Daily and With Exactness

Last weekend was the 179th semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have grown to love these conferences for the spiritual nourishment and strength they provide me. I believe the men and women who speak during these conferences are called of God and that they speak the words that the Lord would have me hear.

I'd like to share my favorite talk from this last conference. It is titled Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change, given by Dale G. Renlund.

Elder Renlund, a doctor, teaches about how to maintain a spiritually changed heart by using the example of a physically transplanted heart. These are the points he shares about heart transplants and how the recipients need to care for their new hearts:

• The recipient's body sees the new heart as foreign and will attack it. Left unchecked, the body's natural response is to reject the new heart. Without a heart, obviously, the patient will die.

• Medicines can suppress this natural response of the body, but they must be taken daily and with exactness.
  

• Occasional heart biopsies must be performed to monitor the condition of the new heart so that if there are signs of rejection, adjustments in the medications can be made.

• Some patients actually become casual in their care of their new heart by skipping medicines here and there and by not getting their follow-up appointments (biopsies) as frequently as they should. They think because they feel good that all is well, but they are putting themselves at risk to shorten their life.

Just as a heart transplant is the "ultimate operation" for our physical body, the same is true for our spirits. The Lord has told us "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

This spiritual change of heart occurs through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, which are:

faith,
repentance,
baptism,
and the gift of the Holy Ghost

Left unchecked, the tendency of the natural man is to reject this spiritually changed heart and allow it to harden, jeopardizing eternal salvation and leading to a spiritual death.

This natural tendency can be suppressed by "medicine" taken daily and with exactness.

What is the "prescribed medication" that will help us to maintain our spiritually changed heart? For this answer, Elder Renlund turns to the example of a people in the Book of Mormon who, after they were taught the gospel and converted to the Lord, "never did fall away!" (Alma 23:6)

These people were "distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end." (Alma 27:27) We also "know that they taught their children the gospel in their homes and that they buried their weapons of war, distancing themselves from temptations."
(This is one of my favorite pictures and stories in the Book of Mormon, by the way!)

Through analyzing the example of these people of Ammon, as they come to be known in the Book of Mormon, Elder Renlund presents the following as the "medication" that we can take daily and with exactness in order to maintain our spiritually changed heart:

• maintain faith in Jesus Christ by:
  

prayer,
study of the scriptures,
partaking of the Sacrament weekly,
and having the Holy Ghost as your constant companion

• actively help and serve others and share the gospel with them
• be perfectly upright and honest in all things, holding your covenants firmly and not rationalizing commitments to God or man
• teach and rejoice in the words of Christ in your home so that you desire to apply the Atonement in your life
• identify temptations that easily beset you and put them way out of reach

Along with doing these things daily and with exactness, we also must frequently biopsy our spiritually changed hearts and reverse any signs of rejection. This can be done by humbly and sincerely answering questions such as are found in Alma chapter 5, verses 14-30. Here are a few of those questions:

If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

Have ye been sufficiently humble?

Are ye stripped of pride?

Becoming casual with these seemingly small actions is a spiritual death trap. Eternal salvation and exaltation are at stake.

This talk was exactly what I needed to hear at this time because I hadn't been taking all of my medication so to say. I was so grateful for this powerful reminder of what is at stake if I am not maintaining the new spiritual heart that I have been given. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. The challenge, for me, comes in living it daily and with exactness. Because of this talk I have a put a renewed focus on taking ALL of my medication! I had been leaving out prayer and scripture study too frequently. It shouldn't be left out at all! I have committed to do better because it is so important to me to keep my spiritual heart softened to the influence of the Holy Spirit. I do not want to risk the hardening of my heart and the resulting spiritual death. I am so thankful for this reminder.