For the Right Reasons

Have you ever asked yourself why you obey the commandments?

I remember a while back discussing this briefly with my aunt and uncle at a family function. I don't remember how it got brought up, but my uncle mentioned being obedient to commandments in order to receive the promised blessings.

Is that why we obey, for the promised blessings? Well why not? Isn't that why they were promised in the first place?

I asked my uncle, what was Christ's motivation was for His obeidence. Do you think that He did it for the blessings and glory? I was surprised when he said he though He did.

"Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever" (Moses 4:3). If not for the blessings, for the glory, for the progress, then why? Don't get me wrong, I do believe that these motivations played a part in His life. I think His eternal progress was a small part of His decision making.

But ultimately, it wasn't the key to His decisions. In fact that was the noted difference that caused the Father to choose Christ over Lucifer (I believe He would have chosen Christ anyway, but there's ony one scripturally noted reason). That was Lucifer's key. He wanted the glory. God chose Christ because He wasn't motivated by the glory.

So then why? What was His motivation?

I thought it was fairly obvious, but perhaps not. Christ obeyed His Father, He agreed to be the sacrifice for our salvation, out of love. His selfless personality allowed him to care for the blessings and glory of those He loves above his own blessings and glory.

Why is love and selflessness such a key attribute in God's plan? Is it wrong to be ambitious?

While it's true that ambition promotes fiscal success in a capitalist society, financial prosperity is unequivalent to spiritual progress. Egotism and ambition lead a man to develop unrighteous characteristics, which is why it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

John Steinbeck noted in Cannery Row, "'It has always seemed strange to me,' said Doc. 'The things that we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling and the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."

Self-centeredness inihibits personal progress. Our personal development, while not entirely dependent on our relationship with others, is very much accelerated by it. Take knowledge, for example. How far would you get if nobody shared knowledge, and all you could learn was by your own experience? No books, no school, just you.

What about other necessary attributes of godhood? Can you develop those by yourself? Some, by definition require selflessness to some degree, such as love and service. But do we really serve with the intent of helping others? Or is out intent to receive promised blessings, or even win the praise of others?

Other commandements we can obey alone: fasting, tithing, fulfilling our callings, etc. Again why do we obey these commandments?

Do we fast because we want the spiritual closeness that it allows? Or do we fast because one of our brothers or sisters can scarcely afford to eat? Do we pay our tithing so that the windows of heaven with open to us? Or do we pay it because we love the church, and desire to financially support it to assist in its growth and progress? Do we magnify our callings because you expect it to bring you closer to celestial glory? Or do you do it because those you serve truly benefit from the service you provide?

A man cannot achieve the highest glory with selfish motives. It doesn't matter that he's obedient. He's obedient for himself. What matters is that he's obedient for the right reasons. Would you glorify a god that does not care about you, but has selfish motives?

We've gotta stop preaching blessings over the pulpit and start preaching love and selflessness. You can't earn divinity. You have to become divine.