It is possible to obey God all the time
Many Christians will plainly deny the possibility of actually obeying God at all times and in all places. They dismiss the Lord’s ability to obey the Father at all times as being a function of his godhood, but there are others who also obeyed him at all times. We read that Noah “was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God,” (Genesis 6:9) that “Asa’s heart was perfect with the Lord all his days,” (1 Kings 15:14) and that “there was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1) The Psalmist wrote:
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. (Psalms 119)
If these people obeyed God at all times, why can’t you? You may be tempted to dismiss these and other examples of people who managed to stop sinning by claiming that they could only do so because they were exceptional, and that it was easier for them than it would be for you. You would be wrong on both counts. Even the most righteous people have to overcome the same struggles we all face.2 The Lord himself was “...in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
What makes a person exceptional is not what they begin with, but how much they are willing to receive from God through submission to him. Submission to God isn’t a question of the greatness of the one who does it, but recognition of the greatness of God. You would not have heard of any of the aforementioned people if it weren’t for their submission to God. It is your realization of your nothingness that enables you to receive more from God, not the presence of your greatness. When Jeremiah was overwhelmed by what God asked him to do, the Lord reassured him by pointing out that all he had to do was do what he was told.3 Obedience to God does not require exceptional strength or virtue, just a willing heart and all the strength and virtue you currently possess. A willing heart is a choice with a willing mind4—a choice we already have every reason to make.
Modern Christians treat obedience to God as requiring some mythical level of sacrifice. The truth is that any sacrifice we could make pales in comparison to the sacrifice that God has already made —not just in the life and death of Jesus Christ, but in the continued gift he gives of our lives and every good thing within them.5 All good things we have, will have, and could have come from God. Every person already has every sufficient reason to willingly and gratefully sacrifice all things—up to and including their very lives—in order to obey God.6
It is fully within your ability to permanently and completely forsake sin. God has promised that we will never be commanded beyond our capacity to obey.7 You have the power to overcome any temptation you face.8 You have the power not to sin.9 The test of mortality is whether you will begin to obey God all of the time or not.10
Footnotes
- 1. Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out. (Helaman 3:27-30) ↩
- 2. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are... (James 5:17) ↩
- 3. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. (Jeremiah 1:6-7) ↩
- 4. 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. (D&C 64:34) ↩
- 5. I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. (Mosiah 2:21-23) ↩
- 6. Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake; for whoso layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again. And whoso is not willing to lay down his life for my sake is not my disciple. (D&C 103:27-28) ↩
- 7. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7) ↩
- 8. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13) ↩
- 9. He hath commanded no man to do wickedly, neither hath he given any man license to sin. (Sirach 15:20) ↩
- 10. And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; (Abraham 3:25) ↩