Your idea of God’s character is far less than his actual character, no matter how lofty your idea of his character may be.7 Anyone who is not God still has a great deal to learn about him.8 You must avoid the temptation of believing that all you know is all—or even most—of what there is to know. You can't receive greater joy from God without learning more about God. As long as you remain satisfied with your current beliefs about God, you will never learn more about him.
True disciples of Christ readily recognize the limitations of their understanding, firmly believing that even their most supported beliefs are incomplete, if not incorrect. They constantly test their beliefs against their observations of reality, and stand ready to open-mindedly listen to the ideas of others. They gratefully acknowledge when someone offers them constructive criticism. They emulate the humility of the Lord by yielding to any idea that is shown to be better than what they already believe, and adopting it as their own.
While few would admit that they believe that they know everything there is to know about God, many act this way by spending little to no effort searching for new or better ideas about him and by ignoring or persecuting those who present them. Even those who have spent a lifetime diligently searching for and rigorously testing the beliefs they hold should be willing to search out and listen to the ideas of others. If this is the case, how much more humility should be exercised by those whose religious beliefs are so simple and unsupported that they can be adequately conveyed within a few sessions of a child’s Sunday School class? Even with such shallow exposure to scripture, these professed Christians ought to realize how little resemblance they bear to the believers described there, either in their discipleship or the fruits that always follow,9 but they don’t seem to notice or care because they are taught that God’s most valuable blessings are already theirs but will only show up after they die.
Remembering that there is always much more to learn and become10 will help you be as prepared as possible to learn more from God no matter who or what he uses to teach you. You will continue learning more about God the same way you learned what you already know: through searching for more information about him and by living everything that you learn.926
Footnotes
- 1. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (Matthew 13:10-13) ↩
- 2. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalms 36:9) ↩
- 3. And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; (D&C 88:11) ↩
- 4. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him. (D&C 88:49) ↩
- 5. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9) ↩
- 6. And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more. (D&C 78:18-19) ↩
- 7. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. (Isaiah 64:4) ↩
- 8. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13) ↩
- 9. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 7:20) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17-18) ↩
- 10. And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily.... (Mosiah 4:11) ↩