Giving An Accounting

After Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the Lord came and questioned Adam.  We read, “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?  Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:9-12).  Perhaps one of the lessons that we learn from this story is the need for accountability.  This was really an interview between the Lord and Adam, and the Lord gave Adam an opportunity to tell what he had done and why he did it.  In modern scripture the Lord verbalized the principle this way: “It is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity” (D&C 72:3).  Each of us need opportunities to give an accounting of our actions and our choices.

               I think we see these kind of stewardship interviews in numerous places in the scriptures, even if we don’t have the whole recorded transcript of what took place.  For example, we read that in the journeys of the Jaredites, “The Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord” (Ether 2:14).  Although we don’t know all that was said, the fact that the Lord did “talk with” the brother of Jared tells us that it was indeed a two-way conversation and the brother of Jared was being asked to account for his actions.  The interchange between Peter and the Risen Lord on the shore recorded in John 21 also was like a personal interview as the Lord sought to let His chief apostle see what he needed to be doing.  Elder Holland described the interchange this way after Peter had responded three times to the question about whether or not he loved the Master: “Jesus responded… perhaps saying something like: ‘Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs.’”  This interview with the Savior surely had a profound effect on Peter and helped him become the powerful apostle that we see in the book of Acts.  The Lord had another interview with His chief disciple among the Nephites around this same time in order to correct him.  We read, “And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept.  And when Nephi had brought forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said: Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?  And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled. And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?  And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.  And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written” (3 Nephi 23:7-13).  The Lord asked Nephi questions, allowed him to take responsibility for what he had failed to do, and invited him to correct it. 

               We see other examples of interviews in the scriptures such as with Alma and Corianton in Alma 39-42 or Jethro and Moses in Exodus 18.  In the Church today we have temple recommend interviews, personal priesthood interviews, visiting teaching interviews, interviews with the mission president for missionaries, and others.  We all need the opportunity to reflect on our lives and give an accounting of what we are doing so that we can improve where needed.  If the Lord will require “an account of [our] stewardship” at the judgment day, then we can use all the chances that we can get in this life to consider that accounting and prepare for that day (D&C 70:4).