The Greatest Force

If you had asked me before I read this, I would have said that the greatest force in the world is probably the force that holds atoms together and turns spinning balls of protons, neutrons, and electrons into solid objects. If you had specifically asked what the greatest force in the world today was, I might have said the media. I'm not sure how many wrong guesses I would have gone through before I landed on the answer that the prophet gave.

I know that God is all-powerful, but sometimes, His influence on the earth seems pretty small. Sure, He could have an enormous impact on the earth, but it seems like He chooses not to. Rather, He usually just lets nature take its course. His teachings have a strong affect on millions of individuals, and the good they do in His name has a profound impact on the world, but they do it mostly with their own power, and as individuals, their power is weak.

Then, there's the Priesthood. The talk this quote came from was given in the Priesthood Session of last Conference, so it's logical to assume that President Monson was thinking of the Priesthood when he said this, and certainly the Priesthood is very powerful, but I'm not sure if I'd consider it the most powerful force in the world today. Part of the reason I underestimate the power of the Priesthood is that I haven't really seen much evidence of its power. I haven't witnessed any miracles or miraculous healings. At least, not that I recall. Most of what I see done by the power of the Priesthood involves evoking blessings that are subtle, or that won't be fully realized until the afterlife. Mostly, what I see of the power of the Priesthood is a bunch of guys wearing suits and saying prayers.

Yet, those prayers carry an enormous amount of power. Those prayers and that power have the ability to affect the eternities. They can bind families together forever and enable people to pass through the gates into the Celestial Kingdom. Even just on earth, the power of the Priesthood can bring about incredible miracles, mostly healing, but also such miracles as Jesus and the ancient prophets performed. Yet, we don't see many miracles like that these days, so the Priesthood doesn't seem to be quite as powerful as it used to be.

But how foolish of a thought is that? The Priesthood power is just as strong now as it has always been. We just don't use it much. At least, not in any flashy ways. We don't need Moses to part the Red Sea or smite a rock with his staff because there is no army behind us and we can get water by turning a faucet. There are many people who still need miracles, and many of them still get them, but for those of us who are doing okay, fewer dramatic miracles are needed.

However, we all still need the power of God in our lives, and that's where the greatest force in the world comes into play. I think I blogged once about spiritual inertia, which basically states that the faster we're headed in a particular direction (toward heaven or toward hell, for example), the harder it is to slow us down or turn us around. Also, the faster an object is moving in a given direction, the harder it is to speed them up. Yet, turning us around when our lives are going downhill, and speeding us up when we're going in the right direction, is exactly what the Atonement does. It defies the concept of spiritual inertia by turning people's lives around over the course of only a few days, or even a few moments.

Now, given that, President Monson's quote may seem not to make much sense. Yes, the Atonement is very powerful, but you don't have to go through men to get it. That is both true and untrue. Yes, you can repent and draw closer to God on your own, but to pull off the kind of turnaround we've described usually requires the help of an inspired servant of God. Those who are seeking to turn their lives around often go to their spiritual leaders to do it, and wisely so. Those servants of God are often inspired to know what to say and how to help. Those servants frequently play a pivotal role in overcoming strong spiritual inertia, and that's only the beginning. Add a few quiet but extremely powerful Priesthood blessings and it becomes plain to see that the power of God as it works through man is a great force for good in the world, perhaps the greatest.

In the midst of everyday life, with everyday problems and everyday solutions to those problems, we sometimes forget that there are greater forces at work than the ones we can see with our eyes. There is a war going on for our souls, and both sides of this war are giving it all they've got. When I think that all the powers of heaven and hell are fighting over my soul, and that a battle of that caliber can be decided by a kind word from someone who loves God and loves me, it lends an incredible amount of strength to the inspiring power of God as it works through the men and women living today.