Obedience

     The last Christlike attribute I would like to talk about is one that we've all heard countless time in our lives. This one is Obedience. I don't know about everyone else but I heard this one constantly growing up, mainly my parents telling me to be obedient. Which I needed to hear.  Today I still hear that term as a missionary and from the Lord through the scriptures which is talked about A LOT! But obedience must be something we need a constant reminder of or else it probably wouldn't be brought up so much.

      Obedience was preached from before the world was created. It is the first law of heaven. The Lord gave Adam and Eve commandments right from the beginning. After they were cast out of the Garden of Eden Adam offered sacrifices to the Lord. An angel came to Adam and asked him why he was offering sacrifices. Adam said that he didn't know why, he just knew that God commanded him to. We can apply this example to our lives. There are commandments out there that we may not understand the whole reason behind them. But we should be willing to obey those commandments because the did come from God and God knows all things so he obviously has a reason behind every commandment. God wouldn't give us commandments if they weren't for our good. So, its important to remember that although we may not understand all the reason for commandments, we just need to follow them and we will be blessed. I am reminded of a scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants section 82 verse 10 which says, "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." When we keep the commandments, we are promised blessings no matter what, but when we don't obey, God can't promise us any blessings. What a wonderful thing to remember.
     Our Savior and Exemplar Jesus Christ was the most obedient person to ever walk this earth. He came and did all that His Father asked Him to do, even being baptized. Now, if we are baptized for the remission of sins, and Christ had no sins, why then was He baptized? Well, let me tell you, Jesus Christ was baptized, "to fulfill all righteousness", and to show "the children of men that according, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments" (see 2 Nephi 31:5,7 italics added). Christ didn't need to be baptized, but being baptized was a commandment to God and Christ wanted to keep all of God's commandments and so He got baptized, not just by anyone, by John the Baptist who had the proper priesthood authority to baptize. What a wonderful example Jesus Christ set for us in being obedient to the commandments.
      Now, I know being obedient can be difficult, especially when the norm is on the opposite end. But I do know that when we are obedient and choose the right even when it is hard, that God will bless us more that we can imagine. He loves us so much, and if we show our love for Him by being obedient to Hid commandments, He will see our actions and will reward us accordingly. I have seen this countless times in my life and the more we are obedient the easier it will become to resist those temptations our there our lives will be beyond happy!