Look to God and Live… Joyfully!

Today at church we sang an old favorite hymn, Onward, Christian Soldiers. I’ve always loved this hymn. It fires up my blood and makes me desire to march fearlessly toward all foes standing between me and my eternal reward waiting just beyond those beautiful pearly gates. I know that for many the hymn conjures up visions of battles between believers and non-believers, but for me it is personal foes I wish to conquer: sins, weaknesses, disbelief, etc. This hymn speaks to me of waging a war against those, not worrying about anyone else’s shortcomings.

Despite my focus on self, however, I also believe – as I’ve said so many times before – that it takes an entire community of family, friends, and associates in order for people to actually succeed. Sometimes it requires a leg up or a unmistakable helping hand. Other times it requires trust or respect. Always, however, it requires love.

I think my favorite verse of this hymn is this one:

Like a mighty army moves the Church of God;

Brothers, we are treading where the Saints have trod.

We are not divided, all one body we

One in hope and doctrine

One in charity

I’ve thought a lot about what exactly is the “Church of God.” Yes, it is a place where sacred and holy sacraments and ordinances are performed in God’s name, but I believe that it is also more than that. When Christ was on the earth He taught a simple gospel. His was a gospel of faith, hope, striving, prayer, and love. This is the Church of God.

When we are acting as the Church of God then we are following Christ and His gospel. We develop faith, we grow in hope, we strive forward, we seek God’s guidance, and we have love for God, for our fellowman, and for ourselves. This is what we should be united in. We, as the body of Christ, should be one in hope: hope of eternal life and salvation. We should be one in doctrine: the doctrine of faith, repentance, baptism, and following the Holy Spirit. We should be one in charity: the absolute pure love of Christ. Being one, however, doesn’t mean being carbon copy prints of each other in our accomplishment of these elements.

One of the easiest things for me – and I suspect for others – is to look outward at others and see where they are falling short in their quest for salvation. It’s less taxing to look at a generalized checklist of do’s and don’ts and then hold everyone else to account for how they are able to check off these items. The battle for souls, however, is not generalized – it is individual and the battle plan is individualized for each and every soul.

The leader of my particular faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has repeatedly called on people throughout the world to become more attuned to voice of the Lord and to better understand what our individualized battle plan is as we seek more earnestly to “Hear Him.” It can be challenging. Mind you, I already know (for the most part) how the Spirit speaks to me. I know how God answers my prayers. The challenge is making sure I’m looking for answers, that I’m striving and seeking to follow God’s plan, and that I’m open to whatever revelation He chooses to send me – no matter how out of my comfort zone that direction takes me.

I was watching a moving and heart wrenching video by the musician David Archuleta early this morning. In the video he talks about his struggles with faith and self identity. He has sought so hard to do God’s will, and yet figuring out exactly what that will is concerning his sexual orientation has been rough. He has prayed and prayed, sought counsel, and otherwise looked for God’s plan in His life. He is struggling. The generalized checklist definitely isn’t working for him! Watching the video I couldn’t help but be amazed at the sincerity of his search. His answer may end up being a different answer than someone else would get, but the bottom line is that his individualized battle plan is going to be different than anyone else’s. That’s what makes God’s work so beautiful and glorious!

One of the mistakes I can make is looking at life as a “one size fits all” enterprise. The grandness of God’s plan, however, is that He can and will work with us one-by-one. We aren’t an off-the-rack mass production, but a custom designed work of glory. Isn’t that amazing?

The one thing that is common to all of God’s children, however, is His desire for all to live with Him forever. Salvation was bought and paid for by the Son of God two millennia ago, but we must choose whether to accept it or not. We accept it by seeking to understand God’s path for each of us – individually – and then striving to follow it with faith and hope in an eternity where we can be crowned with glory, robed in righteousness, and stride along the beautiful streets of gold. This seeking and striving is what we must do if we are to achieve the goal.

Let’s face it: If everyone had the same answer or the same path then it wouldn’t actually take much work to figure it out. If it was that easy then we wouldn’t need to hear God’s voice at all and we could just follow the closest person along the road of life. Instead we get to build a personal relationship with our Father and become more as He is by learning to live according to the Spirit. What a great gift!

I have made a goal this year to work harder towards hearing the Lord’s voice and letting Him guide me in my life, especially as I have a lot of decisions I need to make. I’ve also made a goal to work harder at not expecting people to have the same experiences or answers to prayer that I receive. I want so badly to be one in God’s doctrine, one in hope, and one in charity with other earnest seekers so that together we can help others struggling along the path learn how to find their own answers. For me, that would make a wonderful 2022.