Doctrine and Covenants 88:123-126. See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another, as the gospel requires. Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. And about all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace. Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.
God is clear to his children. Through his prophets, in this case, Joseph Smith, he is able to communicate to us exactly what he expects of us. In Doctrine and Covenants 88, it speaks much of what we call the plan of salvation in the atonement but it end it gives us specific instruction on how to act, especially in the temple, but in life in general. God is straightforward with his children. If we ask, he will guide us to the answer.
This specific scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 88:123-126 is an extremely powerful scripture. This whole section is extremely powerful, but I will just focus today on these 4 verses.
As you heard, this scripture speaks on many things from loving one another, exercising, resting properly, and of course Pray Always.
Just because it is Valentine’s day and of course it is an important topic, I will briefly talk about verse 123, “See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.” Love is the most important commandment. Of course most people know of the verses about Love that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Jesus speaks to his apostles in Luke 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” We as brothers and sisters need to love everyone. I myself am not perfect at this. I am sure none of us are. We strive to be perfect and righteous like our brother Jesus Christ. We need to not think hateful things towards each other but wish the best for each other regardless if we do not get along in the office, or at school, or even here in church. I am not saying that we need to be best friends with our enemies, but we do need to strive to truly care about the person.
This verse tells us not to be covetous and learn to impart one to another, as the gospel requires. Covetous is painfully desiring of another’s advantages. We shouldn’t be desiring what others have and be jealous. Part of not being covetous is being happy with what you have. I have seen a lot lately of people being constantly unhappy with life. There are constant complaints in the world on how bad the roads are in good or bad weather, how jobs are not paying enough when in all reality people are blessed that they have a job, in the music world there are people who constantly complain how they have to go to rehearsal when they should be happy that they were accepted in to a select ensemble. Life is hard. We are allowed to complain, but we need to monitor how much we do so and just be grateful for what we have. What will help us not be covetous is to do what this scripture says. We need to impart or to share thoughts, ideas, gifts, abilities, and even testimonies with each other. If we do these few things, we as human beings and as brothers and sisters, can build each other up in good and bad times, and also help each other with trials with life. Life is hard enough as it is, we might as well help each other through it.
The next part of the scripture states “cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault in one another.” This scripture speaks for itself. It does go on to say “cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” I am not very good at this. I am pretty sure it is the opposite with my sleep schedule. But, I can testify that this is true. There have been times where I can get to bed before midnight, not very often anymore, but when I do and I get up in the morning, it is so nice. Usually, Marcus would work shifts in the afternoon to late at night. It would be so nice to get up because then I was able to spend some quality time with my husband before he had to leave to work. I have noticed how much more awake I am when I go to bed and how much more energized and mainly happy I am when I am able to do this. Many of us have new years resolutions. One of mine is getting to bed at a decent time so I am able to get up in the morning and accomplish more in the day. I found out this is easier said than done. And I am doing my best to do so.
“And about all things, clothe yourself with the bond of charity as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.” I love this part. I had to really study this to figure out what it was really saying. Clothe yourself with the bond of charity. That part is beautiful. It is not just talking about giving to charities, but to be like Christ, to show unconditional love for one another. To help everyone and care for everyone with a full heart regardless of who they are, what they do, or what they have done. It also says to wear charity as a mantle. Do not just show charity just to show it. Make it a mantle. Make charity part of your character and every day life. Make charity part of your identity. Jesus in his day showed this through being with the lepers, healing the sick, and of course being with the children. Jesus is a perfect example of what charity is. We show charity through unconditional love that Jesus has showed for us. We help and aid the suffering and help those in need. It is nice to donate to charities. It is encouraged especially with what is going on in Haiti right now. But, we can also help each other here at home. Babysitting each other’s children so we all have chances to go to the temple, helping each other move or just being there in difficult times. Sometimes, showing charity just means lending and ear to a person who just needs somebody to listen. This is the bond of perfectness and peace.
“Pray always, that ye not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.” How encouraging. Pray always, and he will come quickly and receive us unto him. Like I said before, Life is hard and we need to help each other through it. Our Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus are always there to listen and also they are there to help. We just need to go to them when we need the help. We also need to go to them when we don’t need help and give thanks for the blessings in our lives. I find myself going to pray when I need something. Reminds me of being a teenager and going to my Mom asking for money all the time. For gas, for clothes, to go out with friends, what ever it may be. At the time I really didn’t go to my Mom just to talk to her or thank her for all that she has done for me. Heavenly Father is the same way. Yes, he will be there in our times of struggle, but he has also been there in times of great joy. Remember, to pray often and not just for the struggles in your life but also pray just to pray. Heavenly Father, just like our parents, love hearing from their children, especially when things are going well.
This scripture shows us so much guidance. One can base their character just off of these few verses. If we all strive to do what these four verses tell us to do and pray often, I am faithful that all of our lives will improve. Our out look on life, even when life isn’t going that great or when life is going wonderfully, will improve and in the long run, we will be truly happier. Everyone in this world strives to be happy. They are looking for happiness in their lives. If we listen to Heavenly Father and live by this, happiness will come.
I to try to live out this scripture and impart unto you today my testimony. Hopefully, it will help someone today. If it doesn’t help any of you, I know just by sharing it, it will help me. I have a strong testimony in this scripture. If we try to live out this scripture and try to show unconditional love towards each other and charity, and what the rest of this scripture has stated, we will be happier. I know that this is the true church. This is what our Heavenly Father and Jesus intended. So much happiness has come into my life just because I have joined this church a little over two years ago. I will say the road was challenging for a while with converting to the church, but I do not regret any part of it one bit. I know that families can be together forever. That when someone passes before us and even children that we haven’t been able to meet, I know that they are still apart of my family, and they will be forever and I will get to be with them again. I love knowing that and I love knowing that Marcus is my eternal companion for time and all eternity. I love this church and I will never forsake. I say all of these things with a sincere hear in the name of our brother Jesus Christ. Amen.
