Thursday, January 8, 2015

Moroni 7:17 -- On Good Persuasion

"But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."
Moroni 7:17


I like this insight because it helps us remove some of the obscuring mist that we sometimes manufacture in order to justify bad choices.  God makes it more clear, and simple in some ways.  If something persuades us to do good, and serve God, then we know it is good.  And if something persuades us to do evil, and not serve God, then we know it is bad.  And we can even look at ourselves this way, right?  If we are trying to talk people out of attending church or praying or reading the scriptures, then we're doing bad stuff.  And if we are helping them to go to church, or pray, or read the scriptures more often, then we're doing good stuff.  There are other things, but those are some basics.  And sometimes it is good to look at things in the most simple way, because then we realize... oh, wait.  I wasn't supportive of church, or tithing, or following the prophet, or of standing up for Christ in that situation.  I was going to the dark side. :)  And if we realize that, maybe we can rethink our choices, and turn around, and do better.  Because it almost always is this simple.
Today, let's not assume that we are exceptions to God's rules.  Let's assume they apply to us, and look at our lives this simply.  Let's see where we are persuading to do good and where we aren't... and let's adjust our actions to be more in accordance with believing in God and serving him.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Total Pageviews