From previous post: (To Stop Something I) Evil people exist. The in-betweeners merely survive. But those who have really lived will be those who have lived righteously, because they will have lived righteously and served selflessly in a time of stunning contrasts. They will have managed to keep clean in a dirty world. And being free, they will be happy in otherwise sad times, and all their experiences will be for their good.
Conitining: “The righteous and serving will feel when others are “past feeling.” They will love when the love of others has waxed cold. They will also have been different enough to have made a real difference in the world. They will know inner peace when fear envelops them. They will go on serving when others are lost in raging selfishness, a selfishness that is like the relentless and wild pounding of the troubled sea, when it cannot rest” (Isiah 57:20.)
Righteous preserves and sharpens the tastebuds of the soul, while selfishness first scalds and then destroys them. Selfishness also shrinks the soul and brings down our antennae of affection. Righteous service is everlasting in its impact, while other deeds are like “plowing furrows in the ocean,” to use the imagery of Bolivar.
Meanwhile, let us not be dismayed with the actions of dissenters from the Kingdom who will go out into the cold because they cannot stand the heat.
Service softens, not burdens the heart. The gospel gentles us and tames us—it does not make us more wild. Service keeps indolence at bay. Pure love keeps us from all manner of lasciviousness. Service keeps us from forgetting the Lord our God, because being among and serving our brothers and sisters reminds us that Father is ever there and is pleased when we serve, for while the recipients of our service are neighbors, they are His children.~ Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980)p. 64-5
