Lifting too little.
Follow up thoughts from yesterday.
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I wrote yesterday about lifting heavy questions regarding Latter-Day Saint history, doctrine or policy too soon without having first prepared, trained and paid a price to lift them.
When we attempt to tackle topics we are unprepared for, we often inflict spiritual injury that can sometimes prove fatal to our faith and our membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
This morning on my daily run I had some follow-up thoughts I wanted to share.
The subjects of faith, doubt and dissolution obviously cannot be tackled in its entirety in a few articles or even a few books. No one has all the answers or solutions to the very personal wrestles each must have on their faith journey, but let me share just a few of my own thoughts.
Questions will always arise, either internally or externally, for which we won’t immediately or readily have an answer or resolution to. But just because they arise, it doesn’t mean we have to lift them…yet.
I often have heavy questions that enter my mind about the reality of God, the validity of the restored Gospel, the history of the church, and I’ve also heard the myriad of questions and objections that others have on these topics.
Now I am not an advocate for burying ones head in blind faith, but we must remember that as the master of our mind and the keeper of our soul, we get to decide what questions we will attempt to answer and when we will address them.
I have personally started trying to lift questions that proved too heavy for me. When I find this to be the case I put it down and focus my energy on fortifying my faith in Jesus Christ.
This isn’t always easy to do because pride kicks in, the hecklers from hell tempt me to keep trying, and my fear of being duped and deceived weighs down on my mind. But I force myself to put them down and refocus on Jesus Christ, because after all, he is the author and finisher of my faith.
Some people quit coming to the spiritual gym because they cannot lift the heaviest questions or concerns in the room, and rather than enjoy what they can answer and understand, they stop lifting altogether and say that they were foolish for even trying.
People who quit never achieve anything great. This is true for every pursuit in life. Anyone who accomplishes something great did so because they were consistent. They kept showing up through the pain and the problems.
Spiritual strength comes as we consistently do the fundamental gospel activities of sincere prayer, effective gospel study, paying an honest tithe and attending the temple as often as circumstances permit. For how long? As long as it takes!
One of the reasons I believe so few of us are spiritually strong enough to tackle the heavy questions is that we have been inconsistent. We haven’t paid the price to be strong. We stop showing up or intermittently show up with sporadic bursts of effort.
Perhaps we are consistently showing up, but are we lifting enough? The arms that only ever lift a 5-pound dumbbell, no matter the consistency, will ever be able to benchpress 300-pounds. Small dumbbells might be a fine place to start, but if we are serious about building muscle, we must progressively increase the weight.
In spiritual matters, the person who devotes a little time and effort to gospel fundamentals will never be able to lift the heavy questions of history, doctrine or policy without injury or fatality. If we are serious about developing faith of biblical levels where we can lift and address any and every question or topic, we must spend more time and energy on doing the small and simple things. We need to pray more sincerely, study more diligently, attend more consistently and become stronger.
I hope these thoughts help, encourage or inspire. But let me share one parting thought.
In the end, faith will always be a choice. Even if Jesus Christ stood in front of you, you would still have to choose whether or not you believed him when he told you that he was the son of God.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I would love to start a conversation with you, share your thoughts in a comment.
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