"Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost."
Humility is the first step to accessing the principles of the Gospel. We must "desire, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word." (Alma 32:22)
"Think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed, marriages preserved, and homes strengthened, if pride did not keep us from confessing our sins and forsaking them. (See D&C 58:43.)"
"Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion." Zion is the residence of the pure in heart, where "there was no poor among them." "And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God" as the people and city of Enoch. Is this not our hope for the whole world? The second coming is soon. Let us prepare the way of the Lord by establishing Zion. "The Saints are counseled to build up Zion wherever they are living in the world."
I want to discuss these doctrine, applying to our personal lives.
"Pride adversely affects all our relationships—our relationship with God and His servants, between husband and wife, parent and child, employer and employee, teacher and student, and all mankind. Our degree of pride determines how we treat our God and our brothers and sisters. Christ wants to lift us to where He is. Do we desire to do the same for others?"
I am prompted to speak on how we should be humble to yourself, your spouse, your children, neighbors, family, and community. We also should be humble to your God, callings, priesthood, employers, and teachers. If I were to address each relationship, I will be speaking for an excessive amount of time. The following quote from Matthew 22 will simplify my message:
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
We should be humble and loving to ourselves, loving other people the same way. Also we ought to understand and work well with yourself. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. There are many ways that people have relationships with themselves. We have to face our weaknesses, strengths, temptations, natural man, bodies, minds, backgrounds, upbringing, and spirit. There are many ways that we need to be humble to ourselves.
I like to have personal definitions for words.
- The recognition of our weaknesses takes humility because we are self-aware.
- My wife attended the strengths strategies workshop. It is based on Deanna Murphy the P2B speakers curriculum. It recommends that we lead our lives with your strengths rather than focusing on your weaknesses. Find a passion to pursue, and your weaknesses will not be as bad.
- Temptations are our personal struggles with specific sin.
- The natural man are the natural tendencies of man to achieve their unrighteousness selfish desires with the least amount of effort. Let me give you an example. In Elder Snow's talk, he said "As we raise our own children, we need to help them remain humble as they mature into adulthood. We do not do this by breaking their spirit through unkindness or by being too harsh in our discipline."
- We have to be humble to our bodies. Our bodies have requirements to be healthy, and they are not perfect. The imperfections of our bodies require a greater humility.
- Our minds have habits to many times we defeat ourselves before we attempt to do something. Our minds have their personal way of interpreting the world.
- Each of us have our own personal experiences that have shaped us. We may be limited and may have confidence to do things based on the experiences of our lives.
- We have to be humble to how we have grown from a child. Understand that we have been shaped by the people around us, and people who have raised us.
- We need to respect and be humble to our spirit because we can forsake our spirit and become enveloped in the many aspects of what makes us who we are. We are spirit children of God, our Father in Heaven.
- We also have to be humble to the Holy Ghost who prompts us very privately to do things that we can only do. Do the things that you personally feel that is right for you based on your personal revelation.
"We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. (See D&C 38:24; D&C 81:5; D&C 84:106.)
"The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us."
We should recognize the enmity, “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition" that we have within ourselves, and we should forsake them. We should esteem all people as we do ourselves.
When we recognize ourselves as we understand our state of being, we can recognize other people for what they might be enduring. Treat every moment as a personal moment. Listen to each other, not having a loaded answer to reply.
Be willing to change. As we understand who we are, we are self-aware. We can recognize what is bad in our souls. We can face them, and try to overcome our personal challenges.
"Spencer W. Kimball, the 12th President of the Church, said: 'How does one get humble? To me, one must constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom dependent? On the Lord. How remind one’s self? By real, constant, worshipful, grateful prayer.'"
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