UNBELIEF --As we sang the opening song (The Spirit of God) in Sacrament Meeting today, the song's prophetic words had new meanings for me. They raised questions in my mind: Is the Spirit of God really "burning" like a "fire" as was promised it could at the opening of this final dispensation of the Gospel? Are the "visions and blessings of old" really returning as prophesied or are we keeping them at bay by our unbelief that it really refers to us?
Latter-day prophets have repeatedly told us that we are "living beneath our promised blessings," that all the children of Zion are under condemnation (D&C 84:55-57) because of our failure to fully live by the light we have been given, therefore denying ourselves the greater light and "hidden treasures of knowledge" (D&C 89:19) we have been promised and urged to strive for.
STRIVING -- Are we really striving to keep the command-ments and the covenants we have made at baptism and in the temple? This is a question we must answer when interviewed for temple worthiness. Do we sometimes answer it without thinking of the implications that that word imposes? Are we keeping the commandments and our covenants passively much of the time when a proactive approach is essential if we really expect the "visions and blessings of old" to return?
The words of another familiar hymn comes to mind: "More holiness give me; more strength from within;; more patience in suffering; more sorrow for sin; more faith in my Savior; more sense of his care; more joy in his service; more purpose in prayer." We need to pay more attention to the word striving if we wish to get past our unbelief and really seek the greater blessings we have been promised and commanded to ask for, seek, and knock to have opened to us.
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