“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. ... Order my steps in thy word” (Psalms 119:105, 133).
First, let me testify that the scriptures do illuminate our path and order our feet. That’s the purpose of the scriptures: To teach us who we are and what we can become. Scriptures also tell us how tell us how to reach our full divine potential.
But there is, sadly, a force that runs counter to the beautiful and illuminating word of God. This force seeks to darken our minds and blight our understanding—of course, I’m talking about Satan. We know that one of the ways Satan has tried to darken our path has been to steal plain and precious truths from the Bible.
As the angel of the Lord told Nephi:
“Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God . . . because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them” (1 Nephi 13:28-29).
Satan intentionally robbed the Bible of some of its precious truths. But, fortunately, we live in a day where truth has been restored. The Lord promised Nephi: “I will be merciful unto the Gentiles in that day, insomuch that I will bring forth unto them, in mine own power, much of my gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb” (1 Nephi 13:34).
We are so blessed to live in a day when the Lord has restored His word. And we are so blessed that the Lord has restored two texts, which were removed from holy writ by a cunning adversary—but restored by a loving Lord! These books are the Books of Moses and Abraham. Of the precious truths contained in these books, there is one truth that really stands out—the doctrine of our divine nature.
In studying the experience Moses had with visits from the Lord and Satan in Moses 1, and in studying the scriptures on our premortal life in Moses 4 and Abraham 3, my heart is filled with gratitude that I have this understanding of who I am and why I’m here. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of my own divine nature.
It’s also clear in these chapters that our Father wants us to know of our divine heritage, but Satan doesn’t want us to realize the royalty that lives within us. And therein, lies a great struggle between the forces of good and evil.
What is it that makes divine nature such a powerful doctrine? Why is it that the forces of good and the forces of evil tussle on this issue? The power of this doctrine comes in its ability to motivate individuals to follow Christ.
President Hinckley puts it this way: “Can you imagine a more compelling motivation to worthwhile endeavor than the knowledge that you are a child of God, the creator of the universe, our all-wise Heavenly Father, who expects you to do something with your life, and who will give help when it is sought for” (emphasis added).
Conversely, a rejection of our divine nature is hazardous. I found something that was said in my stake’s priesthood meeting a few weeks ago to be very interesting. One of the high councilmen told us that the antidote to sin is to love ourselves. He said we are most prone to sin when we don’t love ourselves. By persuading us that we are not noble, that we are not loved and cared for by a Heavenly Father, Satan hopes to transform our self-loathing into sin. So he sets in our minds cruel perceptions of what we should be through self-defeating comparisons of ourselves to others. And when we don’t measure up, he whispers: “You’re not good enough.” Or “You’re not smart enough.” Or “You’re not good-looking enough.” Or “You’re not strong enough.” And when you are at a weak point, he’ll whisper to you, “No one likes you; no one loves you. Why would they?” Or he’ll say, “Why keep trying? You can’t change; you can’t make it!”
These are lies. Please don’t buy the lie! The truth is that you probably are the exact thing you think you’re not.
You are a noble son or daughter of our Heavenly Father. He know you. He loves you. He has given you talents and abilities. He has not sent you to Earth at this time to fail; rather, He has sent you here because He knows you can succeed.
Don’t buy Satan’s false perceptions of you—Instead, believe your Father’s accurate perceptions of you.
By realizing who you are, you give yourself a protection against Satan’s darts. Such was the case with Moses. When Satan tempted Moses, Moses replied: “I am a son of God” (Moses 1:13). Moses’ understanding of his divine nature allowed him to shun Satan’s temptations. Moses wasn’t about compromise who he was. We should follow that example when we are tempted:
· Dress immodestly? No way! I’m a daughter of God!
· Watch that movie? No way! I’m a son of God!
· Break the Word of Wisdom? No way! I’m a child of God!
· View pornography? No way! I’m a son of God! (To which I might add, pornography is one of Satan’s ways of ruining the divinity of womanhood and also ruining the love a couple has for each other.)
Besides Moses, the scriptures give us another tale of one who responded to temptation with a statement of who He was. This was Christ—and his second temptation dealt with Satan asking Christ to prove who He was:
“And [Satan] saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
“Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:6-7).
What was Christ saying there? Don’t tempt me! I’m the son of God! I already know who I am.
Like Christ, you don’t need a dramatic sign to tell you of your divine nature. You just need to remind yourself who you are. You can start by looking in the mirror—you are created in God’s image. You have His spiritual DNA. And, you can listen to that still, small voice through which a loving Father communicates His love notes to His children while they are away. Many times, in my life, I have felt reassured; I have felt loved; and I have been reminded that I have a Father who cares by listening to that still, small voice.
How grateful I am for the Comforter. I have needed that comfort often. And I have received it as often as I have needed it—because my Father is not distant or disinterested; He is near, and He cares! Recently, I read Christ’s statement: Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him (Matthew 6:8, emphasis added). How does He know? Because He knows us. He knows us! He knows you! And He is not a disinterested observer. He cares. He does. I know He cares because of the answers I’ve received to my prayers, the comfort I’ve received in my sorrows and the burning feeling of love I get from the Spirit. From all this, I am convinced—indeed, I know—we are His children.
As important as it is know that we are God’s children, it’s of equal import to recognize that those around us also share that same divine nature. Our Heavenly Father, like any parent here, wants his children to be treated well. That’s why the great commandment to love your neighbor is second only to the commandment to love God.
A lawyer once asked Jesus a question about the second commandment: Who is my neighbor?
“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
“And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
“Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
“And he [the lawyer] said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:30-37).
On our life’s path, we aren’t too likely to find people beat up and left for dead. But we are likely to find those who are wounded from life’s realities—the disappointments, setbacks, heartbreaks, heartaches, cruel words, unjust comparisons of themselves to others, sins, prejudices, etc.
What is our duty to them?
“There are so many who have been injured and who need a good Samaritan,” said President Hinckley, “to bind up their wounds and help them on their way. A small kindness can bring a great blessing to someone in distress and a sweet feeling to the one who befriends him.”
When I was a boy scout, when we went camping, not only were we expected to pick up after ourselves and leave no trace that we were ever there, but our leaders also had us pick a trash-bag’s worth of other people’s litter. “Scouts leave an area better than they find it,” they’d say.
Shouldn’t the same apply to the people we meet on life’s path? What a blessing it would be if we could say that each person we meet was somehow bettered because their path crossed ours.
Recently, one of my friends, Lee, reminded me of the importance of recognizing the divine nature of others. Another of my friends made a disparaging remark about an acquaintance. Lee responded quickly with the reminder, “C’mon, she’s a daughter of God!” In recognizing her divine nature, Lee asked us to remember that such a remark is unbefitting one who is the spiritual offspring of God.
I’ve thought about the subject even more recently, as I heard a friend talk about the excitement surrounding her impending motherhood. I find something interesting about all of this. Human beings are generally born one a time (exceptions, twins and triplets--but what I'm about to say holds true for them as well). Thus, every human being has a mother who went through exactly what my friend is going through to bring them into the world. And those mothers shared the same excitement my friend has for her son’s arrival. And when the child was born, they, like my friend will, just loved their child so much. Really, can anything be as precious in this world as a child is to its mother?
Yet, there is a love that is even more powerful than the love a mother has for her child. It's the love the Savior has for us:
"For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (1 Nephi 21:15-16).
In other words, the Savior is saying, “There's a better chance your mother will forget you than there is that I will forget you.”
I think I'm beginning to get a sense of the worth of a soul. And when I start thinking about how much each individual on this globe is loved by its mother and God, I start thinking, "Shouldn't I treat someone who is loved with respect? How does that person's mother want her child to be treated? How does my Heavenly Father want that person to be treated?" Isn't the measure of dignity in how we treat people from whom we can gain nothing? I mean, everyone can be nice to a king, but isn't greatness in how we treat the peasants?
What if everyone took that approach--to treat each human being with as much love as their mothers and Heavenly Father have for them? Would there be teasings, war, etc.? Would anyone want to participate in the demeaning practice of pornography? Would anyone want to hurt another? I wonder. Isn’t there a love from a mother for a child, and from a Heavenly Father for a child, that deserves something of a reverence? They are, after all, the children of a King, the children of the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth? Would you mistreat a prince? Yet, every one you meet is of royal blood!
How much is a human being worth?
The Psalmist wrote: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour” (Psalms 8:3-5).
On earth, man is a little lower than the angels. But isn’t man’s truth worth his ability to become like God?
That is our possibility. That is our neighbor’s possibility. Our goal should be to foster the divinity that is within us and within them.
