Abraham's life is a model to all
"All blessings . . . are conditional upon faithfulness," wrote President Spencer W. Kimball in the First Presidency Message in the June 1975 issue of The Ensign. "One is ordained to the priesthood with a conditional promise; one is married and sealed in the temple on condition of his faithfulness. And so far as I know there is nothing - no blessing in world - that anyone can receive except through faithfulness. . . .
`Christ is the supreme example for every faithful holder of the priesthood. As I search the scriptures I read of many who followed this supreme example and qualified themselves for the blessings promised through the priesthood. One of these was Father Abraham, whose life is a model that will lift and elevate any father in this Church who wishes to become a true patriarch to his family.
"We learn something of Abraham's character when we read in the scriptures that he faithfully endeavored to qualify himself for the great blessings that he could see were obtainable through the holy priesthood. (See Abr. 1:2.)
"Even though his family had turned from their righteousness' and followed the ways of idolatry, Abraham recognized the blessings in store for the faithful and sought earnestly to obey the commandments. He qualified himself for godhood through obedience by doingnone other things than that which [he wasT commanded.' (D&C 132:37.) Abraham's obedience, and therefore his blessing, was such that the Lord himself was referred to . . . as `the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' . . .
"Now is the time to chart the course of action you will follow tomorrow and next week and next year. Now is the time to commit yourself to be as Abraham, to follow the Lord, to refuse to procrastinate, to repent of those sins you have committed, to begin to keep those commandments you have been failing to live. Determine now to attend priesthood and sacrament meetings every Sabbath, pay your tithing faithfully, sustain in very deed the General Authorities of the Church, support the programs of the Church, visit the temple often (or whenever possible when one is not near), give service in the organizations, and keep your actions constructive, your attitudes wholesome.
"Remember that Abraham sought for his appointment to the priesthood. He did not wait for God to come to him; he sought diligently through prayer and obedient living to learn the will of God . . . ."
