Come, Follow Me Insights by Gogo Goff Doctrine and Covenants 88

I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me for Doctrine and Covenants 88, If you missed last week’s insight, for Doctrine and Covenants 85-87 click here for it. Please share this with your friends or use this picture to save this pin to read later:

Our actions determin our kingdom.

“And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom.”
Doctrine and Covenants 88:21

Why does the Church take unpopular stances? Why do they speak out against the current LGBTQ trends? Dallin H. Oaks put it straightforwardly when he said, “The purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ is to qualify His children for the highest degree of glory, which is exaltation or eternal life.” But what of the many members who don’t want to live the gospel and advocate lifestyles that are not compatible with the Celestial Kingdom and law? President Oak’s and verse 21 detail that there are kingdoms for them, ‘For those who do not desire or qualify for that, God has provided other, though lesser, kingdoms of glory.”

So ask yourself, what kingdom am I preparing for? What law am I living? What culture is my home? Neal A. Maxwell taught, “Our conduct—not whether we are Asian or American—finally determines, in fact, whether we are to enjoy a telestial culture, a terrestrial culture, or a celestial culture.”

For more on the different kingdoms of glory and their laws see “How the Kingdoms of Glory trach us about Love.”

The measure of our creation.

“And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law”
Doctrine and Covenants 88:25

The phrase “measure of our creation” is not a commonly used phrase. But in it means the purpose for which we have been created. What were we created for? What is the measure of our creation? Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin taught, “Our goal should be to fill the measure of our creation as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father—that is, to reach exaltation and eternal life.”

So what must we do to fulfill the measure of our creation and be exalted as gods? We must live the celestial law of the gospel aka we must walk the covenant pathway. From celestial rebirth (baptism) to celestial marriage (temple marriage), the purpose of the covenant pathway is to help us become celestial beings. Ordinances themselves merely allow us to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. It is the character that we develop that determines what kingdom we actually enter into.

This is why God, and therefore the Church, focuses on service so much! What does this have to do with service? Everything! Service is how we build celestial character! President Kimball taught, that “the more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!” And the reason there is more of the celestial us to find is that as Marion G. Romeny taught, “Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.”

Are you starting to realize why James would categorize service as ‘pure religion’ and not simply a ‘to do’ item on a list? Marion G. Romney drove this point home when he taught, “The Lord doesn’t really need us to take care of the poor. He could take care of them without our help if it were his purpose to do so… It would be a simple thing for the Lord to reveal to President [Nelson] where the deposits of oil and precious ores are. We could then hire someone to dig them out and we could float in wealth—and we would float in wealth right down to Hades. No, the Lord doesn’t really need us to take care of the poor, but we need this experience; for it is only through our learning how to take care of each other that we develop within us the Christlike love and disposition necessary to qualify us to return to his presence.”

Our missionary duty.

“Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.”
Doctrine and Covenants 88:81

If Satan can not get us to commit a sin of commission (doing something we are commanded not to do), then he strives to get us to commit sins of omission (not doing something we are commanded to do). Few sins of omission are as common as failing in our missionary duty. Doctrine and Covenants 88:81 is the Lord’s mandate that we all warn our friends and neighbors.

Yet Satan has convinced many Latter-day Saints that we do not need to declare truth or share the gospel. Satan simply says, “Keep your mouth shut, all you gotta do is love them.” Love is important, but we MUST use words as well. I see this prevalent in no area more than those interacting with the LGBTQ community. They claim that their only duty is to ‘love’ others. Yes, you need to love others. but true love includes true doctrine, it includes declaring truth.

If you willfully refuse to share the gospel, President John Taylor taught, “God will hold you responsible for those you might have saved, had you done your duty.” Think about that! Not only are we commanded to share the gospel, but God will hold us accountable for others if we do not discharge our missionary duty. Let us truly love others, love them enough to sacrifice comfort, and preach the gospel! For more on this topic see this article: The lie about loving the LGBTQ community that Latter-day Saints are believing.

Liberty!

“Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord comes.”
Doctrine and Covenants D&C 88:86

One of the great lies of Satan is that freedom and Liberty mean being able to sin. That is not true, true freedom is the ability to obey. Obedience is the key to liberty, for the Spirit of Liberty is the Spirit of Christ. The desire to sin without condemnation will never be satisfied, no matter how many laws are passed saying sin is moral and upright it will always be sinful. God, Himself condemns those who abide in sin, man can not justify what God has declared unjust.

Sin always takes away liberty and freedom, our choices are only limited by following Satan. The more we follow Jesus Christ the closer we come to God, following God has never limited someone’s freedom or liberty. Satan seeks to make us miserable, he wants us to destroy our freedom by choosing sin and therefore damnation. God sent His son Jesus Christ to liberate us from Satan and to enable us to fulfill our potential!

“Freedom and liberty are precious gifts that come to us when we are obedient to the laws of God . . . Obedience to them makes us truly free to reach the potential and the glory which our Heavenly Father has in store for us.”
James E Faust.

Go to bed at a reasonable hour, it is a commandment!

“Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.”
Doctrine and Covenants 88:124

A growing trend among members of the Church, and the world in general, is the habits of going to bed later and later into the night and waking up later and later in the morning. Often times we forget that the Lord commanded us to go to bed at a reasonable hour and to get up early! This is not a suggestion, not an opinion, it is a commandment! And like all commandments, there are attached blessings, in this case, the Lord legitimately tells us what blessing is conditional on our obedience: “ retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.“

Do you want to be weary? Or do you want your minds to be invigorated? What about your body? What does invigorated mean? Websters 1828 dictionary defines what it meant to Joseph Smith’s generation as “To give vigor to; to strengthen; to animate; to give life and energy to.” Ask yourself, “Am I weary?” and “Do I have vigor of mind and body?” If you don’t like the answer to those questions keep the commandments!

Personally, I find the early mornings the best time of day to both exercise my body as well as to feed my spirit. And I truly feel revitalized and better-prepared to handle the day when I get up early. When I don’t get up early, I feel lethargic and unproductive. President Russell M. Nelson also taught this when he said, “To those who feel defeated and downtrodden, look to the early hours of the day for your rescue.”