Valuing The Gifts Of God

It hurts me to see some of my family and friends waiver in their faith, because of a misunderstood principle.  So I would like to expound just a little on a sometimes overlooked principle. 

I often heard it said that we don’t have to keep the Word of Wisdom, because it was given by way of greeting, not by commandment or constraint, but by way of wisdom, and by that logic, that is correct.  Of course, commandments are only given to the wicked, to get them out of hell and move them toward heaven, so by the use of that same logic of only following direct commandments, and snubbing our noses at any other advice the Lord gives, will just barely get us out of hell and into the outskirts of heaven. 

How willing would an employer be to promote a worker who wouldn’t take advice?  How willing would a parent be to rehire a babysitter who wouldn’t take advice? 

Of course, I am not talking about turning the Word of Wisdom into a commandment, or applying punishment and reward to the Word of Wisdom, but I am saying why would anyone want to turn away from advice offered from a man who has overcome all things and has made it His sole concern to help others overcome all things? 

If our Heavenly Father has offered a gift of advice, why not accept it for what it is?  Why fight against it?  Why ask for any blessing, when the Lord gives you the instructions of how to get those blessings, and you turn those instructions away, and say, “You didn’t say Simon says!”  That attitude is more than a little foolish, not to mention out-right rude. 

Why get upset when you don’t get the blessings that you want, when the Lord has given the instructions to you of how to get that blessing, and you just won’t follow those instructions???? 

What would you say about a man who asks the Lord for more intelligence, a faster mind, and the Lord tells him to eat a certain food that will help his brain function better and faster, and the man says, ‘I don’t like that food.  I like eating different food.’  And the man refuses to eat the food that the Lord suggested? 

At the end of the Word of Wisdom, the Lord lists a few blessings that will naturally flow from following the advice He gives. 

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen. 

This post isn’t really about the Word of Wisdom, it is about the principle of valuing the gifts the Lord gives us.  It’s about valuing our Heavenly Father.  It is about Eternal progression. 

How many times have I heard my friends say that God doesn’t answer them, that He won’t speak to them to give them further light and knowledge, only to find out that they rejected His counsel in the past, and continually look for reasons to not take His counsel now? 

If we want the Lord to answer us, we really should be willing to follow the advice that He gives us.  The more we follow His advice, the more He will answer us.  If we draw closer to the Lord, He will draw closer to us. 

If you want the Lord to answer you, then repent completely and start right now keeping all the commandments and advice that He has given to you in the past, and approach Him with a totally broken heart, and completely contrite spirit, perfectly willing to follow any and all counsel that He gives to you from this moment forward, and if you will do this, I promise you in the name of the Lord, He will start working with you again.  

.