Overcome natural man
Build better families- Become like Jesus
Disciples of Jesus Christ need to deny themselves of all ungodliness, including both large and small sins, Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Council of the Twelve said Sunday morning.
"While boulders surely block our way, loose gravel slows discipleship, too," he explained. "Even a small stone can become a stumbling block."
Elder Maxwell said "putting off the views and appetites of the natural man is such a large part of denying oneself," but in today's world individual appetites, far from being denied, are actually celebrated.
"Yet sensory happiness is illusory happiness," he went on. "Even legitimate pleasure is as transitory as the things which produce it, while joy is as lasting as the things which produce it!"
Hedonism, or self-indulgence, takes a great toll on society, he said. "Yet carnalists are unwilling to deny themselves, even though all of society suffers from an awful avalanche of consequences!"
Referring to Proverbs 6:23, Elder Maxwell quoted: "For the commandment is a lamp." Then he said that without the lamp, darkened society cannot distinguish between right and wrong and will eventually lose everything.
Large and small sins alike can be the result of indulgence and self pity, Elder Maxwell said.
"Our physical as well as our familial environment is likewise threatened by selfishness," he pointed out. "But some worry only about holes in the ozone layer, while the fabric of many families, who lack the lamp, resembles Swiss cheese."
Building better families requires more self-denial, not less, according to Elder Maxwell. "Most major social and political problems simply cannot be solved without large doses of self-denial. Ironically, this is a quality best developed in loving families where the lamp is lit.
"Meanwhile, mortals remain free to choose between the things of the moment and the things of eternity. Given the choices made by some, we all end up with more protected pornography than protected children. Of course, better self-restraint than censorship, but urging self-restraint on hedonists is like discouraging Dracula from hanging around the blood bank!"
Then he added: "No wonder most of the Ten Commandments are self-denying `Thou shalt nots.' Heavenly Father loves His children perfectly, but He knows our tendencies perfectly, too. To lie, steal, murder, envy, to be sexually immoral, neglect parents, break the Sabbath, and to bear false witness - all occur because one mistakenly seeks to please himself for the moment regardless of divine standards of human consequences."
Elder Maxwell said that Jesus "has asked us to become much more like Him. Though heavy, discipleship's burden can be made light." (See Matt. 11:30.)
Summing up the principles of self-denial and self-sacrifice, Elder Maxwell said: "So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed."
