“And he gave unto them commandments, that they should
worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks,
for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam
was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.
And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam,
saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the
Lord commanded me.
And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude
of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and
truth” (Moses 5:5-7).
The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and fulfilled the Law of
Moses. No longer were the followers of
God required to sacrifice the most valuable lamb of their flock. A deeper, more intimate sacrifice was now
necessary.
When Christ came to the Americas, he proclaimed, “Ye shall
offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart
and a contrite heart” (3 Nephi 9:20).
The heart of the natural man is cold and hard as stone. What
does it mean to give a broken heart and a contrite spirit? Essentially, we must humble ourselves and
approach our Heavenly Father with a teachable spirit. The hardened heart must be cracked, crushed,
and ground to powder in order to be sculpted into what God wants it to be.
I find it interesting that Adam didn’t understand the “why”
behind the commandments, but he was willing to be obedient and make the
sacrifices asked of him. Our willingness
to sacrifice for the Lord is a reflection of our love for and dedication to the
Father.
The natural man does not
make sacrifices. Self-preservation is
the top priority of nature. What
separates us from the other animals is our powerful understanding of
morality. To sacrifice things of the
world is to gain spiritual blessings.
Therefore, the natural man cannot understand spiritual truths. Giving up this world will gain us the world
to come.
In Christ’s encounter with the rich young man, we see that
we must do more than simply keep the commandments in order to enter the kingdom
of God. We have to be willing to give all to our Heavenly Father. Christ’s apostles “straightway left their
nets, and followed him” (Matt. 4:20).
All followers of Christ have been commanded to keep the law
of chastity. In regards to same-sex
attraction, any appetite outside the boundaries that the Lord has set must
simply be given up. Even when every inch
of our bodies wants to satisfy that craving, we must be willing to give up all to follow Christ. From a life-long perspective, this can be a
daunting and devastating proposition.
How could a merciful God ask so much of us?! I’ve heard a
saying that a government that can give you anything has the power to take
anything from you. However inadequate the
comparison may be, I see the Supreme Creator in a similar yet inverse
manner. The Being that can give you
eternal life and mansions in His kingdom must
require everything of us.
Remember what God has asked of those before us. Abraham waited a lifetime for a son with his
wife, Sarah. When he finally gained the
blessing he wanted more than any earthly treasure, he was asked to literally
slaughter his son, Isaac. Can you imagine? How heart-wrenching would that be? I’m sure
that Abraham would be willing to give up anything
to substitute for the life of his son.
Yet, he surrendered his will to the Father, thereby securing marvelous
eternal blessings.
Christ made an enormous and incomprehensible sacrifice, suffering not only the sins of the world, but
every heartbreak, sickness, temptation, and pain. Justice required nothing of Him; He was
perfect in every spiritual way. But He
surrendered His will to the Father in the ultimate and incomparable sacrifice
of atonement.
So why does the Father require all of His children to make
such incredible sacrifices? How is that
fair? He has eternal life and glory in
heaven, why does He want more? Last
Sunday when I was teaching Gospel Principles, it came to my mind that our
Father has made enormous sacrifices. He
gave His perfect son to the wicked world for slaughter so that we could have
the option to choose wrong; this is widely-acknowledged. But another form of sacrifice is more subtle
and overlooked.
In the pre-earth life, we decided between agency and guaranteed
security. Our Father and His champion
Jesus Christ stood in defense of agency.
God could have chosen to retain our agency, forcing us to live our lives
without the pain of sin and making sure that we would live with Him forever in
bliss. However, HE sacrificed control over our wills for our good. He knew
that many of us would never live with Him again. Can you imagine the torture inflicted on Him
because of that choice? He loves us in
an incomprehensible way. I doubt I could
do that!
Essentially, our Father has given us everything, which makes tithing a simple and minor sacrifice by
comparison. Nothing that we have is
truly ours…except our will. Our Heavenly
Father has completely surrendered that power to us. So in order for us to gain everything our Father has, we must be
willing to give everything to
Him.
When we have these truths in mind, is abstinence and chastity that
much of a sacrifice?
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