The Weightier Matters

On New Year’s Day President Nelson posted some suggestions about what resolutions we might make at this time. He wrote, “First, resolve to strengthen your spiritual foundation. This may involve setting a specific time and place to study the scriptures, praying more often, making temple worship a bigger priority, and letting God prevail in all aspects of your life. Second, resolve to be kind to others. When the Savior Jesus Christ visited the Americas, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, one of the first things He taught was the need to eliminate contention in our lives. So, please be compassionate, be understanding, be slow to judge, and be quick to forgive. Third, resolve to be resolute. The Lord loves effort. The Lord loves consistency. The Lord loves steadfastness. While we surely will come up short from time to time, our persistent efforts to hear Him and follow the inspiration He gives us will help us to ‘wax strong in the Spirit’ (Mosiah 18:26).” As I think about these three invitations, one thing that is notable is that they are not entirely measurable like we often want our goals to be. Certainly we can find ways to strengthen our spiritual foundation that we can confirm that we have done—such as reading a chapter of scripture every day—but to know if we really have strengthened our foundation at the end of the year may not be immediately obvious. We can as well set goals to be more kind that involve some kind of daily action, and we can no doubt set goals around being more resolute by doing some particular activity that is important each day. But at the end of the year, even if we have checked off the boxes for these particular items, it won’t measure directly if we are more loving in our hearts or more committed to the Lord in our souls.

               This reminds me of what Elder Uchtdorf taught about setting goals several years ago. He recounted a story of a stake who had set goals the “focused either on loft and impressive declarations or on numbers and percentages.” He continued, “After these goals had been discussed and agreed upon, something began to trouble the stake president. He thought about the members of his stake—like the young mother with small children who was recently widowed. He thought about the members who were struggling with doubts or loneliness or with severe health conditions and no insurance. He thought about the members who were grappling with broken marriages, addictions, unemployment, and mental illness. And the more he thought about them, the more he asked himself a humbling question: will our new goals make a difference in the lives of these members?” This caused the stake president to reevaluate what they were striving for and the leaders “set new goals, recognizing that success with these new goals could not always be measured, at least not by man—for how does one measure personal testimony, love of God, or compassion for others?” Elder Uchtdorf then asked this to us: “I wonder if our organizational and personal goals are sometimes the modern equivalent of a Potemkin village. Do they look impressive from a distance but fail to address the real needs of our beloved fellowmen?” In our own efforts of improvement we shouldn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal of truly becoming more like the Savior.

               The Savior’s words to the scribes and Pharisees, many of whom were no doubt like a Potemkin village, help us to understand the balance that we should be aiming for. He gave this condemnation: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23). There are certain measurable things that we should indeed do, like paying tithes of mint and anise and cummin. In that same vein, surely our own quantifiable goals aimed at helping us be more devoted in our discipleship are worthy pursuits and we need not shy away from those. But we should also not lose sight of “the weightier matters of the law” which are not as concrete: “judgment, mercy, and faith.” These we ought also to think about and strive for while at the same time not leaving “the other undone.” As we make goals of some specific actions that we want to take, I hope we can do those things which will help us to “wax strong in the Spirit” as President Nelson encouraged, working to build a stronger spiritual foundation and develop more kindness and resolve to let the Lord prevail in our lives.