This is my talk for Sunday.  I have to go through a couple more revisions but its pretty close to done.

Intro

 

I was asked to give a talk on Obedience.  But because of my past callings, I have different thoughts that have to do with the steps before Obedience can happen. 

Let me try to explain, and hope this doesn’t get too completed.

One of the key principles in the church is agency, this power to choose right from wrong.   But why do we make that given choices (be it good or bad) ?   

The way I have come to see things from my experience is that we need a reason to make that choice (or to not make that choice). 

This reason, or the way I see it, this motivating factor is really the key.  I’m not going to be obedient unless I have the motivation to do so.   This now changes the focus from the actually choice, to the motivation behind the choice.

 

 

This idea about motivation actually started while I was on my mission.  I wondered what in a world a Mission president’s job is.  After going to a couple of Zone Conferences it started to become clear that the Mission president was there to keep the missionaries motivated.  It didn’t take long to realize that really the whole gospel, the plan of salvation, is really all there to motivate us to make the right choice, and to help us endure to the end.   I realize now pretty much any conference talk, to Sunday school lesson is there to help me stay motivated so I will make the correct choice!  Most of the time now as I listen to General Conference I ask myself how can this motivated me more?

 

 

This motivation formula is actually pretty simple. 

 

 

We have some reason or motivating factor that leads us to making a choice (using our agency).   When the reason and the choice are together a decision is made we obtain the given outcome. 

If there is no reason to make the choice, then it isn’t made.  This isn’t rocket science.

 

 

A pretty simple example is brushing our teeth.   Most of us know the reason why we should brush our teeth.  We are motivated to do it for what ever reason.  The choice is made. And the Outcome happens.   The choice is made so often that is easy now.

 

 

But what about flossing?  Most of us know the reason to floss.  We know what the outcome is going to be.  Maybe not as bad as not brushing, but its still not good. 

But for what ever REASON I’m not motivated enough to floss as often as I should! 

 

 

So a key to being obedient is to figure out what the motivation is. 

I remember learning I think it was in institute about three reasons why people do anything. 

First is selfish reasons. 

 

 

 

This is actually kind of the no brainer one.  We tend to think of ourselves first.  Its actually what the scriptures call the Natural Man.  We natural thinking of ourselves and our own best interest.  Really we love ourselves.  

The problem is we are kind of raised this way.  Parents like to make “deals” with there children.  If you eat your dinner you get desert.  If you don’t eat your dinner no desert, or TV, or any other rewards parents come up with.

The Lord also works this way and tries to appease to our desire to watch out for ourselves.  He gives us a commandment and explains the benefits of keeping such commandments like Celestial Glory, and returning to be with Him.  The choice is then ours.  It’s really a matter if the motivation and our faith is there to make the correct choice.

But probably the biggest selfish reason is money.  I find it some what amusing on these TV reality shows, that people will do almost anything if the given dollar value is high enough.  Values and true character that make us who we are thrown out the window for the sake of a game.  Money is a powerful motivator.  

I wonder how different Home and Visiting Teaching would be if we paid people to do it?

What if I said you got $5.00 for every family you visited? 

You now have your motivation!   The choice for what ever reason now seems easier to make.  I’m sure we would be getting 100% if this was the case.

But, this would more be following Satan’s way.

Satan also tries to follow this same pattern by enticing or persuading us to do evil. Satan taps into the natural man of us and gives us reasons that feed our selfish desires.  The point of this talk is to have us take a step back and look at those reasons why we make the choices that we make!

 

 

 

Second motivator is Fear

 

 

 

The fear or guilt tactic in motivation is usually and rightly should be a last resort.  When nothing else works, the consequences of our choices are laid out and tried to appeal to the more rational size of our minds.  In reality it is appealing to the selfishness inside of us, that we won’t let anything bad happen to us. 

Satan also tries to tap into our fears and usually tries to scare us away from doing what is right.  Pres. Howard W. Hunter taught this about fear:

“Fear, which can come upon people in difficult days, is a principal weapon in the arsenal that Satan uses to make mankind unhappy. He who fears loses strength for the combat of life in the fight against evil. Therefore, the power of the evil one always tries to generate fear in human hearts.”¹

 

 

There are two types of fear that are used.  The fear Satan uses is to leave us with out hope.  We won’t move into action because either we are scared of the outcome, or that we feel we won’t accomplish what we desire.  This would be the Fear of asking a girl out or commitment to marriage.

The other type of fear is when everything is laid before us and the consequents are realized.  This is usually done because no other reason well get us to make the correct choice.  Again, fear is used in trying to motivate us, but fear doesn’t have any real long lasting motivation. 

 

 

 

The third reason is out of Love

 

 

 

When your family or friends ask for money most of the time you are willing help them out, sometimes with no questions asked.  If a member of family needs a lift or needs help with something we are pretty willing to drop what we are doing and help them out any way we can.  Love is a powerful motivator (and not just around valentine day)

 

 

What about the Love of God. I wonder what motivates God to do what he does.  God has agency like we do. The obvious reason God does what he does is because of His love for us.  We have faith that God loves us.   From the Lectures on Faith we learn:

Question—Would it be possible for a man to exercise faith in God, so as to be saved, unless he had an idea that God was love?

 

 

Answer—It would not. Man could not love God unless he had an idea that God was love; and if he did not love God, he could not have faith in him.²

 

 

We first need to Love God, just as he loves us. 

This love of God is the same reason we should be motivated in the choices we make.

As I grow in love for my Heavenly Father, I’m more willing to be obedient to his commandments. 

When I was learning about this in institute this quote by President Hartman Rector, Jr was shared it says:

“I believe this is the greatest lesson that can be learned by the youth of Zion—to do the right thing because you love the Lord. It is so vitally important that, I feel, if you do anything in righteousness for any other reason than you love the Lord, you are wrong—at least you are on very shaky ground. And, somewhere your reasons for acting in righteousness will not be strong enough to see you through.”³

When the love for God is the reason for our actions, then the choice because so much easier to make.   When we try to do things in the gospel and are not motivated for the right reason we end up falling short.   This I feel is why the change of heart that takes places for each of us is so important.  Our hearts change to be more like Gods. Our motivation becomes more like Gods. 

 

 

The strange thing is Faith and Love seem to go hand in hand.  By having the Love of God we have faith in God. 

Rodney Turner a professor at Brigham Young University added some commentary to lectures on faith I just read, he teaches: 

 

 

“[D]ivine love is a quality of the spirit. It is more than mere sympathy or concern, it is a personal, emotional identification with someone or something outside one's self.

 

 

“The Lord expresses his love for us as much as we permit him to. As with any parent, the Father's love can be rejected and rendered [unproductive]. The question then, is not does God love us, but do we love God? For while God is a loving Father, he is not an indulgent one. He practices law-abiding love…The sin of sins is not only to reject, but to betray, the sacrifice of love offered up by the Father in the person of his Beloved Son (see D&C 76:35; 132:27).

John wrote: "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19)… It is a compelling power…The pure love of Christ is at the very heart of the Father's plan of salvation. It illuminates every divine attribute in the sanctified until they are ablaze with light and truth and become one with love as God is one with love.⁴

 

 

So as our Faith in God grows, our Love for Him Also grows.  We need to make sure we don’t turn our back on the Love God offers us. 

 

 

Lets wrap this up.  

After seeing how proper motivation is the key I started to see this principle in ever aspect of my life.

From the scriptures it was easy to see what motivated Nephi vs Laman and Lemual. 

Also about choice I make almost daily like why do I go to church?  Why I do or not do home teaching?  Is it out of requirements, is it out of fear?  Or out of Love for others? What motivates me to go to the temple, get food storage, write in a journal, and keep covenants? What motivates me to do or not do these things.  Where am I lacking in motivation?

I hope you can see how having the proper motivation (and knowing the reason behind it) can help put things in proper perspective.  Are their commandments you struggle with in your life?  I challenge each of you here today to look over the choices you make (both the good and the bad ones).  Then figure out why you are making that choice.  What is your motivation for doing that?  See if you need to change your motivation to something better!

See if you can build that Love with your Heavenly Father so you can use it to have proper motivation. 

Testimony

 

Name of Jesus Christ Amen

 

 

 

Quotes

1. Howard W. Hunter, The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, edited by Clyde J. Williams [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 83.

 

 

 

2. Larry E. Dahl and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1990], 73.

 

 

3. Hartman Rector Jr., “Live above the Law to Be Free,” Ensign, Jan 1973,  130

 

 

4. Larry E. Dahl and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., The Lectures on Faith in Historical Perspective [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1990], 217-218.

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