Fruits of Faith in Christ

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Sometimes people ask what the benefit of faith is. Sometimes it’s easy to understand why. In some of our trials, as life’s storms rage about us and we remain tempest-tossed, it seems like having faith makes no difference. For many, years go by and nothing changes for the better in terms of the circumstances that first led them to faith and to their knees. It has ever been so. During his earthly ministry, Jesus ministered to many, including one woman possessed of a blood issue for many years. She believed that, if she could but touch His robe, she would be healed, but it was not an option until the day He finally passed by her way. Was Christ ignorant of her or ignoring her? Did He not care about her plight or hear her prayers? Sometimes the fruits of faith look different from the reward or rescue or the healing for which we pray. Consider these four among perhaps many others.

1. Faith in Christ gives you perspective
The world obsesses about fame, fortune, and fun. However, we all know that Instagram reels highlight only the rosiest parts or the darkest parts of the lives of people around us. Most of life is routine and responsibility, peppered with tender moments and difficult obstacles. Some of us enjoy more prosperity than others; some endure more abiding troughs. Faith in Christ reminds us that Christ came not just for the things of the world that burden us but to lift ALL of our burdens. During His ministry many complained that He did not throw off the yoke of Roman oppression; His sacrifice in Gethsemane and triumph over death on the cross throws off the yoke of EVERY oppression. Eventually the Jews would be free. Maybe not today; maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough and for the rest of all life.

2. Faith in Christ gives you hope for a better world
Because He lives, we know that there can be better things. When we think about His miracles, we know that Christ CAN heal any mortal travail. He didn’t heal everyone everywhere, and even many of those who were in his immediate vicinity were not healed in the timing or way they might hope. It was ever thus. Naaman was upset because the prophet told him to wash in the river Jordan when his homeland had better rivers. If he had refused to follow the prophet’s command, he would have not been cleansed. Too many people get upset when God refuses to follow our commandments after we spend a lifetime refusing to obey His. Even those who were healed were told to “show themselves unto the priests”. Some still chose to disobey Christ. When we think about the greatest miracles of Christ, we know that Christ came to overcome all travail, not just those of the moment in this world. In reality, many of those are of little moment or no moment at all. Yes, it sucks to be sick, but a resurrected and glorified being in the presence of God need never worry about being sick or hungry or halt or mute ever again. The real rescue and the truly better world is not here, but back in the presence of God, and Christ’s life and atonement make that possible where it was not before He came.

3. Faith in Christ opens you up to recognize and act on inspiration to benefit your life
Among the first principles of the gospel we find faith, but not just any faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the faith God expects of us. The things God asks of us help us purify ourselves so that we can hear His divine guidance and be willing to act on the uncomfortable suggestions He makes. When God commanded Israel to enter Sinai, it was not easy, but it took them to a land of promise. Sometimes we may wander in the Wilderness of Sin for forty years, but for those who will see as He sees and hope as He asks us to hope will inherit a land of promise. It wasn’t easy to build an ark. It wasn’t easy to go before Pharaoh. It wasn’t easy to accept the need to go to Ninevah. It wasn’t easy for the Disciples to trust that Christ would rise the third day. It is easy to be a doubting Thomas, but the miraculous thing about Thomas is that He went forth and preached that same Jesus because Christ opens the door by which we gain access to the Father. Only in and through Christ can God’s power truly access us, enoble us, inspire us, edify us and lead us to our own individual land of promise. Maybe it’s not where we like or what we like, but it will be of benefit to your life to follow Him.

4. Faith in Christ prepares you to receive any Divinely Initiated Assistance He decides to send you
It is only the faithful who can actually receive the blessings Christ promises. Jesus asked the man whose son had palsy if he believed; the man admitted he needed help with his unbelief, but as soon as that happened, Christ was able to manifest His power to the blessing of the man. Whenever we receive any blessing, it is predicated on our faith in Christ, not just believing that He is or what He said, but living as He asks. We show our faith not in blind recitations but in the way in which we act, and as we act, all men know we are His disciples and cannot, if they truly are Christians, deny the blessings are divinely appointed. Without faith it is impossible to please God or to receive any blessing from His hand. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no blessing comes to us from the Father save by Him.

It is difficult sometimes when we pray, obey, hope and live as we are asked and the blessings do not come. Do you think that Israel did not pray in bondage for release from Pharaoh? Do you think Daniel said the wrong words when in Persia and got thrown in with the lions? Do you really think as Job’s terrible friends did that he wasn’t good enough and that God was punishing him? Job was nearly convinced of this. Most of the people who talk of hope and joy are in a place of hope and joy, so if you are still in the wilderness their words may rightly ring hollow. You haven’t failed until you quit. So, if you are not there yet, keep trying. Put one foot in front of the other. Take two steps forward, and even if you then take one step back, you’ve made a little progress. Fear not to do good, little flock, for He is with us. And His promises while not always swift are always sure.

For those of you who wonder how much longer, consider this song. Hold on; there will be light. That is the promise of Easter. The King is coming. Long live the King.

Dodging Dogs and Danger

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This morning on the way to work, I watched a guy hit a dog and drive away without checking on it. I was out front driving, and I saw the dog and stopped to avoid hitting it. He was behind me, speeding like a banshee, and went around me to pass and just smashed into the dog. I will be haunted for a long time by the sound I heard of him hitting the dog. There were two; maybe he hit both, but they were both young and none of us needed this enroute to work.

I don't really know what more I could do. I suspect that, because they were young, these dogs had never seen a car before except for riding in one. I suspect that they broke out and were just out "having an adventure" and had no idea that the day would go badly for them. I don't know who owns them, and aside from paying money out of my own pocket for a stranger's dog, I don't think there's much I could do. I don't know if the police even care about things like this. Did I do wrong? I second guess myself all the time.

It made me think about life in general and grateful for mine. I have outlived many people I know, and although my life may not be sunshine and skittles, since I am still alive there is a chance for a good day tomorrow or next month that will be worth sticking around for. Many children suffer; they hunger, they get cancer, they get aborted, they get abducted, they get diseases, and some get hit by cars too. Even adults can go at any time. I had a friend who was murdered in 2013 at the age of 41, and two years ago a guy I knew died of cancer at 37. Every day is frought with danger for us to dodge, and sometimes with dogs.

When my beagle was dying in 2019, I knew it was final. He had cancer. He was 16. If I took him to the vet, they would have just told me to euthanize him and "end his pain". I wasn't ready to intentionally kill something that loved me, so instead I tried to make every day as good as I could to make it worth him sticking around. Sometimes I wondered if, looking at his face, he was thinking, "Life keeps getting better and better. What will tomorrow bring?" Some days were blase; some were memorable in sad ways, but in the last seven weeks I had him, we had some tender moments that I treasure, and so I am glad for all the good times.

Any day could be our day. It's when it's avoidable or when young things die that we find it most tragic. However, any life not fully lived is tragic. We have so many opportunities. We miss so many opporunities. We dodge dogs and danger, but we also dodge hope and love and opportunity, not intentionally sometimes, but because we don't feel worthy or energetic or confident or like we can succeed. The dogs this morning looked happy when I saw them. I don't think anyone that saw them after the crash is as happy as they were. It was a wake up call for me to use today differently because it might be all I have left.

Before I left for work, as I have done for nearly two years now, I spent a half hour playing with my dog. We played fetch and tug of war. I scratched his belly and wrestled with him. I want so much to fill his life with good things so that, when he is gone, I have good memories on which to look back. I think all of life is bittersweet, but it is the sweet sometimes that adds savor to the bitter. I miss my other beagle a lot. But I also have a lot of good times on which to reflect where I did a good job at giving him a good life. I need to do the same thing for myself.

Today I dodged a dog and some danger. Today I am sad because a dog did not dodge danger and because some dolt in a Dodge ran over the dog and drove away. I am grateful that I was watching, but I am sad because the other driver was not. Today's tragedy was avoidable. I'm not at fault, but I feel angry and sad and empathy for anyone who knew that dog and loved him. I know how much I love mine. And I know that he loves me too. A dog's love is the closest I have ever known to God's love in this world since I left home, so there will always be a soft spot in my heart for dogs, especially the innocent ones who didn't deserve to suffer.

Remembering versus Regretting

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I give one piece of advice when I attend a wedding. I tell the married couple to go home and make a list of the reasons why they like each other, why they chose each other, while it's fresh and they are happy so that, when the storms come, they face it together and weather it well. I think that if more people kept in mind the reasons they made a decision, we might lose a lot fewer people, to divorce, to suicide, to other jobs, to other religions, to bad options of all kinds. You see, no matter where you go, there are pros and cons, and it is a human thing to do to focus on the negative aspects when confronted with a horror or struggle. In those moments, when we lose sight of the past, it is easy to bloviate the bad and use that as justification to throw out the baby with the bath water. If we had a means by which to reflect and remember on our rationale for making a choice, it might help us hold to the original decision rather than just trading an old set of struggles for an unknown.

They say that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, but even if it is, it still must be mowed. All too often, we trade known things for POTENTIAL things that we perceive as possibly superior. I am old enough to know that those promised things rarely come, meaning that we are trading a guaranteed thing for something that is unlikely, and more often than not we end up worse off than if we just held our course. As bad as the known world can be, it is also a known world. It's very easy to romanticize another possibility when we grow weary of our current distress. However, there are still going to be bad people no matter where we go, so we must decide if the potential returns, if they ever come, outweigh the known outcome, and if we're actually willing to take the risk.

When I took this job, I took my own advice and wrote a list of things I liked about the job. Some of them, like the promotion potential, turned out to be lies. There is no promotion potential, at least not for me. I work in academia. However, it has some other things that I really like that turned out to be true. There is a pension. I get to teach, and it's OVERTIME. I get to use the degree I earned in college at work every day. I get to see "ah-hah" moments when students make connections. I don't have to take work home or go in for holidays and weekends. Unlike regular faculty, I actually get paid time off to use whenever I like. I have benefits. I get free internet and toilet paper and all I can drink water (and coffee if I wanted it). Parking is free. I could take six credits per semester for free if I wanted. And I get to address my work whatever way I wish as long as it's 1. legal, 2. safe, and 3. sufficient to cover the learning objectives. It's wonderful. No wonder people love government jobs.

There are struggles. It was hard to learn just this January that I will never be promoted unless I do what administration wants me to do (become a regular faculty and take a 10% pay cut and go to the bottom of the pile as faculty). If some of the things I listed in the previous paragraph went away, I might seriously have to reconsider if this was the best option. However, there are serious advantages to staying.

There are serious advantages to staying. Remember them. I know the storms will come. Marriage can get tough. Suicide can get tempting. Other jobs can be alluring. Other preachers may sound convincing. Are these other persistent persuasive voices promising you a potempkin outcome? Are they doing it for thee or for them? You can't "have it all" but you can want what you have enough to find satisfaction. There are serious advantages to staying.

If we all sat down and wrote out the reasons why we made the decisions we made, I think we might stick to them better. Whether it's jobs or marriage or conversion or what have you, there were reasons we took the steps we took. If those things were true and right then, they are right now, and they are happening to us right now. Other adversarial voices want us to focus on "what could be" rather than what is. It enflames hope but also fear, and decisions made on emotion are usually less wise than the alternatives. I know it sounds like a "pro and con" list, but really is asks us to do what makes all the difference in our minds. Remember.

Things Young Men Need To Be Taught

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Just a few weeks ago, I learned, for sure, that women do not care about a man's character or morality. I have long marveled to listen to women at church talk about what they look for in a man and what they love about their husband. They NEVER mention that he was a man of great faith, strong testimony, or good moral character. While they may mention other worthy things (I felt safe, he made me laugh, I knew he would be a good provider, etc.) none of the women talk about being an eternal companion. This is simply because young women are not known for their long-term planning strategies and are not looking at "eternal". They don't care about Mr. Right. They are looking for someone who is good enough RIGHT NOW.  In order to prepare young men to compete for mates and families and women, we need to change our standing on what we emphasize in their training. It is no longer enough to emphasize being a great man. Many men of great character and morality are overlooked in favour of men of great wealth, great looks and great status, because those are things that matter TODAY, and women are not seemingly willing to or interested in the wait until those bear fruit in eternity. Mate selection occurs NOW, so they need to offer things that women value NOW.

Some women do care, just not up front. You see, you can't see a person's character or morality by looking at them. You have to spend time interacting with them. Even then, all too often, too many of them just put on a play and pretend for a while until they get what they want. So, I can understand why some women don't like "nice guys" or think there aren't any. They have been played by players acting like men of morality. You see, it is true that men all do want the same thing: intimacy with women. Truly good men will wait and do things in the right time, at the right place, in the right way, and for the right reason. So, if you have never met a man who waited to be intimate with you until marriage, you haven't met a great guy. That doesn't mean they don't exist. I have spoken with women who admit that they married one, but that they "got lucky". They chose their husband for some other reason and then got lucky that he was also a great guy. Unfortunately for men, we can't just don a dapper hat and get +2 luck; we have to improve our odds with the talents God gave us.

We need to teach young men that, if you want to be competitive to get a wife, companion and lover, you need to be a good person AND. Some men will abandon principles, but that's not the right path. Women are looking for certain things, things they can see. I'm an educator, so I'm going to borrow my inspiration from President Hinckley and let your teachers give you A's while I give you the B's.

First, you need to BE of good hygiene. While some women will argue for a particular coiffure, it is actually just important that you take care of yourself. Wash your hair, bathe, wear deodorant, and take care of your teeth. Women have rejected me because I don't have all of my original teeth (which I lost as aforementioned), but I have never been told my teeth were not well cared for. My dentist gave me a B+ on my last visit. If you smell bad or don't change your clothes frequently enough or ever or if you don't try to take care of yourself, women will think you cannot take care of them. After all, would you pick a woman who wasn't taking care of herself?

Secondly, you need BE engaged in extracurricular activities that women respect. It's not enough to be on a sport's team. You must also play the right position in the right sport, or just work out a lot. Women seem to be more interested in "gym bros" than real athletes, because the workouts done at a gym are not for achievement; they are for performance. You are there to attract women. I played tennis, which is passe, and I played soccer, but because I was a goalie, I wasn't cool. Women don't care about board games, card games, collections, rocketry, or anything science really, and for crying out loud video games are usually viewed as signs of a loser. This doesn't mean you can't do what you like. You just also need to be engaged in extracurricular activities that women esteem. I collected stamps and did martial arts; built models and shot off model rockets. And I didn't go on a date until Senior Prom. There was a good reason. I was a square. I was a dork, and I only ever met one woman who found me adorkable. She married someone else anyway.

Third, you need to BE fit. Eat right, and exercise. If you don't want to play sports, or even if you do, if you are not fit, they won't even notice you. I exercised in high school, but I was kind of gangly and lank, hardly the physique of a chiseled athlete, and so I was frequently told "You're such a nice guy". I know now that's code for "loser". The males who are most desirable are those with either muscular torsos or rock hard abs. I'm not interested in either of those, but I can tell you that, although women are impressed by my discipline and dedication to running a 5K every morning, none of them are interested enough to date me.  Even at my best physical shape, women looked right through me at other men who were MORE fit.  They had genetics, and that's all that mattered.

Fourth, you need to BE well dressed. Fashions will change, and trends will be impossible to keep. However, you can always wear NEW clothes. Nice clothes. Clean clothes. It may not be the popular brand, but the point is to not draw negative attention. At a youth conference when I was 14, a young woman from my ward told me "As long as you only wear black, all people will notice is your teeth." She was right. And I was wearing braces at the time, so all people saw was a kid with glasses, braces, and a lanky physique. I looked like Sheldon Cooper. Of course back then that wasn't someone anyone knew, so I was a loser. I wore black, and I still do, because it's practical, but it's not going to get positive attention. You don't have to peacock and dress like Clay Aiken or Elton John. You just have to look like you care. A lot of my clothes were also mended. My parents were not wealthy, so I wore a lot of patched, sewn clothes. I don't mind it now (in fact I find it an effective litmus test for shallow women), but if you want to get positive attention as a young man, you can't dress like that.

When I was a youth, I followed the counsel of the church. I attended seminary, read scriptures, prayed regularly, and served a mission. Although my mission president told me I was the most prepared missionary he had ever seen, I can testify that no woman I have ever pursued romantically gave a flying pinwheel about my testimony, my scripture mastery, or my worthiness as a priesthood holder, and I watched women choose men who were none of those things because they were attractive. None of those things are attractive to teenagers or young adults because those people are not mature enough to recognize that they are valuable. And none of the women in my ward want to date me for those things now either. I teach gospel doctrine for the adults now, and they have all heard me speak from the pulpit (you'll have to ask them for details), and although some of them will refer friends and relatives, none of the women who know about my testimony and character firsthand think of me as a potential date. All too often, women are looking for a man who is "tall" or "ambitious" or who "knows what an Eames chair is". Unfortunately, this is not the thinking of a wife; this is the thinking of a teenage girl. Of course, we are trying to get them married young (God only knows why), so they will have to appeal to what teenage girls think is desirable and preferable. And know what an Eames chair is.

We want our youth to be prepared for success in this world AND happiness in the world to come. We need to emphasize not just spiritual endeavors but also the activities and options that will give them the best chance at finding someone with whom to share their mortal life. Young men need to prepare to be worthy husbands and priesthood holders AND they need to prepare to be attractive to women. The general authorities seem to have wives who value them for their virtue, but even Elder Kearon's wife wasn't attracted to him initially because of his spirituality. She has admitted so, quintessentially.  The church is not enough. They need to be able to appeal to women where they are: with the attitude and values that teenagers value, and be great men too.

This article is not endorsed, supported or acknowledged in any way officially (as far as I know) by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These are purely my thoughts and opinions on the matter and should not be construed in any way to be policy or doctrine.