Overcome the World

President Nelson made this powerful statement in the most recent general conference: “But here is the grand truth: while the world insists that power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures of the flesh bring happiness, they do not! They cannot! What they do produce is nothing but a hollow substitute for ‘the blessed and happy state of those [who] keep the commandments of God.’ The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it! However, when you yoke yourself to Jesus Christ and do the spiritual work required to overcome the world, He, and He alone, does have the power to lift you above the pull of this world.” This reminds me of the statement of Samuel the Lamanite as he told the people of what would be their state at some future day if they never repented: “But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head” (Helaman 13:38). Happiness is not found in focusing on the ways of the world and doing iniquity as President Nelson affirmed. Alma similarly declared to his son who had let the temptations of the world overcome him: “Wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). As we seek to overcome the world we must come to learn for ourselves that true joy comes from following the Savior and not the “power, possessions, popularity, and pleasures” of the world that tempt us. Satan tempts us to seek for “power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world,” but we will only find rest in seeking first and foremost the kingdom of God and His righteousness (3 Nephi 6:15).

            To overcome the world does not mean that we retreat from society or reject completely the things the world offers. Rather we learn to care more about the things of God than those of the world and consecrate all that the world provides us to the service of God and His kingdom. In the book Les Gardiens du Temple by Cheikh Hamidou Kane (sequel to L’Aventure Ambiguë), we see this kind of tension among a religious community in Africa that sought to keep their traditions while integrating with the world of the white people that was thrust upon them. The experience and death of one young man in their community worked to convince “les Diallobe que le monde des Blancs ne recelait pas que des maléfices, et de démontrer que les Diallobe possédaient des richesses qu’il leur incombait de preserver à tout prix, et ce d’autant plus, avait-il annoncé, que le monde à venir en aurait cruellement besoin” (pg 52; “the Diallobes that the world of the Whites did not contain only evil, and to demonstrate that the Diallobes possessed wealth which it was their responsibility to preserve at all costs, and all the more so, he announced, since the world to come would need it so badly”). In other words, while they should embrace the opportunity to go to the white man’s schools to learn and improve their lives, at the same time they should hold fast to what they had as a people—their faith and traditions and community—because that would be needed so desperately in the future. It is surely the same for us as followers of the Savior: we must live in the world and meet the challenges and necessities of life by learning from the wisdom and ways of man, but we must at the same time hold on to our faith in the Savior which will be needed more and more in the days to come. The main figure of their community explained it further this way: “Les Blancs sont, indéniablement, d’une maîtrise sans égale dans l’art de rendre le monde utile à l’homme. S’il en est ainsi, nous devons nous mettre à leur école, car Dieu ayant fait de l’homme Son vicaire ici-bas, le monde doit être aménagé à Son service. Soigner les hommes, les nourrir, les vêtir, les protéger, sont œuvres pies. Plus efficacement cela est fait, plus aisément l’homme peut s’ouvrir à Dieu” (pg 57; “Whites are, undeniably, of an unequaled mastery in the art of making the world useful to man. If this is so, we must put ourselves in their school, for God having made man His vicar here below, the world must be fitted out at His service. Caring for men, feeding them, clothing them, protecting them, are pious works. The more effectively this is done, the more easily man can open himself to God”). We should use the skills and wisdom of the world to meet the needs of mortality so that we can more easily focus on that which matters most: that we come unto God and learn to know Him. Jacob expressed a similar idea to his people: “After ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted” (Jacob 2:19). We can use the things of the world to meet the needs of those around us and subsequently help all to find a hope in Christ and come unto God.  In this way we live in the world while still overcoming its temptations and keeping our relationship with God and the exercise of His will as the ultimate priority of our lives.