The definition of diligence is defined by webster as "persevering determination to complete a task" (1). This could be considered a desirable characteristic in any needed application. Who could show more about the ability to stay diligent more perfectly than Jesus Christ.
In St. Luke chapter 4 Christ's forty day fast is described, and in regards to the temptation he experienced Luke wrote in verses 3-12, "And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them; for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefor wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (2). Though this is just one example, Christ was able to overcome all the temptations with diligence through the whole knowledge he had of the gospel. Though we do not have a complete understanding, we to can avoid temptation through the lessons of Christ.
The great philosopher Confucius wrote, "It is easy to hate and difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get" (3). This idea shows so greatly Satan's ability to persuade the hearts of men. We must be determined to see past and conclusively get through the hardships placed before us. We are not born with a wicked heart. A belief that we are innately corrupt is merely due to the enticing from a being that has lost. Confucius did not show error in his statement but the reasoning behind what he wrote is not evident.
Is Confucius's thought so different from the story of the tree of life? The tree that was seen in visions by Lehi and Nephi. The great setting which Nephi described in 1 Nephi 11:25 saying, "And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life: which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of god" (4). Though their was a great desire to obtain the tree of life their was also the great burden or temptation in being diligent enough to achieve it. Nephi spoke of this hardship in 1 Nephi 8:26-28 when he relayed his fathers vision saying, "And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth. And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking the fruit. And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost" (5). Without the diligence to ignore the onlookers and see through their resentment the people would fall away. It would have taken many hardships to get to the tree and stay, but it would be so easy to just let go of the rod for a little while.
This can be likened to our day by noticing that keeping the commandments can, much of the time, be very difficult. Many times it is so much easier to just keep watching the movie, sleep in and skip reading, keep listening to the song, or skip church just this once. As Confucius said though, "All good things are difficult to achieve." To keep us holding on, and staying diligent, are scriptures and prophets. One simple scripture which I edit to become more personal is D&C 18:8 which reads, "And now, marvel not that I have called him unto mine own purpose, which purpose is known in me; wherefore, if he shall be diligent in keeping my commandments he shall be blessed unto eternal life; and his name is" _________ (your name) (6). Simply stated, if you diligently keep the commandments you will have eternal life.
(1) Websters Dictionary
(2) New Testament - Luke 4:3-12
(3) Writtings of Confucius
(4) Book of Mormon - 1 Nephi 11:25
(5) Book of Mormon - 1 Nephi 8:26-28
(6) Doctrine and Covenants - 18:8
11 comments:
Andrew, I like your idea that good things are hard and require diligence. Your intro could use more of a lead-in to this focus. Try not to quote so much of text, and comment more. How is this topic personal to you?
Your ideas and supporting quotations are good. Can you make more direct transitions between diligence and the other ideas in your paragraphs? I also recommend that you proof-read your punctuation. You can fix that by returned the posting post and hitting "edit."
I agree with you that the hardest things to achieve in life are also the best things. The confucious quote went right along with this, and I liked that.
I like how you said that it is so easy to miss church one Sunday, sleep in and skip reading one day, or to watch just one bad movie. You sent out a good message that the best things are hard to achieve and we need to really work for them.
I liked the scriptures that you shared at the beginning of your blog. I interesting aspect of those scriptures I think is the Jesus Christ quoted scripture to Satan. So in these scripture Christ was showing diligence, but also that he was diligent in studying and learning the scripture and that if he studied the scriptures how much more do we need to study of scriptures with all diligence.
Good blog. I liked how you linked everything together, especially linking Confucius and the Book of Mormon. Something for future blogs and papers, when telling a story, try not to quote the entire story (Luke 4:3-12), paraphrase it and use bits of those scriptures in your paraphrase. Overall a good post.
I love how you talked about how easy it is to choose the wrong, and how easy it is to choose the right!!! It is so true and i thank you for reminding me. Thanks!
Andrew! What a great blog! I really enjoyed that you included Confucius, i'ts so nice not only having to listen to old greek philosiphers!
Loved the Confucious, quote, I think I'll yoink it...
Well done!
It is true what Confucius said. I like how you incorporated other faiths and beliefs into your blog and then tied it together.
I like that quote of Confucius. another one I like from a song is "sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same."
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