King Benjamin's Example to Parents

King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 2 show us the kind of leader he was to his people, and I believe they contain important lessons for us as parents in our relationship with our children.  King Benjamin, unlike nearly every other leader in history, felt no sense of entitlement because of his position.  Rather, he felt the need to serve his people as much as possible: “I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you.”  He gave this service willingly, without concern for any kind of repayment from his people.  Rather, his motivation was “a clear conscience before God” that he hoped to maintain: “And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you…. Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you…. Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God” (Mosiah 2:12-16).  He spent his days serving the people with only the expectation that God would bless him for it.  As parents it can be tempting to serve our children begrudgingly or to withhold a part of what we might do for them because they aren’t returning the favor.  Or we might feel that we, as parents, deserve more and ought to be served by them because, after all, we have done so much for them.  We may be tempted with a feeling of entitlement because of our position and expect our children to do more for us.  But I think King Benjamin’s example shows us that we should serve without expectations, that we should give despite what our “position” in relation to others might be.  Our main concern should be what God thinks of us and not what we will get in return.

               That said, King Benjamin’s words in this chapter also help us see what we should teach our children.  Serving them without expectations does not mean that we give them free reign to do whatever they want without their own responsibilities and labor to perform.  He clearly taught the people that they needed to similarly serve and keep the commandments.  He queried, “If I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?”  Serving others and keeping the commandments were, he taught, their primary responsibilities: “If ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land” (Mosiah 2:18-22).  King Benjamin emphasized again to them the need to keep the commandments of God: “So if ye shall keep the commandments of my son, or the commandments of God which shall be delivered unto you by him, ye shall prosper in the land.”  Though he didn’t expect service of them for himself, he had high expectations of them to serve the Lord and keep His commandments, telling them: “Ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly Father, to render to him all that you have and are.”  He warned them of the consequences of contention and the “demands of divine justice” if they did not repent and then encouraged them in these words: “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual” (Mosiah 2:31,34,41).  King Benjamin served and loved his people without expectations of anything in return, but he also pled with them to keep the commandments and to likewise serve God with all their hearts. That is, I believe, the attitude that we should have towards our children, laboring to serve them out of love and to encourage them to faithfully serve God and keep his commandments.