I Will Not Cease

One of the important characteristics that we see in some of the figures of the scriptures is that of loyalty.  Perhaps the most common example of this is Ruth, telling her mother-in-law after her husband died, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16).  She was loyal to her responsibility as a daughter-in-law even when she could be legally released from it; she was willing to give everything in order to stay true to Naomi.  The stripling warriors were others who similarly showed great loyalty to family through sacrifice.  We read, “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives” (Alma 56:47).  Their loyalty to their fathers and mothers is an inspiring example to us of how we should be true to our families, even at the expense of our very lives. 

               Many others in the scriptures showed similar loyalty through their devotion to the Lord.  When Abinadi was given the chance to save his life by denying his words, he boldly stayed true to what the Lord had asked him to teach: “Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words” (Mosiah 17:10).  That takes an incredible amount of loyalty to suffer death by fire instead of renouncing the words of God.  When Satan tried to dissuade Moses from his heavenly vision, he responded with these stirring words of defense: “I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him” (Moses 1:18).  He was devoted to the Lord and he would not let the rantings and the bitterness of hell that Satan threw at him dissuade him from seeking the Lord.  Nephi was another who was unflappable in his devotion to the Lord’s commandments, living by this now famous declaration: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded” (1 Nephi 3:7).  No matter what obstacles were in his path and no matter how much persecution he received from his brothers, Nephi was always true to the Lord’s commands.  Joseph Smith was a prophet in our day who was perfectly loyal to the vision the Lord had given him: “Though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God” (JSH 1:25).  No amount of persecution could break his loyalty to the vision that God had given him.     

             These stories and others in the scriptures help remind us of our need to be loyal to our families and to most importantly stay true to God.  No matter what the price to themselves, these and others in the scriptures were wholly devoted to the Lord and showed incredible loyalty to their families, the Saints, and God.  Theirs is a powerful example of loyalty to follow for us in a world where so much is unsteady; we must always say as Moses, “I will not cease” to be true to God and family.