Lay Aside the Things of this World

Several years ago President Nelson invited the sisters of the Church to prayerfully study section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants. One of the invitations to us in that section from the Lord is this: “And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better” (v10). I think President Nelson was referring to this verse when he then said, “Sometimes we speak almost casually about walking away from the world with its contention, pervasive temptations, and false philosophies. But truly doing so requires you to examine your life meticulously and regularly. As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needful, what is no longer worthy of your time and energy.” Indeed, we speak often about how as members of the Church we want to be “in the world but not of the world.” And yet, I think we struggle significantly to live by those words in practice. As Elder Maxwell famously put it, we earnestly seek to keep a summer cottage in Babylon while still keep our main residence in Zion. Elder Larry W. Gibbons related in general conference, “In the priesthood leadership session of a regional conference, we sang the hymn ‘Ye Elders of Israel.’ The chorus contains a line ‘O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell.’ Following the singing, Elder Neal A. Maxwell spoke and expressed the thought that bidding Babylon farewell is actually one of our challenges, that too many of us like to keep a summer cottage there.” I believe most of us have that summer cottage in Babylon, and sometimes a winter resort there as well!

               In a talk at BYU many years ago Rabbi Harold Kushner said this: “I am a traditional Jew. I observe the biblical dietary laws. There are certain foods I don’t eat. I suspect most of you assume I go around all day saying to myself, ‘Boy, would I love to eat pork chops, but that mean old God won’t let me.’ Not so. The fact of the matter is, I go around all day saying, ‘Isn’t it incredible? There are five billion people on this planet, and God cares what I have for lunch. And God cares who I sleep with. And God cares how I earn and spend my money. And God cares what kind of language I use.’” Indeed, the Lord has given us laws and commandments that are not there to restrict us but to help us see that what we do matters and that God wants to help us become like Him. To do that we have to be able to, like Rabbi Kushner, come to embrace His word and His law and let go of the things the world entices us to do and participate in which goes against that. And how do we know what are those things that are “no longer worthy of [our] time and energy” as President Nelson encouraged us? I believe that Mormon gave us the key: “I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” That which invites us to do good and to believe in Christ is of God, and those are the things we should seek. And, on the other hand, “whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil” (Moroni 7:16-17). Far too often the movies, media, and other entertainment we participate in aligns much better with the latter description than the former. And, like Rabbi Kushner, when we refuse to participate in such entertainment we need not do so grudgingly saying that God will not let us have fun, but rather we should rejoice that He loves us enough to care about what we do each day. But, as President Nelson suggested, it will take meticulous and regular examination of our lives to truly lay aside the things of the world.