FAITH: A PRINCIPLE OF ACTION
“Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11, first verse. I thought about that last night at 11:30 when I decided that it would be a good time for me to write my talk. After searching for inspiration by studying dance moves in the movie hitch I decided to try another tactic so I went for a long walk and listened to Barbra Streisand and found inspiration. I came home and started to read the first article in The Lectures on Faith and found what I was looking for.
In response to the quote I just gave it says, “From this we learn that faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen, and the principle of action in all intelligent beings.” It was this second part that caught my attention. To think of faith not as something simply done or not done within the confines of our own minds, spirits, and bodies but as an action, a visible and physical act that others can clearly identify much like the act of jumping or skipping. A search on LDS.org yields this answer, “Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot yet see.” I believe that this statement is talking about two things that we work for. The first I will talk on is that of working toward a worthy goal.
There are many times in our lives when goals are made. Things like getting an education, becoming an endowed member, going to the temple, getting married, raising a family, and earning a good living are often at the top of the goal lists. There are other goals, however, that seem smaller but require no lesser amount of faith. I am reminded of the story of Noah. Noah call the people to repentance and warned of a flood if they did not repent. They did not. Noah and his sons prepared for the flood by building an Arc or a boat to house the few righteous and the animals of the earth. The construction of such a vessel took a long time because they worked with there hands. Noah and his family had faith of what the lord said. It was through that faith that they worked and labored and were saved when the rains came to wash the uncleanliness from the world. Noah did not have proof that it would rain. He did not have Doppler readouts, weather maps, barometer readings, or any other way of knowing that we have today but he went forward in faith.
Four years ago I was attending Dixie State College in St. George, Utah. I was about to enter the Elementary Education program there when I got the overwhelming feeling that I should be part of student government. I felt gods prompting and blessing that this was what he wanted me to do (mostly because I did not want to do it). Regardless, I had faith in my heavenly father and I applied to be the communications vice-president. I had good ideas, good recommendations, I even had a long family and personal history with the academic advisor. I had faith that this was what heavenly father wanted me to do and so I prepared for what my life was surly going to become. Unlike Noah, my rains did not come. I did not get the position or any other. I worked and I prepared and at the end I got a banana split at Dairy Queen. I am still not entirely sure why the lord had me go through all of that but I believe that it shaped me in some way. Or perhaps I, like Abraham when he prepared to sacrifice Issac, needed to show that I had enough faith to simply do what was being asked of me. God does not always require us to fulfill the action but we must have faith to work toward that action.
The second aspect of faith as a principle of action that I feel is less often recognized is in reference to ourselves, our being, who we are. None of us are as of yet fully realized. We are still trying to figure out who we are in the way that God sees us. In 1Samuel chapter 16 verse 7 the lord tells Samuel “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord aseeth not as bman seeth; for man looketh on the outward cappearance, but the dLord looketh on the eheart.” For the Lord seeth not as a man seeth. To become who our heavenly father sees us to truly be takes a great amount of faith. This is something that I am only now starting to realize. So often we go along writing a story for ourselves of who we are and who we are becoming. Sometimes that story is written trying to match Gods story of us. Sometimes that story better resembles the story Lucifer is trying to write for us. We must work in faith that when we strive to be what the lord would have us be that he will provide the way and the experiences we need to be who we truly are, who god sees us to be. There is no pattern clearly marked for us to achieve this. This may be why it is so hard some times to be who we truly are. We cannot see down the road, there is no teacher giving us directions of do step one then two then three and you will be who god knows you to be. It can be scary to walk down that path through the mists and darkness. Fortunately we have a rod to cling to help us navigate this question and uncertainty.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the 30th of August 1992 at a single member fireside broadcast via satellite from Temple Square, Salt Lake City gave a talk entitled “Be a Quality Person”.
A few months ago, I had the opportunity of talking with a woman who was worried about how she might prepare to be a good wife. I told her, “Don’t worry about being a good wife. Concern yourself with life’s number one priority: being a quality person. If you are a quality person, you don’t have to worry about being a good wife, mother, daughter, Church member, leader, single, or community strength. If you are a quality person, you will be good in any situation in which you find yourself.”
Too often I have known people who have seen the task of being who God sees them to be as impossible. As soon as they have decided this the adversary tangles them in a web of self doubt and false promises. Soon they not only are not who God knows them to be but they also loose sight of the basic principles of humanity and become lost and discouraged. Often they leave the church and engage in unhealthy habits.
How then do we become a quality person and eventually our true godly selves? Elder Ashton gives these road markers:
1. If you have self-respect, you will take satisfaction in being well groomed and will not allow yourself to perform shabbily. You will continue to work toward high standards and goals to serve others, to continue and to practice self-discipline. You will not compromise your standards or beliefs.
2. A quality person is someone with integrity. To be worthy of the highest trust is a noble attribute and compliment. You will need to maintain confidences. Certainly it is greater to be trusted than loved. Truly happy persons will always be totally honest in their dealings with their fellowman.
3. A quality person will not be offended. In life there is no time for being hurt. There should be no time to be petty. A wise person will focus on principles of optimism and hope.
4. A quality person will develop the capacity to love and be lovable. We all need to take advantage of every opportunity to love with tenderness and sincerity. This will determine our eternal joys and progress. Ponder the truth that it is more important to love than to be loved.
5. A quality person will murmur not. He will not find fault or criticize, belittle, or nag. I admire Nephi, who never murmured. Instead he was positive and had no time for contention, discouragement, or apathy.
6. A quality person is one who has real faith. With true faith we will increase our meaningful relationship with God. This will develop and expand our knowledge that God is our father. He lives. He loves us. He hears our prayers and would lead us to eternal happiness. Remember that God and one are a family. What a comforting, heartening truth this is.
I have a friend who gods light shone from every cell. He had married in the temple and was realizing his potential to being one of Gods chosen. Little by little, however, he started to value the love of another woman over loving others. He started to hide things from other concerning this woman; he stopped working for his high standards and dropped out of college. He divorced his wife after it became more important to be loved than to love. He was offended by others criticisms of his choices. He left the church and finds false happiness in the fleetingness of temporal joys. It breaks my heart.
It is my hope that we will all strive to be quality people and lift each other up when that seems like a difficult task. Have faith that the Lord loves you and gives you experiences, trials, friends, family, wards, and callings to help you on your journey back to him. We do not walk alone if we have faith.
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