Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65 – Autumn Dickson

Latter-day Saint FAIR-Cast

What is Required of Us

by Autumn Dickson

Like last week, I’d like to dive into Joseph’s story and find parallels to our own stories. We were not given the responsibility to restore the church in the last days, but we do have responsibilities given to us by the Lord. Every single one of us will hold callings, but even beyond that, every single one of us has more to give. When I speak of responsibilities given by the Lord, I am expanding that definition beyond formal church service. There are other labors you have been given to perform in this life. Some of those labors may include things like career choices and hobbies. We all have gifts to give.

As we read Joseph’s history, we get to watch as he learned difficult lessons. Hopefully, we’re wise enough to learn through him rather than through our own mistakes. We will always make mistakes, but hopefully Joseph’s openness about his own can help us avoid a few of them.

The principle in Joseph’s story that I want to talk about for this post is found in the following verse.

Joseph Smith History 1:59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.

This is such a great microstudy on what Heavenly Father expects from us in our responsibilities. Honestly, it even extends beyond our formal callings and promises we made before we came here; this verse can teach us about what the Lord expects from us in this mortal life when it comes to being worthy to return to Him.

It’s actually on Him

I want to draw your attention to the very last phrase in the verse. Moroni tells Joseph that if he will use all of his endeavors to preserve the plates, “…they should be protected…” Note that this verse didn’t say, “If you use all your endeavors to protect them, you will be able to keep them safe.” It’s a small thing, but it holds a large key to our understanding.

The success of the Plan of Salvation rests on the head of the Lord. Making sure we’re clean enough to stand in the presence of God, temple work, missionary work, any and all worthwhile work is going to be done by the Lord. He frequently describes it as His own work throughout the scriptures. Even if Joseph had not been diligent and the plates fell into the wrong hands, do we really believe that would be the end? Do we really believe that it’s just too bad? The plates are gone. There is no Book of Mormon. The Restoration falls apart, and with it, the salvation of us all.

Obviously not. What kind of Lord would He be if He let the failings of one man doom the rest of us? It’s utterly ridiculous if you actually believe in the perfect fairness of the Lord.

The angel Moroni warns Joseph that if he doesn’t work diligently and responsibly, he will be cut off and he will lose the plates. But the plates were never actually in danger, not in the least bit. Even if Joseph had failed, the Lord had everything completely under control.

Which can be extremely comforting. It can also help us know what we need to be focused on.

But He still requires the work

Despite the fact that the Lord has everything well in hand, He requires the work of us. Even though the plates were never in any real danger, He required Joseph to work really hard to protect them. Why? For Joseph.

Here is an imperfect concrete example.

I have a daughter in gymnastics who learns stunts that I certainly can’t do. For a long time, the coaches will be right underneath her guiding her movements and keeping her from falling on her head. As time moves on, they remove the supports appropriately so that she can learn to do it on her own. They’re not afraid of her making mistakes along the way. They want her to be a gymnast which means she has to slowly learn to do it on her own. She has to put in work, but if they’re really good coaches, then she’s not really in any danger.

This imperfect example doesn’t translate completely, but it can help our understanding along. The Lord already has that gold medal coming in that competition regardless of whether you decide to participate. The work will get done. It’s His performance that ultimately matters when it comes to end results. However, He didn’t just want a gold medal. The gold medal is important, but so are His developed gymnasts. We aren’t working hard in the gym so that we can win the gold medal. It’s already won. We’re working hard so we can simply develop into gymnasts because being a gymnast is worthwhile in and of itself.

This is similar to our responsibilities as well as the whole of our salvation and exaltation. If our responsibilities are crucial to His plan, then the end results are already guaranteed. What is not guaranteed is our development and preparation. The ends for which the Plan of Salvation was created have already been won; it is not in any danger. However, if we’re not given the opportunity to work and develop, then we can’t reap the beautiful rewards of being a developed Being, and the Plan of Salvation ends up being a bust anyway (at least in our personal lives). Our team may have won the gold medal, but we won’t feel all the rewards of that gold medal because we didn’t grow.

This is true of our responsibilities. It is also true of our salvation. The Lord could easily continuously cleanse us and keep us in the presence of our Father in Heaven without burning up. However, we wouldn’t actually be feeling the Celestial Kingdom if we didn’t put in the work to become developed Beings.

Implications of this

There are some implications that come with this understanding.

When we view it from the outside without this perspective, here is what we see.

Joseph worked really hard to protect the plates, following promptings and trying to be creative in how he kept them safe from people who would try to take them. Nothing happened to plates. Therefore, Joseph protected the plates.

It would be easy to believe that Joseph had protected the plates, but not so. The Lord protected the plates, and Joseph grew. Yes, it could be argued that Joseph did contribute to protecting them, but that’s like saying my son keeps our house clean because he picks up his toys when I ask him to. My house was going to be cleaned either way; he was just able to accumulate growth and go outside because I didn’t ground him in order to teach him.

So what are the implications here? There are a few.

The first implication is that we let go of the pressure. Don’t let go of the striving, but let go of the pressure. The Lord already won. Successfully implementing the Plan of Salvation (or any plan, responsibility, etc.) is not on our heads. He will open the right doors, close the wrong ones, and give us the power to overcome obstacles when He deems necessary. If we are trying and taking advantage of the growth opportunities we’ve been given, we have nothing to fear.

The second implication is the fact that trying hard does matter but not for the reason we so often believe. We often believe that we have to try hard so we don’t fail. We’re supposed to be trying hard so we grow. Think of the gymnast coaches. They’re not trying to get my daughter to try hard on her own so that she can avoid mistakes; they’re trying to make her a skilled gymnast. The mistakes are inevitable but they’re so unimportant in the scheme of growth.

The gospel according to Autumn teaches this (and yes, that’s a disclaimer): a grand majority of the peace and joy we feel in the Celestial Kingdom comes internally. It’s not an externally granted blessing. We’re not going to be in heaven, receiving some divine equivalent of drugs that keep our bodies in a continuous state of euphoria. Celestial feelings come from becoming a celestial Being. And you have to try really hard to become a celestial Being, not because you’re capable of doing it but because that’s the only way you grow into one.

This is true of our salvation. It is true of any responsibility we’ve been given. Let’s pretend you were given the responsibility of finding the right plot of land for the building of the temple. I’ve heard of stories where Satan does all he can to stop the building. Angry neighbors, zoning issues, all sorts of legal hoops and prejudice can rise up in a huge wave against the responsibility that was given to a mere human. But if the Lord announced the temple, it’s getting built. Rather than putting the pressure on yourself to make sure it happens (because guess what..it’s gonna happen), view the obstacles you face with the right lens. The Lord isn’t hedging up your way because He is displeased with you. It’s not that you’re not faithful enough to bring miracles. The temple is only a portion of what’s important to the Lord, and He already has that on lockdown. The other portion (the one that is not so locked down) is your very real need for growth so that you can become like Him. The obstacles are not evidence of your failures in your responsibilities; the obstacles are chances given to you to be faithful and grow. You cannot lose if you try so proceed.

I testify that He won. All that’s left is our growth. So put in effort and put your heart into it for your growth. Try hard and hold all the gratitude and faith in the world because the ending is sure. You will be successful in all the ways that the Lord deems successful if you are truly trying.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

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