Men of Influence: The Potential of the Priesthood to Lift the World by Robert L. Millet

Author:Robert L. Millet [Millet, Robert L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gospel Teachings
ISBN: 9781606410950
Google: Zeo6PgAACAAJ
Amazon: 1606410954
Publisher: Deseret Book
Published: 2009-05-13T06:00:00+00:00

POINTS TO PONDER

1. Am I sensitive enough to recognize when my laughter is beyond the limits of propriety?

2. Am I open and teachable enough to ask others whom I trust to assist me in assessing the propriety of my humor? Whom would I contact?

3. What is the difference between being giddy and being joyous?

4. When will I learn to smile without becoming boisterous in my laughter?

7

Protection against Pride

An inspired letter written by the Prophet Joseph Smith from Liberty Jail attests that many are called but few are chosen because men's hearts are too often "set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men" (D&C 121:35). In other words, they have not learned the lesson of the ages: that the rights of the priesthood are inextricably linked to the powers of heaven. In addition, we are told that whenever a man who has been ordained seeks to cover his sins or to gratify his pride or vain ambition, "the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man" (D&C 121:37).

We have spoken already of vain ambition. Now let us turn our attention to the granddaddy of all sins, the source of much if not all sin. "There is one vice of which no man in the world is free," C. S. Lewis remarked, "which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people . . . ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. . . .

"The vice I'm talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. . . . According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind" (Mere Christianity, 109–10).

Strong language, to be sure. But very real. Very much alive and well on planet Earth as well as within our own little universes of activity. Lewis goes on to describe pride as follows: "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. . . . Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone." Finally, "Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God" (Mere Christianity, 110–11).

Many years ago I sat on the stand in a sacrament meeting. I had been asked to be the concluding speaker in an adjoining ward. The young woman who spoke before I did was probably about sixteen years of age and quite impressive.

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