FDRL 212 Week 3 Unit 2: Live as Saints Should Live

Romans 13:11 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

It's very easy to fall into a mindset of procrastination when it comes to thinking of salvation:"Oh I have plenty of time--I'll worry about that later".  But we're told in this verse in Romans that we should avoid that way of thinking because we don't have as much time as we think that we do. Ezekial 3:20 warns us against living righteous lives the majority of time, but sinning a little here and there. God WILL remember our sins. D&C 14:7 tells us that in order to qualify for eternal life, we have to keep the commandments and endure the end. It is a constant way of life, rather than checking off a checklist for a 1 time activity.

In Romans chapters 12-13, we are given a list of activities from Paul that he believes will help us achieve eternal life. They are:

• Give our bodies as a holy sacrifice to the Lord
• Do not conform to the world
• Renew your mind (learn a lot!) and constantly look for the things which are good
• Abhor evil things
• Cleave to things that are good
• Be hospitable; help those that are in need
• Overcome evil with good
• Subject your soul to the higher powers of God
• Do good things
• Love one another
• Keep the commandments

In chapter 14, Paul warns against judging another person. At the end of our lives, we will have to account for our actions and our lives to God--so who are we to judge how another person will live their life? That business is between the individual person and the Lord. Paul says that our responsibility is to make sure that we are not putting stumblingblocks in the way of another person. We should not be making life any harder for those around us. We should work to please those around us. Christ was very selfless and we should be equally selfless. D&C 38:25-27 give us an excellent parable about not judging others. God is no respecter of persons and therefore will not favor one person above another. Just as a parent wouldn't give one child everything while leaving the other child out in the cold, God will not treat us unfairly. If we feel that someone else is being treated either better or worse by the Lord than we are, then we obviously do not have the whole story and should not be passing judgment on the other person.

In his day, Paul frequently referred to members of the church as "saints".