even so I would that you
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should remember and always retain in remembrance the
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greatness of God. And then listen to this and your
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own nothingness, and His goodness and long-suffering
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towards you unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in
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the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily,
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and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come,
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which was spoken by the mouth of the Angel King.
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Benjamin continues. For behold, are we not all
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beggars? Do we not all depend on the same
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being, even God, for all the substance which we have for both
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food and raiment? For gold, silver, and for all
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the riches which we have of every kind.
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Again, that's a long list. But this is hardly, hardly
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sunshine, lollipops and roses. It is.
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It is a far cry. It is a far cry from you are
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awesome or or you're OK just the way you are.
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There was no attempt to build self esteem, prop up or flatter
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here by telling people they were less, less than the dust of the
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earth. That is not a popular theme
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among the feel good crowd. Many people today would say such
41:03
teaching is insensitive and even harmful, A menace to our
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delicate sensibilities. Now think about what King
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Benjamin says in this most unusual, categorical, black and
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white, no holds barred style of teaching.
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We are unprofitable servants, less than the dust of the earth,
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an enemy to God and all righteousness.
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He says the Lord has no place in us.
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He describes our in his words, our awful situation, our own
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nothingness, unworthy creatures and beggars.
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And yet, amazingly, his teaching profoundly changed their view of
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themselves because it was the truth in the sense of their
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absolute need for divine intervention, their need for
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redemption, their need for rescue from their awful
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situation. I don't he isn't talking about
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inherent worth. I don't think he would disagree
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with the Lord's declaration that the worth of souls is great in
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the sight of God. Rather, He is dramatically and
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plainly describing our total dependence on God, who in His
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words created you and has kept and preserved you, who causes
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your heart, our heart, to beat, and grants us life and from
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breath to breath, and is the source of every good thing in
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this life and beyond. By the metric of the effect on
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those who heard it, this was a unique teaching event in the
43:10
annals of history. Everyone was affected, the
43:16
scripture records, and they all cried.
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They all cried aloud with one voice saying, all have mercy and
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apply the atoning blood of Christ, that we may receive a
43:30
forgiveness of our sins. Every single soul, except for
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the little children, entered into a covenant to do God's will
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and be obedient to His commandments and all things.
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All the remainder of their lives.
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The Scripture records there was not one soul but who had entered
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into the covenant and had taken upon them the name of Christ.
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Part of the power, at least, of King Benjamin's teaching is
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precisely because it is pure, unvarnished, unadorned truth.
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Truth is hard to take at times, but it engenders trust and
44:20
confidence, so much so that it had a profound effect on the
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hearts and minds of everyone who heard it.
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We must face the truth, even the hard truth of our weakness and
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deficiencies, acknowledge and own them before we can do
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anything about them. Another part of its power that
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is the teaching of King Benjamin, is he told them.
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He told them the whole truth. He didn't leave them in the
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dirt. He raised them up in the hope
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that is in Christ, and the combination of those two
45:06
elements made all the difference.
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He vividly described the problem, what he termed as our
45:15
awful situation, but he just as clearly taught the solution.
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Who is Christ, the Lord Omnipotent, who reigneth, who
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was and is from all eternity to all eternity, the one thing?
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He revealed our situation as helpless, but not hopeless.
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The dark reaches of our great need are eclipsed by the bright
45:45
light of hope. Taken as a whole, the truth is
45:53
hopeful and encouraging, and the sun does eventually shine
45:58
through dark clouds. When King Benjamin paused, there
46:02
was no back slapping or probably no smiles.
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People did not jump to their feet and cheer, no to the
46:11
contrary, they fell to the ground.
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They understood their need for a Savior and that that is the
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beginning of the process to become converted unto the Lord.
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Sharon took the opposite approach from King Benjamin.
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His approach was the popular feel good approach and he he was
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very successful at it. The Scripture records.
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And He preached many things which were flattering unto the
46:49
people. And he labored diligently, that
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he might lead away the hearts of the people, in so much that He
46:56
did lead away many hearts. And he was learned, and he had a
47:01
perfect knowledge of the language of the people.
47:04
Wherefore he could use much flattery and much power of
47:08
speech. According to the power of the
47:10
devil. People usually know the
47:14
difference between flattery and truth, and although they may
47:20
bask momentarily in the warm glow of flattery, they are
47:24
changed by truth. You can deal with almost
47:30
anything so long as you are dealing with the truth, and good
47:34
people recognize and trust truth when they hear it.
47:41
We can. We can easily go down the same
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Rd. as Cher, but never know it by teaching only sunshine, only
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those things that are most pleasing, things that flatter.
47:53
The beguiling aspect of the feel good gospel is that it feels the
47:57
benches and feels the coffers. It is the goldmine gospel.
48:04
If we want to feel the pews, that's how to do it.
48:07
There's nothing there. There's nothing wrong with
48:09
sunshine, but it is not the fullness of the gospel of Jesus
48:15
Christ. Not hardly.
48:19
So are you good enough? The answer is no, and probably
48:28
so. A false Christ is not not
48:33
limited to persons. As I've said before, it can be
48:37
an idea, a philosophy, or anything that obscures or
48:41
diminishes or distracts from the one thing Christ.
48:47
Self worth, self esteem, self help, self fulfillment, self
48:51
promotion, self importance, self-reliance and self-image are
48:55
not scriptural phrases. They are philosophies of men.
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There's nothing inherently wrong with any one of them except for
49:05
the high risk they predominate, which is then to become a false
49:11
Christ. In addition to the absence of
49:16
those phrases in Scripture, even the concepts are scarce.
49:22
The Lord doesn't talk about building 1's self esteem.
49:27
We we do have men are that they might have joy and we do have
49:31
the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and we should
49:37
love others as we love ourselves.
49:39
But those are few scant foundation on which to build an
49:44
entire life philosophy. Self esteem is more likely the
49:49
happy spinoff of the one thing following Christ rather than a
49:56
goal or target in and of itself. There are a few good things that
50:02
are more elusive the harder they are chased.
50:07
Happiness and self esteem, it seems to me, are two of them.
50:13
They seem to suffer the more you worry about them.
50:18
Self absorption is not scriptural either, and it
50:22
clearly isn't good. As I said before, you, if you
50:28
feel inadequate, if you feel like you're not good enough,
50:32
like you don't measure up or you're deficient, welcome to the
50:37
club. It's a big club.
50:42
The only difference between you and those not in the club is
50:46
they don't see or acknowledge the truth.
50:50
You are probably seeing the truth and the truth is hard to
50:53
face at times, especially when when you see yourself in its
50:57
reflection and you likely see only part of the truth.
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Only part of the truth. Your weaknesses without your
51:06
strengths, you're awful situation without the solution,
51:13
seeing only part of the truth, it is easy to become discouraged
51:17
or look away all together. You may cry out with Nephi, all
51:25
wretched man that I am. Yeah, my heart sorrow with, he
51:30
said. Because of my flesh, my soul
51:33
grieveth. Because of mine iniquities, you
51:38
may weep bitterly with Peter, you may shrink with Paul or Alma
51:47
or the sons of Messiah. Knowing your weakness, you may
51:52
say, as Isaiah said, woe is me, for I am undone because I am a
52:00
man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of
52:04
unclean lips. You may often feel condemned for
52:09
your weaknesses and imperfections as Enos and
52:13
Joseph, Joseph Smith. Seeing what is ahead, you may
52:18
also ask, as Moses asked, who am I that I should go up into
52:26
Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out
52:29
of Egypt? And if you do, and if you
52:33
listen, you will hear the Lord say to you, I will be with thee.
52:41
Certainly I will be with thee, a woman said.
52:47
I want to be what the Lord wants me to be, but I'm scared that I
52:51
won't be able to do everything. I have anxiety that my doubts
52:56
and myself will hold me and my husband back from being able to
53:00
attend the temple and be sealed. I worry that my anxieties and
53:06
shortcomings will prevent me from moving forward.
53:09
I have a hard time, she said, talking through my doubts and
53:13
fears. After my divorce, I decided
53:17
perhaps I wasn't good enough to qualify for the Lord's greatest
53:21
blessings. That was the end of her quote.
53:27
She's right. We are not good enough, but the
53:32
Lord is, and He will be with us and help us if we let him.
53:40
That is the one thing. It is tragic to step back from
53:46
church activity because of mistakes and consequent guilt.
53:52
It is instinctive and natural, but catastrophically wrong.
53:57
It compounds the Air Christ atone for our sins to draw us
54:06
in, not to push us away. Like like mountain biking.
54:13
The question is not if you will crash, rather how often and how
54:20
badly. As you get better, the crashes
54:24
decline. Just don't let your crashes
54:27
define you, or worse yet, chase you off the mountain all
54:32
together. You are not your mistakes.
54:37
Look down the trail. We are deficient, we are prone
54:42
to air and we make mistakes. We fall short, we don't measure
54:46
up. But the Lord will be with us if
54:49
we let Him. If you get discouraged,
54:54
particularly as you look inward, it may just mean you have a
55:01
pulse. It may just mean you are seeing
55:04
things as they really are. In that regard, you're no
55:08
different than anyone else on the planet.
55:12
The good news is you see it, you're honest about it, you own
55:20
it, and you can do something about it.
55:25
That is why your heart beats. It is why you draw breath to
55:31
strive day-to-day, moment to moment, to become more like the
55:37
Lord Jesus Christ by following Him and doing His work, His hard
55:47
work. As I have said before, you might
55:51
mistakenly believe that you can't really follow the Lord
55:55
because the standard of His life is so astonishingly high as to
56:00
appear to be unreachable. You might think it is too hard,
56:06
too high, too much, and beyond your capacity.
56:10
At least for now, do not, do not believe that it isn't true.
56:19
While the standard of the Lord is the highest, don't ever think
56:23
it is only reachable by a select few who are most stable.
56:29
Again, as I've said before in this lie, in this instance
56:34
life's experience misleads us. Our experience here tells us
56:39
that the highest achievements in any human endeavor are always
56:44
the most difficult, and therefore only achievable by a
56:48
select few who are most stable. The higher the standard, the
56:52
fewer can reach it. That is not That is not the case
56:58
here, because unlike every other experience in this life, this is
57:04
not a human endeavor. It is rather the work of the
57:09
gods. It is God's work, and it is his
57:15
glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of
57:21
man, meaning you, including you. There's nothing else like it,
57:32
not anywhere, not ever. No other endeavor, institution,
57:38
plan, program, or system ever conceived by man has access to
57:43
the redeeming and transforming power of the Atonement of Jesus
57:47
Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
57:53
Therefore, while the Lord's invitation to follow Him is the
57:57
highest of all, it is also achievable by everyone, not
58:04
because we are able, but because He is and because He can make us
58:11
able to. So back to the question, are you
58:15
good enough? Probably so, depending on where
58:21
you are. So where are you?
58:25
We'll consider the answer to that important question in the
58:29
next episode. I hope you will join me then.