An Example to the Believers

Christ taught that we, his disciples, are “the salt of the earth.” “Ye are the light of the world,” he continued. “A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16).

Similarly, Paul admonished Timothy to “be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). More recently, President Monson has said, “It is our duty to live our lives in such a way that we may be examples of righteousness for others to follow.”

We often think of being examples to our coworkers, our friends, or basically anyone we associate with who is not a member of our church. We should always be aware that our behavior is setting an “example of the believers.” However, I hope that we don’t let our guard down when we aren’t among non-members, but still among people who will follow the pattern that we set. This point is illustrated by a story that President Monson told in the Priesthood Session of General Conference of April 2008:

As I have pondered how we might best provide such examples, I have thought of an experience I had some years ago while attending a stake conference. During the general session, I observed a young boy sitting with his family on the front row of the stake center. I was seated on the stand. As the meeting progressed, I began to notice that if I crossed one leg over the other, the young boy would do the same thing. If I reversed the motion and crossed the other leg, he would follow suit. I would put my hands in my lap, and he would do the same. I rested my chin in my hand, and he also did so. Whatever I did, he would imitate my actions. This continued until the time approached for me to address the congregation. I decided to put him to the test. I looked squarely at him, certain I had his attention, and then I wiggled my ears. He made a vain attempt to do the same, but I had him! He just couldn’t quite get his ears to wiggle. He turned to his father, who was sitting next to him, and whispered something to him. He pointed to his ears and then to me. As his father looked in my direction, obviously to see my ears wiggle,I sat solemnly with my arms folded, not moving a muscle. The father glanced back skeptically at his son, who looked slightly defeated. He finally gave me a sheepish grin and shrugged his shoulders.

The young people of the church, our own children especially, are looking to us as examples. My wife and I don’t have children yet, but as I think of that responsibility I ask myself if we are preparing a home that will be different from the homes of their friends? Will my children be able to tell by my actions that I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

As human beings we have a natural desire to be accepted by those around us. This desire can help us build friendships that will enrich our lives and give us opportunities to be the examples that we should be to others. If we never associate with those outside of our faith, how can be be an example of the believers to the rest of the world? However, there is a danger that as we make an effort to be accepted we move from the city on the hill to a city somewhere in the lowlands, or we become salt that has lost its savor. How will others look to us as an example if we are no different from the rest of the world? I hope that I can live true to the admonishment that Brigham Young gave to the early Saints: “We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.”

As our children feel the conviction of our testimonies and how it influences our choices, they are more likely to be motivated to gain a testimony for themselves. And that testimony will do more to help them stand up for what is right than any number of lectures that we can give them on the dangers that sin exposes them to. Then, as President Monson says, they will “have the moral courage to be a light for others to follow.” They will “be the one to make a stand for right, even if [they] stand alone.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley once used a quote from an article called “The Missing Element—Moral Courage” by Barbara Tuchman that bears on that last point by President Monson. She said:

When it comes to leaders we have, if anything, a super abundance--hundreds of Pied Pipers--ready and anxious to lead the population.  They are scurrying around, collecting consensus, gathering as wide an acceptance as possible.  But what they are not doing very notably is standing still and saying, “This is what I believe.  This I will do and that I will not do.  This is my code of behavior and that is outside it.  This is excellent and that is trash.”  There is an absence of moral leadership in the sense of a general unwillingness to state standards… Of all the ills that our poor…society is heir to, the focal one, it seems to me, from which so much of our uneasiness and confusion derive, is the absence of standards.  We are too unsure of ourselves to assert them, to stick by them, if necessary in the case of persons who occupy positions of authority, to impose them.  We seem to be afflicted by a widespread and eroding reluctance to take any stand on any values, moral, behavioral, or aesthetic.

I believe that our leaders, especially our politicians, shy away from this kind of moral courage because often making a stand for what is right means standing alone.

Sometimes, standing for what is right is a lonely place to be. I am reminded of Atticus Finch, the character from Harper Lee’s masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird. When a man is falsely accused of a horrible crime, Atticus chooses to defend the man in court, even though it turns everyone in the town, especially the powerful and influential people in the town, against him. When Hollywood gets its hands on stories like this, the hero usually wins. His position is vindicated, and by the end, the villains start to see the light. Hollywood is in the business of appealing to the widest audience possible and most of us want the world to work this way. This is not the ending in store for Atticus Finch, though. He loses the case. The falsely accused man is unjustly condemned to die, and Atticus must go back to trying to make a living, a prospect that is all the more difficult now that many people who were once his friends have now abandoned him.

Another example of the loneliness of moral courage is found in the Book of Mormon in the story of Nephi. Not the Nephi that made the bow and built the ship, but Nephi the son of Helaman. Nephi had just returned home to Zarahemla from a missionary journey in the north because the people in the north “did reject all his words, insomuch that he could not stay among them” (Hel. 7:3). But what he came home to was not much better. The people at Zarahemla were living in a state of “awful wickedness,” and Gadianton robbers were

filling the judgment-seats—having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men; Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast;

Weighed down as he was, Nephi decided to go into his garden and climb his tower, where

he did exclaim in the agony of his soul: Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord—Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren. (4-8)

More than once I have, like Nephi here, lamented that I was born to live in such a wicked world. But then I am reminded that wickedness wasn’t invented in the 20th century. Part of our trial here in our mortal lives is to live in a world that is full of sin, and selfishness, and hate, and war, and find peace through love and righteousness. We have to live in the world, without becoming worldly. It has always been the case for the saints of God.

To continue with Nephi’s story, a crowd started to gather around Nephi as he was praying because the tower in his garden happened to be “by the highway which led to the chief market” (10). “And now, when Nephi arose he beheld the multitudes of people who had gathered together. And it came to pass that he opened his mouth and said unto them: Behold, why have ye gathered yourselves together? That I may tell you of your iniquities?” (12-13). Nephi then proceeds to tell them of their iniquities. He tells them that the devil has got great hold upon their hearts (15), that they will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, and that they have provoked his anger against them (18). He tells them that they have forgotten their God in the very day that he has delivered them (20), that they set their hearts upon the riches and vain things of this world, and that they “murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against [their] neighbor, and do all manner of iniquity” (21). Nephi “spoke plainly unto them concerning their secret works of darkness” (8:4) and the “corruptness of their law” (3).

Nephi’s boldness made the chief judges, the ones who had corrupted their law, very angry, but “they durst not lay their hands upon him, for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them” (4). The wicked need popular approval in order to thrive. Let us be sure that we are not in the masses that give them this approval. Nephi goes on to teach them about the coming of Christ and ends with this piece of proof: “go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat. And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men” (27-28).

Messengers go and find the judge just as Nephi said they would. Some accuse Nephi of conspiring to kill him, but the judge’s brother confesses, just as Nephi prophesied he would. At this point, Nephi has won some people over and he has made some very powerful enemies. “And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them” (10:1).

Most of the young people in the church will probably never be involved in the kind of debate that Nephi found himself in the middle of, but they probably are very familiar with the outcome. I, for example, wasn’t invited to many of the parties thrown by my classmates in high school. There are two possible explanations for this: 1) I just wasn’t cool enough, and 2) the people throwing the parties knew that I wouldn’t be comfortable with the alcohol and drugs that would be there. I choose to the believe the second explanation, and I am grateful that I never felt intense pressure to sin while I was in high school. While I had to endure a few lonely weekend nights, I was blessed with a righteous family that gave me a reason to live by God’s commandments. I was only following the example set by my parents and many worthy church leaders.

President N. Eldon Tanner said, “Nothing will bring greater joy and success than to live according to the teachings of the gospel. Be an example; be an influence for good...Always remember that people are looking to you for leadership and you are influencing the lives of individuals either for good or for bad, which influence will be felt for generations to come.” We should always be aware of the example that we are setting. Our choices will either give those we influence strength to do what is right, or an excuse to do what is wrong. I pray that our example to all, especially to our children, will show that we love God and not the world. That we will be examples of the believers, but also that we will be examples to the believers. And I pray that the example that we set follows the perfect example of our Savior.