| The prophet Joshua was a great leader in ancient Israel. He probably is
best known for the thrilling challenge he gave to his people as he said:
"choose you this day whom ye will serve...as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord."
This challenge now faces us also in stern reality. Worldliness is
increasing at a frightening rate. I do not speak of sin and corruption
alone. I speak also of worldly philosophies and ideologies which now compete
with the gospel for our acceptance and adoption.
We are too prone to accept the wisdom of the world rather than the humble
advice of leaders of the Church. Highly sophisticated planners in important
governmental or educational fields seem, to some people, to speak with greater
authority and relevance than the prophets of God.
As we listen to these individuals more and more, we tend to listen less and
less to our inspired Church leaders. We compare the two--the highly educated
experts and the humble men who guide our religious thoughts. Too often this
results in a cooling of the attitudes of some individuals toward the Church
with an accompanying transfer of loyalties.
But now is a time to reassess our selection of values. Now is the time to
remind ourselves that God has restored his gospel and that it is given to us
as a way of life--our way of life--God's way of life. We must waken to the
realization that if we are going to truly serve the Lord, we must put the
Church and the gospel first in our lives and not allow worldly philosophies
to crowd them out or to downgrade them.
Hence we must reassert to ourselves the challenge of Joshua: "Choose you this
day whom ye will serve." Shall we follow the ways of men, or shall we follow
the prophets? (Elder Mark E. Peterson, former member of the Council of the
Twelve Apostles, 'Ensign', March 1976, p. 73)
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| The following was taken from the Conference Report, Oct.
1971, pp. 168-69; or Ensign, Dec. 1971, page 130.:
What is worship and how should man worship the Lord?
(D&C 93:19-20)
The word worship comes from the Anglo-Saxon words: weorth,
worthy, and scipe, state or condition. One deserves to be
worshiped because his condition is a worthy one. Elder James
E. Talmage said, "The worship of which one is capable depends
upon his comprehension of the worthiness characterizing the
object of his reverence. Man's capacity for worship is a
measure of his comprehension of God". (Aticles of Faith, pp.
395-96.)
Man engages in worship to express his feelings about things
divine. If one reverences God's fulness of truth and grace,
and desires to be like God, he worships God by keeping His
commandments.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained:
"To worship the Lord is to follow after him, to seek his
face, to believe his doctrine, and to think his thoughts. It
is to walk in his paths, to be baptized as Christ was, to
preach that gospel of the kingdom that fell from his lips,
and to heal the sick and raise the dead as he did.
"To worship the Lord is to put first in our lives the things
of his kingdom, to live by every word that proceedeth forth
from the mouth of God, to center our whole hearts upon Christ
and that salvation thich comes because of him. It is to walk
in the light as he is in the light, to do the things he wants
done, to do what he would do under similar circumstances, to
be as he is.
"To worship the Lord is to walk in the Spirit, to rise above
carnal things, to bridle our passions, and to overcome the
world. It is to pay our tithes and offerings, to act as wise
stewards in caring for those things which have been entrusted
to our care, and to use our talents and means for the
spreading of truth and the building up of his kingdom.
"To worship the Lord is to be married in the temple, to have
children, to teach them the gospel, and to bring them up in
light and truth. It is to perfect the family unit, to honor
our father and mother; it is for a man to love his wife with
all his heart and to cleave unto her and none else.
"To worship the Lord is to visit the fatherless and the widows
in their affliction and to keep ourselves unspotted from the
world. It is to work on a welfare project, to administerto the
sick, to go on a mission, to go home teaching, and to hold
family home evening.
"To worship the Lord is to study the gospel, to treasure up
light and truth, to ponder in our hearts the things of his
kingdom, and to make them part of our lives. It is to pray
with all the energy of our souls, to preach by the power of
the Spirit, to sing songs of praise and thanksgiving.
"To worship is to work, to be actively engaged in a good
cause, to be about our Father's busines, to love our
fellowmen. It is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to
comfort those that mourn, and to hold up the hands that hang
down and to strengthen the feeble knees.
"To worship the Lord is to stand valiantly in the cause of
truth and righteousness, to let our influence for good be
felt in civic, cultural, educational, and governmental fields,
and to support those laws and principles which further the
Lord's interests here on earth.
"To worship the Lord is to be of good cheer, to be courageous,
to be valiant, to have the courage of our God-given
convictions, and to keep the faith.
"It is ten thousand times ten thousand things. It is keeping
the commandments of God. It is living the whole law of the
whole Gospel".
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