“He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers” [1] This quote shows how important diligence in our every day lives. If we just go through our days serving Heavenly Father without diligence then are we really serving Him to our fullest?
Being diligent is the key to serving Heavenly Father in the best way we can. Throughout the scriptures the prophets serve Him in every way they can, but only those who were diligent in there work were truly rewarded. In Doctrine and Covenants section 70 verse 15 states: “Now, this commandment I give unto my servants for their benefit while they remain, for a manifestation of my blessings upon their heads, and for a reward of their diligence and for their security.” Only when we are diligent will be we rewarded for our efforts when we return to our Father in Heaven.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that diligence is “characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort.” This characterization is shown throughout the scriptures and should become a part of our everyday life. By being diligent toward God and His commandments will we truly become like Christ and his prophets.
When you are diligently in the service of God you will reap the rewards for eternity. Teaching others the Gospel is a perfect example of serving God diligently. Serving a mission can be rewarding or a burden; it depends on whether or not you are earnest in your work. I know several missionaries that have loved serving God and I know very few that said that it wasn’t a great experience. The missionaries that loved to serve, served diligently and had their minds focused on God and His work while they were doing His work. On the other hand, the missionaries that didn’t enjoy serving God didn’t work diligently. They had their mind focused on other things and they didn’t realize that this would be a detriment from their blessings.
In a talk by Richard G. Scott he states, “Now, to summarize, blessings come when we—Ask the Father in the name of Christ, Diligently keep His commandments, Ask with faith in Christ, Ask for that which is right, Harden not our hearts, and Express gratitude.” Notice that he says “Diligently keep His commandments.” We can’t slide by the Lord, we have to diligently keep his commandments to truly find favor in the Lord’s sight. I've noticed that throughout my life when I am not keeping his commandments diligently I do not receive or notice as many blessings in my life. When my father was baptized I noticed that he would strive to keep the commandments even more diligently than the other people I noticed around me. He noticed at this first stage of being LDS that if he kept the commandments diligently that not only he would receive the blessings the Lord had in store for him but he would also give blessings to my entire family, especially blessings concerning a worthy priesthood holder. We had never encountered priesthood blessings before he became a member and that was the greatest blessing we could ever receive. By having my father keep the commandments diligently he could use his priesthood to help my family in many different ways.
If we “serve him with all diligence of mind…he will…deliver you out of bondage.” [2] The Lord will give us peace from the worldly things if we diligently seek to do what is right in the sight of God. “We must have a sincere desire to believe. Phrases such as “awake,” “arouse your faculties,” “experiment,” and “exercise a particle of faith” are action words that suggest sustained effort on our part.”[3] This shows that we need to have diligence to serve our Lord, only then will we believe in the true work of this day. Diligence will help us realize our blessings that are awaiting for us when we return to live with Him again.
Footnotes:
[1] Quote by Zoroaster, an Iranian prophet (628 – 551 B.C.)
[2] Mosiah 7:33
[3] “securing our Testimonies” Donald L. Staheli, Ensign Nov 1991.
Sources:
1. D&C 70:15
2. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary 11th edition
3. “Obtaining help from the Lord” Richard G. Scott, Ensign Nov 1991.
4. Mosiah 7:33
5. “Securing our Testimonies” Donald L. Staheli, Ensign Nov 2004.
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9 comments:
I like the connection you make between attitude and diligence. If we are earnest in our service, we will be happy. How is this related to our belief in the gospel? Also, great theme of earning our reward through diligence (or on the other hand, not meriting blessings if we’re not diligent).
I like the example of your father being very diligent in keeping the commandments after he was baptized. I felt the same way after I was converted. I wanted to be very obedient, not as a "letter-of-the-law" rigidity, but in order to please Heavenly Father.
I really liked the story about your dad. It's neat that you noticed him really striving to diligently keep the commandments so he could use the priesthood to bless his family. Great job Katie!
thank you for this blog. I know how it feels to be serving the Lord and knowing it isnt diligent enough. You can really feel the difference! The story of your father is beautiful and its wonderful how you see and are grateful how it has affected your life.
I really like what you have on the thought of diligence and serving faithfully. The easy thing to do would to be lazy and shirk your responsibilities. Though I am not yet a father I can see it in callings at church. When we work hard we feel that love from our heavenly father that says well done thou faithful and wise servant. I should be more thankful that God entrusted me to be a clerk, even though much of it is boring in managing the database though the church program. I later think that all the different callings are necessary.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I know that if we serve our Heavenly Father diligently, He will diligently reward us. I also like how you make the connection about serving a mission diligently. We must give all of ourselves to the Lord's work.
I really liked the entering quote by the Iranian prophet and how you were able to connect it to a common term.
I really liked that you looked up the definition, and the story of your fathers steadfastness was very inspiring.
thats an awesome opening quote. it really caught my attention and made me think.
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