When Bro. Ridd was in seminary as a young man. They were supposed to read the Book of Mormon. The teacher had a chart and for each chapter students read, they got a gold star.
He fell behind in his reading, and was embarrassed that he didn’t have the gold stars. So he started reading the Book of Mormon. He read after class and in the evenings and finally caught up.
“What did I get from my reading?” he said. “You might think I got a testimony. But you're wrong. What I got was gold stars.” That was his desire. That was WHY he read. He said, “I read the right book for the wrong reasons.”
As we keep the commandments we might ask, WHY are we doing it? Are we doing it with “real intent”? That is, to learn and follow the will of God.
Why do we go to church? Or pray? Or keep any of the commandments? Because we’re supposed to? We might do them to please our mission president or our parents. Then that is our reward. It doesn’t make us better or more spiritual people, because our reason for doing it is earth-based.
We lose out on great blessings. What might be better reasons?
1. to learn God’s will.
2. to please God.
3. to get spiritual strength to overcome challenges of life.
4. Because we love God and want to become like him.
What other good reasons can you think of?
If we keep the commandments for these reasons, we have “real intent.” We’re doing it for the right reasons. The Lord will fulfill these desires and in ADDITION—the mission president and parents will be happy.
So think about the WHY of your actions. Why are you going to church? Why do you pray? Why do you do each of the things you do? (listen to music, video games, argue… and so on.)
President Benson had a guiding question for every discussion or action brought before him: What’s best for the Kingdom of God?
What would happen if we asked that question before every action we took: How will this build the kingdom of God? What’s best for the Kingdom?
This is why doing is not enough. This is why just being obedient or going through the motions are not enough to take you back to the Celestial Kingdom. You need to act with real intent. You are promised the desires of your heart.
When those desires are people-focused, you get the blessings people can give. When they are god-focused, you get the heavenly blessings.
I think I need to evaluate and re-evaluate the why behind my actions—both in and out of the church. Am I seeking what’s best for the Kingdom in what I do? Am I just going through the motions… or actually trying to find God’s will and follow it?
At the end of the day… after we’ve put in all that work…wouldn’t it be sad to earn only man-made gold stars, and not Eternal Life?
I pray that we all will to the Lord’s work with real intent that we may receive the blessings He wants to bestow on us.
Love this! You're right on the mark! I need to reevaluate as well. I feel like I do a lot of things "right" but the "why" is usually because the Lord has asked me to and that's been good enough for me. To progress, I need to change my "why". Thanks!
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