In this quote, Elder Holland expresses the same confidence that Elder Soares did when he titled his talk "Yes, We Can and Will Win." Our victory in the war against sin is assured, no matter how bad the odds look right now, because it's not really our victory we're so sure of; It's the Lord's.
We are not gods. We are not superhuman. Some of us aren't very persuasive or strong-willed at all. We, ourselves, are no stronger than anybody else. Yet, even though the world seems to have us outnumbered and outmatched, we know that we're going to win because we know that God is going to win and that we are on God's side. The victory of which we can be sure does not belong to us, but to the Lord.
So Elder Holland's question of whose side we want to be on becomes a very important one for each of us, not because our allegiance might affect the outcome - as Elder Holland pointed out, it's already clear which side will win - but because we each need to decide which team we're going to be on, the world's or the Lord's.
I agree with Elder Holland; it is a strange thing that this is still a question in the minds of so many people. When given the choice between assured victory and guaranteed defeat, you would think that the choice would be easy. But it's not. The world can offer us many attractive things; not victory, but money, prestige, power, popularity, political correctness, ease, and (temporary) freedom. Yet, the world doesn't realize, or at least doesn't admit, at what cost those things will come. On the Lord's side, we're promised eternal happiness. We're not promised temporal happiness, but we are promised eventual happiness. The world offers us temporary happiness now, followed by eternal misery hereafter. The choice is really whether we want to be happy for now or forever.
It sometimes is a surprisingly tough decision, and Satan is doing everything in His power to convince us to make the wrong choice, but we can win. We can resist his temptations and the offers of temporary peace, pleasure, and happiness, firm in the knowledge that we will gain all of the blessings of God if we are faithful. We all know that Satan and his forces cannot defeat the Almighty God is His forces. The only question now is whether we will be among God's forces or Satan's? We know that God is going to win, but will we?
1 comment:
It sounds so simple and clear. And it really is. Yet we sometimes struggle. Because we live in the moment. We must keep perspective. and seek the Spirit. Then it will be simple and clear again.
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