What Would You Give Up to Know God?

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man walking on beach

Living the gospel often requires sacrifice. Heavenly Father asks us to give up our natural tendencies to receive something much greater: a knowledge of God and the incomparable blessings He offers.

King Lamoni’s father demonstrated this willingness to sacrifice when he prayed, “If there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18; emphasis added).

President Russell M. Nelson taught that overcoming the world and growing closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ includes “choosing to refrain from anything that drives the Spirit away” and “being willing to ‘give away’ even our favorite sins.”

Blessings

In addition to the blessings King Lamoni’s father sought, namely resurrection and salvation, President Nelson has listed more blessings that come from our efforts to become more like Jesus Christ and stay on the covenant path. These include:

Change of heart and nature
Charity
Humility
Generosity
Kindness
Self-discipline
Peace
Confidence
Joy
Rest
Spiritual strength
Personal revelation
Increasing faith
Ministering of angels
Miracles

If you have a hard time sacrificing certain sins, don’t give up. President Nelson reminds us that “overcoming the world certainly does not mean becoming perfect in this life, nor does it mean that your problems will magically evaporate—because they won’t. And it does not mean that you won’t still make mistakes. But overcoming the world does mean that your resistance to sin will increase.”

As we put in the effort to give up our sins like King Lamoni’s father, we will find that knowing God is always worth the sacrifice. In doing so, each of our lives will become something greater than we could’ve made them ourselves.