How Might We Bury Our Disposition to Sin?

 How might we bury our disposition to sin?

Elder Christofferson suggests in his most recent talk, we might ask ourselves what we could do to follow this pattern, to “lay down the weapons of [our] rebellion,” whatever they may be, and become so “converted [to] the Lord” that the stain of sin and the desire for sin are taken from our hearts and we never will fall away.

He teaches that one of the most insidious sins is to pursue our own path without regard to divine direction. He asserts that trying to find a different course to heaven is like the futility of working on the Tower of Babel rather than looking to Christ and His salvation.

He reminds us that we must seek to yield to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, put off the natural man, and become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.”(Mosiah 3:19) We must put the first commandment first in our lives and let God prevail. We must have our love of God and our determination to serve Him with all our might, mind, and strength become the touchstone by which we judge all things and make all our decisions. (Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion, General Conference, Oct, 2024)

Elder Soares in his latest talk said the law of consecration includes consecrating ourselves to the Lord where we totally yield our will to His, he shared:

“One of the most glorious moments of mortality occurs when we discover the joy that comes when doing always those things that “work for and please the Lord” and “what works for us” become one and the same! To decisively and unquestioningly make the Lord’s will our own requires majestic and heroic discipleship! At that sublime moment, we become consecrated to the Lord, and we totally yield our wills to Him. Such spiritual submissiveness, so to speak, is beautiful, powerful, and transformational.” (Aligning our Will to His, General Conference Oct 2024)

Paul taught to have faith unto “standing in the power of God” is to have the wisdom to know and have the mind of the Lord (1 Cor 2:5-7,16). When we live under the influence of the Holy Ghost and thus walk in the spirit of revelation(Galatians 5:16, 25) then our thoughts become a reflection of how Jesus would think. When we truly love God we come to know Him and become like Him, we do this through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We become perfected in Christ when we know the character, perfections and attributes of the Saviour and then acquire them for ourselves.

Joseph Smith Jnr taught that “three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that he actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to his will”. (Lectures on Faith [1985], 38).

Elder Bruce R McConkie taught,

To know God in that full sense which will enable us to gain eternal salvation means that we must know what he knows, enjoy what he enjoys, experience what he experiences. In New Testament language, we must ‘be like him.’ (1 John 3:2.) But before we can become like him, we must obey those laws that will enable us to acquire the character, perfections, and attributes that he possesses. (Bruce R. McConkie in CR, Apr. 1966, p. 79.)

Pres Harold B. Lee taught, “One who lives … worthy of a testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and who is willing to reach out to Him in constant inquiry to know if his course is approved, is the one who is… preparing for the celestial world, which is to live eternally with his Heavenly Father.”(The Teachings of Harold B Lee p.614)

President Marion G. Romney taught,

“[W]hen we do not keep ourselves advised as to what the counsel of the Lord is, we are prone to substitute our own counsel for His. As a matter of fact, there is nothing else we can do but follow our own counsel when we do not know the Lord’s instructions.” (“Seek Not to Counsel the Lord,” Ensign, Aug. 1985, 5)

D&C 82:10 

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Elder Bruce R McConkie taught, ‘Be Ye of One Mind’

“Perfect unity prevail among the true saints. There are no divisions among them; they all believe, think and speak alike because they-by the power of the Holy Ghost-have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). (DNTC Vol 3)

Moroni 10:32

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

President Russell M Nelson taught

“The very first word in the Doctrine and Covenants is hearken. It means “to listen with the intent to obey.” To hearken means to “hear Him”—to hear what the Savior says and then to heed His counsel. In those two words—“Hear Him”—God gives us the pattern for success, happiness, and joy in this life. We are to hear the words of the Lord, hearken to them, and heed what He has told us!

“As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.

“We simply cannot rely upon information we bump into on social media. With billions of words online and in a marketing-saturated world constantly infiltrated by noisy, nefarious efforts of the adversary, where can we go to hear Him?

“We can go to the scriptures. They teach us about Jesus Christ and His gospel, the magnitude of His Atonement, and our Father’s great plan of happiness and redemption. Daily immersion in the word of God is crucial for spiritual survival, especially in these days of increasing upheaval. As we feast on the words of Christ daily, the words of Christ will tell us how to respond to difficulties we never thought we would face.” (Hear Him, General Conference April 2020)

Elder Soares taught recently,

“As Christ’s disciples, we desire to walk the path He marked for us during His mortal ministry. We not only desire to do His will and all that will please Him but also seek to emulate Him. As we strive to be true to every covenant we have entered into and live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,”(Matt 4:4) we will be protected against falling victim to the sins and errors of the world.” (General Conference Oct 2024, Aligning Our Will to His)

In Mosiah 15:5  Abinadi is speaking to the wicked King Noah and his priests, teaching them about Jesus Christ:

And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.

Elder Christofferson shared in his 'One In Christ' talk in 2023,

“Becoming one in Christ happens one by one—we each begin with ourselves. We are dual beings of flesh and spirit and are sometimes at war within ourselves. As Paul expressed: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; “But I see another law in [the] members [of my body], warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Jesus was also a being of flesh and spirit. He was tested; He understands; He can help us achieve unity within. Therefore, drawing upon the light and the grace of Christ, we strive to give our spirit—and the Holy Spirit—dominance over the physical. And when we fall short, Christ, by His Atonement, has given us the gift of repentance and the opportunity to try again. If individually we each “put on Christ,” then together we can hope to become one, as Paul said, “the body of Christ.”....Therefore, our goal is “that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” (General Conference, April, 2023)

D&C 38:27

Be one, if ye are not one, ye are not mine

The natural man is an enemy to God. In the guide to the Scriptures we read that the natural man is a person who chooses to be influenced by the passions, desires, appetites, and senses of the flesh rather than by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We cannot have unity within when our flesh and spirit are warring. Satan works on this tempting us to give into these influences. When we yield to the flesh, we yield to Satan.

Mosiah 3:19

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

President Nelson shared in 2020, It takes persistent, rigorous spiritual work to repent and to put off the natural man through the Atonement of Jesus Christ….. When you are faced with temptation—even if the temptation comes when you are exhausted or feeling alone or misunderstood—imagine the courage you can muster as you choose to let God prevail in your life and as you plead with Him to strengthen you.(Let God Prevail, General Conference Oct 2020)

In 2023 President Nelson shared,

"As you think celestial, you will find yourself avoiding anything that robs you of your agency. Any addiction—be it gaming, gambling, debt, drugs, alcohol, anger, pornography, sex, or even food—offends God. Why? Because your obsession becomes your god. You look to it rather than to Him for solace.” (Think Celestial, General Conference Oct 2023)

Last General Conference Elder Christofferson spoke about this particular temptation again, he said,

“Another example concerns our physical being. Paul reminds us that we are to glorify God in both body and spirit and that this body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, “which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.” Thus, we have a legitimate interest in spending time caring for our bodies as best we can… I believe it pleases our Creator when we do our best to care for His wonderful gift of a physical body. It would be a mark of rebellion to deface or defile one’s body, or abuse it, or fail to do what one can to pursue a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, vanity and becoming consumed with one’s physique, appearance, or dress can be a form of rebellion at the other extreme, leading one to worship God’s gift instead of God. (Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion, General Conference Oct 2024) (Click here to read more about this)

In Alma 7:23, Alma instructs the people of Gideon,

And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

As President Nelson noted above, here we are also taught that we can ask God to help us in all things. I know as we plead for the Lord to help us to be one in Christ and overcome the natural man, we do receive greater strength to resist temptation. (See here for more on this )

In D&C 12:8 we learn that those who want to assist in the work must be temperate in all things.

In 2 Peter 1, we find Peter urging the Saints to have their Calling and Election Made Sure and we learn that temperance is one of the steps leading to this blessing. Temperance means self-mastery, self control or self discipline. We create unity between our body and our spirits when our flesh becomes subject to our spirits. When we do this we put on Christ and have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually (Mosiah 5:2).

President Ezra Taft Benson taught, “Now there is a lifetime goal—

to walk in his steps, to perfect ourselves in every virtue as he has done, to seek his face, and to work to make our calling and election sure.” (Do Not Despair, General Conference Oct 1974.)

D&C 88:67-68

And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. 

Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will. 

D&C 64:34:

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.

I pray as we strive to be willing and obedient that we may overcome the natural man, be one in Christ and acquire the mind of God. I know as we endeavour to seek for these things we will qualify for Zion and see the Saviour, for verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.(D&C 93:1)

I testify these promises are true, in the name of Jesus Christ amen