03 May 2010 Outward Appearance
 |  Category: Family, Inspirational

This post originated as a comment to Mrs. Smith.  However, as I continued I realized I didn’t want to hijack her post or blog, so I posted my comment here and provided a link.

1) Hah!  I married up, not you.

2) I see a strong, positive correlation to your description above and comparison between (a) humanity and (b) God:

(a) Humanity focuses on the trivial “outward appearance” (1 Sam. 16:7).  How to prevent war?  More armaments!  How to be attractive?  More make-up (which sounds too much like “make believe” so we call it cosmetics)!  How to be fashionable?  More toys (cars, clothing, homes, etc)!  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Humanity does not, cannot, and will not ever get to the things that really matter because the things that matter are not the outward ones.

(b) As indicated in Samuel, God looks upon, and works from, the inside.  The problem of cleaning, organizing, and governing a home will never occur from the “surface in” – the true change comes from the inside out.  To properly organize a home requires that it be “de-junked.”

While true for home organization, the principle applies elsewhere.  In spiritual terms – the things that matter most – our lives must be de-junked, too.  All the profane, useless, self-defeating, crud must be removed to allow for the “cleanliness, order, simplicity, function, [and] beauty” of our true selves, our true potential, and true destinies as divine Sons and Daughters of God  to come forth (How Firm a Foundation, 85, v. 5).  The Holy Spirit, powered by the Atonement, changes our inner selves – our very natures – to something else: the image of Christ.  It only happens from the inside –> out.

The world would take people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment.  Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature (Ezra Taft Benson, “Born of God,” Ensign, Nov. 1985, 6).

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3 Responses

  1. Awwwww… This is very sweet, dear, and very insightful too. See? I did marry up!

  2. 2
    Mr. Smith 

    Hah, I know better!

  3. 3
    Wendy 

    I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I appreciate your thoughts on the subject (and you and your wife’s mutual appreciation society 🙂 ).

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