President Russell M. Nelson on developing spiritual attributes

Elder Russell M. Nelson (1924- ) has served as a member of the Quorum of Twelve since 1984.

"Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth. You were chosen not for your bodily characteristics but for your spiritual attributes, such as bravery, courage, integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others. 

"You developed some of these attributes premortally. Others you can develop here on earth as you persistently seek them. 

"A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery—the strength to place reason over appetite. Self-mastery builds a strong conscience. And your conscience determines your moral responses in difficult, tempting, and trying situations.... Why the need for self-mastery? God implanted strong appetites within us for nourishment and love, vital for the human family to be perpetuated. When we master our appetites within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy." 

- Russell M. Nelson, "Decisions for Eternity," General Conference October 2013
Click here to read the full talk

It's a comforting thing, I think, that "Heavenly Father has known [us] for a very long time" and has purposes and plans for our mortal experiences. He knows our "spiritual attributes" and knows what we are capable of developing through our efforts here.

Elder Nelson singles out a critical attribute that we should be aware of and seeking to develop in our characters. It's one that seems to be declining in the world today.

I appreciate the promise: "When we master our appetites within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy." Those are gifts that we all would be grateful to receive.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2021)
March 11, 2015

President David O. McKay on mortality and spirituality

President David O. McKay (1873-1970) was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1906.  He served as a counselor in the First Presidency to Heber J. Grant and George Albert Smith beginning in 1945, then then as the president of the Church from 1951 to his death in 1970 at age 96.

"Man's earthly existence is but a test, whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to his comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's purpose and aim the acquisition of spiritual qualities. 

"The spiritual road has Christ as its ideal, not the gratification of the physical, for he that would save his life, yielding to that present gratification of a seeming need, will lose his life. 

"If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for some thing higher than self. He hears the Savior's voice saying: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). Following that voice, he soon learns that there is no one great thing which he can do to attain happiness or eternal life. He learns that 'life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.' 

"Spirituality, our true aim, is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding and truth expanding the soul is one of life's sublimest experiences. Would that all might so live as to experience that ecstasy!" 

- David O. McKay, "Spirituality, the Goal in Life," Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 4-8
Click here to read the full talk

"Spirituality" was a favorite theme for President McKay, one he addressed on a number of occasions. We might well ask how we are doing in the fundamental test of earthly existence; where are our efforts and soul, our purpose and aim, really concentrated?

What a beautiful summary. When we know that we have overcome the temptations of our mortal self and are truly in contact with God, we have achieved something very important and sacred. But it's the beginning of the road to growth and progress, not the end. Then we begin to "feel [our] faculties unfolding and truth expanding" in beautiful ways - and President McKay calls it "ecstasy"!

There is a vast difference between what Pres. McKay calls a physical focus to life, and a spiritual one. In the spiritual path, we work on the little things, including "smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually" — along with the more serious ones such as self-discipline and our relationship with Divinity. These steps all lead to the acquisition of true spirituality, "one of life's sublimest experiences."

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2021)
March 24, 2015

President Gordon B. Hinckley on the discipline of the gospel way

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) was called to the Quorum of Twelve in 1961. He served as a counselor in the First Presidency from 1981-1995, then as Church President until his death in 2008.

"The Lord himself declared that 'strait is the gate and narrow is the way.' Any system dealing with the eternal consequences of human behavior must set guidelines and adhere to them, and no system can long command the loyalties of men that does not expect of them certain measures of discipline, and particularly of self-discipline. The cost in comfort may be great. The sacrifice may be real. But this very demanding reality is the substance of which come character and strength and nobility.

"Permissiveness never produced greatness. Integrity, loyalty, strength are virtues whose sinews are developed through the struggles that go on within a man as he practices self-discipline under the demands of divinely spoken truth.

"But there is another side of the coin, without which this self-discipline is little more than an exercise. Discipline imposed for the sake of discipline is repressive. It is not in the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is usually enforced by fear, and its results are negative.

"But that which is positive, which comes of personal conviction, builds and lifts and strengthens in a marvelous manner. In matters of religion, when a man is motivated by great and powerful convictions of truth, then he disciplines himself, not because of demands made upon him by the Church but because of the knowledge within his heart that God lives; that he is a child of God with an eternal and limitless potential; that there is joy in service and satisfaction in laboring in a great cause."

- Gordon B. Hickley, "The True Strength of the Church," General Conference April 1973
Click here to read or listen to the full talk

President Hinckley reminds us that we should expect to be challenged by our beliefs; there should be sacrifice and self-discipline involved.  It brings to mind the statement attributed to Joseph Smith: "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation." (Lectures on Faith, p. 58.) We should expect that "the cost in comfort may be great." But we should also see the rewards, expressed in character, strength, integrity, loyalty, and nobility.

President Hinckley also teaches that the reason for discipline is crucial. "Discipline imposed for the sake of discipline is repressive" and is usually enforced by fear; that is not the Gospel way. Our discipline should be motivated by our knowledge of God's existence and our relationship to Him. Joy comes as we accept the path of obedience for the right reasons.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2018)

David O. McKay on mortality and spirituality

President David O. McKay (1873-1970) was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1906.  He served as a counselor in the First Presidency to Heber J. Grant and George Albert Smith beginning in 1945, then then as the president of the Church from 1951 to his death in 1970 at age 96.

"Man's earthly existence is but a test, whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to his comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's purpose and aim the acquisition of spiritual qualities. 

"The spiritual road has Christ as its ideal, not the gratification of the physical, for he that would save his life, yielding to that present gratification of a seeming need, will lose his life. 

"If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for some thing higher than self. He hears the Savior's voice saying: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6). Following that voice, he soon learns that there is no one great thing which he can do to attain happiness or eternal life. He learns that 'life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.' 

"Spirituality, our true aim, is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding and truth expanding the soul is one of life's sublimest experiences. Would that all might so live as to experience that ecstasy!" 

- David O. McKay, "Spirituality, the Goal in Life," Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 4-8
Click here to read the full talk

"Spirituality" was a favorite theme for President McKay, one he addressed on a number of occasions. We might well ask how we are doing in the fundamental test of earthly existence; where are our efforts and soul, our purpose and aim, really concentrated?

There is a vast difference between what Pres. McKay calls a physical focus to life, and a spiritual one. In the spiritual path, we work on the little things, including "smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually" — along with the more serious ones such as self-discipline and our relationship with Divinity. These steps all lead to the acquisition of true spirituality, "one of life's sublimest experiences."

Russell M. Nelson on developing spiritual attributes

Elder Russell M. Nelson (1924- ) has served as a member of the Quorum of Twelve since 1984.

"Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth. You were chosen not for your bodily characteristics but for your spiritual attributes, such as bravery, courage, integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others. 

"You developed some of these attributes premortally. Others you can develop here on earth as you persistently seek them. 

"A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery—the strength to place reason over appetite. Self-mastery builds a strong conscience. And your conscience determines your moral responses in difficult, tempting, and trying situations.... Why the need for self-mastery? God implanted strong appetites within us for nourishment and love, vital for the human family to be perpetuated. When we master our appetites within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy." 

- Russell M. Nelson, "Decisions for Eternity," Ensign, Nov 2013, pp. 106-109
Click here to read the full talk

It's a comforting thing, I think, that "Heavenly Father has known [us] for a very long time" and has purposes and plans for our mortal experiences. He knows our "spiritual attributes" and knows what we are capable of developing through our efforts here.

Elder Nelson singles out a critical attribute that we should be aware of and seeking to develop in our characters. It's one that seems to be declining in the world today.

I appreciate the promise: "When we master our appetites within the bounds of God's laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy."