Overcoming the World

Elder Anderson’s most recent conference address was about “overcoming the world”.  The phrase is a scriptural one from both the New Testament as well as modern scriptures.  The Savior told the disciples near the end of His life, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  The implication is that as we follow Him we must likewise overcome the world if we are to survive the tribulation that will come to us.  In our dispensation, Christ specifically taught us this: “He that is faithful and endureth shall overcome the world” (D&C 63:47).  He also said, “For verily I say unto you, I will that ye should overcome the world” (D&C 64:2).  The Savior warned that those who were cut off from His church are “overcome of the world,” but He reminded us, “I have overcome the world” (D&C 50:8, 41).  In related passages we learn that those who inherit the Celestial Kingdom “shall overcome all things” and those who “shall not be overcome, the same shall be saved” (D&C 76:60, JSM 1:30).  Clearly one of the great challenges that we have in our times as followers of the Savior is to, though His help, overcome the world. 

               Elder Anderson suggested that to overcome the world is not an easy task for us.  He said, “Overcoming the world is not a global invasion but a private, personal battle, requiring hand-to-hand combat with our own internal foes.”  He suggested ways in which we should seek to overcome the world.  He said that we must subdue the natural man instead of giving in to him.  Overcoming the world means that we will be found “keeping our promise to God” which includes baptism and temple covenants.  It means that we will “let our focus remain on the Savior and upon His holy day.”  We must “turn ourselves outward, remembering the second commandment” as we “willingly share our material blessings through tithing, fast offerings, and giving to those in need.”  Ultimately being able to overcome the world is a matter of valuing the things of God over the things of the world, or as Elder Anderson put it, we must be “less concerned with our online connections and more concerned with our heavenly connection to God.”  In the Pearl of Great Price we read that the posterity of Adam “loved Satan more than God” (Moses 5:13).  The Savior taught that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21).  Each day we make decisions in which we must know whether we love God or the world more; we have to decide whether we will value earthly treasures or the things of God.  And if we aren’t careful we may find ourselves like Gehazi of old who, though he witnessed great spiritual things, could not resist the pull of the world and chose the treasure that will not last.

               When the Church in 1831 was preparing for the publication of the Book of Commandments (the precursor to the Doctrine and Covenants), a conference of members at Hiram, Ohio voted that the revelations from God that Joseph had received were “worth to the Church the riches of the whole Earth” (see heading to D&C 70).  When we truly feel that way about the scriptures and the things of God, then we’ll know that we are indeed overcoming the world.