Elder Bruce R. McConkie said in October 1971… “True and perfect worship consists in following in the steps of the Son of God; it consists in keeping the commandments and obeying the will of the Father to that degree that we advance from grace to grace until we are glorified in Christ as he is in his Father. It is far more than prayer and sermon and song. It is living and doing and obeying. It is emulating the life of the great Exemplar…
To worship the Lord is to put first in our lives the things of his kingdom, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, to center our whole hearts upon Christ and that salvation which comes because of him. It is to walk in the light as he is in the light, to do the things he wants done, to do what he would do under similar circumstances, to be as he is.”
The ‘To worship the Lord’ part of his talk continues for twelve more paragraphs; Click this link [i] How to Worship to read further, scroll down to the paragraphs beginning with ‘To worship the Lord…’, a little over halfway through the talk).
Schools of thought I can choose from: First, the difficult; The point is NOT to set up an impossible standard that would cause me to simply throw up my hands and say in defeat, “this just simply isn’t me!” And it’s not…right now. The point is, by my embracing such ideals now, in ‘theory’, I set the stage that someday such progress, ‘destination’ will happen. Consistent, humble striving will make it so. Another way I can look at it would be to relate it to some earthly discipline (though all earthly disciplines pale in comparison to becoming truly like Jesus Christ.) Advanced degrees in the earthly arena take patience, time, sacrifice, time, blood, sweat, tears, time, you name it, …and more time! My fallen mortal condition means learning ‘line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. [ii] 2 Nephi 28:30 Honestly, humbly followed, the progress is slow… but sure.
Second, in this fallen condition… even more difficult: I can hasten the progress by placing myself in total surrender to the Lord’s will, whatever he asks I will do, pushing away all doubt, leaving behind all thoughts of how inconvenient it is to my mortal here and now and just do what he wants me to do, when he wants it done. Think of the rich young ruler the Lord told to sell all he had and follow him. He couldn’t do it. He was too wrapped up in his things and influence. (I am not suggesting abandoning family or loved ones. Many have followed this path singly, blessing their families as they live a higher law and their families are much stronger (blest) through their discipline and Christlike example).
Third, stay with the status quo, make no changes: which of itself, is a choice against Christ and leads away from him through spiritual atrophy. Over time, defiance against him often results. Taking such a path causes many to believe there is no God. Because they have abandoned Him, does not mean He has abandoned them… He is always there for the sincere repentful heart, but the greater the distance we created from Him, makes the returning path much more difficult. One small example; ‘misery loves company’. Abandonment of our friends in misery, is very difficult since they may be the only friends we perceive close as mortals (yet Jesus Christ can become closer to us than any mortal!).
It has been said: ‘Unless the vessel is clean, whatever you pour into it turns sour’~Hoarce The refreshing living water from Christ means I must sincerely strive to ‘clean my vessel’ in order not to contaminate his influence. At the same time he knows that the striving process comes mistakes as I learn, establish what He would have me become through him. kdm
