The Silver Lining Of Uncontrolled Hate

The silver lining of uncontrolled hate, unparalleled anger, and unmatched enmity is that those things will eventually implode. The negative-attributes that define our day will eventually consume those who partake in them. There will always come a tipping point where negative-attributes become so unstable the soul can no longer hold them. To some, it will be their ultimate demise, but for most, it will be a hard reset within the corridors of the soul.

You see… love, joy, kindness, service, and faith are always on the table. They are always there for the taking if we will come unto Jesus. But sadly it often takes catastrophe, calamity, emergency, or disaster to rattle the souls of men to bring them back to eternal reality; seeing things as they are and as they really will be (Jacob 4:13).

We live in a polarized world, a world where “all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people” (D&C 88:91). The beauty of that awful situation is this... When the hearts of men and women fail them, it’s an opportunity for God to again work wonders in their lives. In a real sense, doing emergency spiritual surgery on many of our brothers and sisters. For some, it may be too late, but for many, it will be the beginning of an eternal commitment to our Father in Heaven. God’s purposes are focused on our eternal good, not our mortal comfort. He wants us to come home to Him, not get lost in the maze of rage, pleasures, and appetites. If He must rattle our soul for us to remember Him and remember home, He will do it. Sure we may experience mortal pain in those situations, but it will be for our eternal good. In those moments we must stop pointing fingers, and start looking in the mirror.

The purpose of life is so much more than mere observation, it is experiential, it is obtaining knowledge through struggle, gaining growth through pain, and receiving wisdom through patience. Rather than seeing ourselves as a foundry-worker melting down gold, refining its impurities. We must see ourselves as the gold being melted down. Seeing life in this way is not easy, but it provides the needed context of why life is the way that it is. When we see ourselves as the foundry-worker and life gets difficult, a natural response would be “why me?”. But when we see ourselves as the gold being melted down and life gets difficult, our response will be similar to Christ’s when he said… “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).

Life is short and before you know it, it may be gone. So instead of pushing God to extreme measures to save our soul (because of our bad behavior), let us choose to follow Him this very day! “May we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear” (Jeffrey R. Holland).

Let’s not wait for a catastrophe to occur before we choose God. Let’s not wait for emergency spiritual surgery to become devoted disciples. Instead let us shake off the chains of hate, anger, and enmity and choose to live more fully as disciples of Jesus Christ. The blessings of God are always there, the questions is, are we ready to receive them? “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).