The Instrument or the Master

This morning, in preparation for an Institute class I'll attend later, I read two General Conference talks from this last Conference, both of which were about families. The first was Why Marriage and Family Matter - Everywhere in the World by Elder L. Tom Perry, and the second was Why Marriage, Why Family by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. I've already blogged about Elder L. Tom Perry's talk, but I had skipped over Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk, partly because we had already heard so many talks about marriage. Fortunately, Elder Christofferson's talk covers more than just marriage.

As he was setting up his explanation for why marriage and family are essential to God's plan, he first explained the basics of what God's plan is. He said that an essential part of God's plan includes us coming to Earth and gaining bodies (preferably as parts of families). These bodies would give us physical experience and would test us. Among these tests would be the test of self-mastery. "Could we bridle the flesh so that it became the instrument rather than the master of the spirit?"

We are each, to a certain extent, at war with ourselves. Often, we find that our carnal selves and our spiritual selves want different things and that for either of them to be satisfied, one has to yield to the other. When the will of the flesh overpowers the will of our spirits, evil follows. However, when we exercise control over ourselves and make our bodies yield to our spirits, we become powerful agents of good. Our spirits are inherently good-natured, but there's not much that spirits can do on their own. Our bodies are far more capable, yet they're also more strongly influenced by evil. If we choose to control ourselves, our bodies can become instruments for our spirits. By combining the good will of the spirit with the capability of our bodies, we can do great things and even grow to become like God.

On the other hand, if we let our bodies talk control, our spirits will suffer. Guided by the will of the flesh, we will inevitably make many bad choices, for which we will then need to repent. And if we don't repent (because our carnal selves won't want to), our spirits will be consigned to a state of endless misery.

For better or worse, our spirits and bodies are stuck with each other. Where either of them goes, the other will shortly follow, whether that path leads to heaven or to hell. The spirit always strives for heaven, but the flesh seeks the path that leads to hell. With every choice we make, we decide which will have more control over the other, and which one will take us where it wants to go. Obtaining bodies is essential to God's plan, but also essential to God's plan is learning how to control them rather than letting them control us.