The Ways We Try

As we go through life, we face a myriad of decisions; our approach to these decisions have lasting impact. As I see it, we have three approaches to tackle everyday problems:

1. We try on our own.
2. We try with others.
3. We try with Christ.

I wish to speak to the pitfalls and dangers of relying on the first two alone and the benefits of the latter. My talk is inspired by Elder Holland’s last general conference address entitled, “I Am He.”

TRYING ON OUR OWN

First, I want to say there is nothing inherently wrong with trying on our own as this leads to growth, knowledge, and self-efficacy. My talk will not focus on these benefits. My talk will focus on improper focus as we attempt to try things on our own. Here are the three reasons why this may be problematic:

1. We don’t know the end from the beginning.
2. We have limited time and power.
3. We can’t save ourselves.

We don’t know the end from the beginning

Because we don’t know the end from the beginning, our perspective is skewed. We also might neglect or miss a bunch of information that could properly steer us in the direction we need to go. For example, at the beginning of each semester, I give my students access to all my lecture videos and lecture notes. In particular, I explain to them that they should download the PowerPoint slides rather than opening them in the browser. This way they have access to the notes pane where I offer additional information including answers and additional learning exercises. This semester, I had a student who found these notes halfway through the semester.

This information would have been beneficial for his prior exam and assignments, yet he wasn’t accessing everything to its full potential. The sudden realization of what he had been missing out on was striking. How much better would he been able to do with this information or how much less would he have struggled? In our lives, do we struggle more than we need to because we don’t spend enough time in the scriptures or with the Lord? If we neglect God in our lives, we don’t see the whole picture and without God’s cheat sheet, we miss out on the benefits that may have drastically reduced our struggles and time we spend on fruitless ventures.

We have limited time and power

We are only capable of doing so much with the time we have been given. Sometimes we take on more than we can handle. I have a colleague at work that rather than relying on others, she keeps taking tasks on herself. She has even pulled tasks away from others onto herself because they weren’t performing to her liking. This not only overburdens her but causes others to feel less trusted. Research has shown that people who try to take on too many demands face burnout (i.e., emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion or energy depletion). Even Joseph Smith was told to, “…not run faster or labor more than you have strength” (D&C 10:4) while translating the Book of Mormon.

We also need to remember that there is a powerful opposition against us. In this most recent conference, Elder Holland states, “So, if sometimes the harder you try, the more difficult it seems to get; if, just as you try to work on your limitations and your shortcomings, you find someone or something determined to challenge your faith; if, as you labor devotedly, you still feel moments of fear wash over you, remember that it has been so for some of the most faithful and marvelous people in every era of time. Also remember that there is a force in the universe determined to oppose every good thing you try to do.”

We can’t save ourselves

Finally, we need to remember that we can’t save ourselves. A recent story came out about a 45-year-old who spends $2M a year to live “forever”. This includes injecting his son’s plasma and adhering to strict dieting and other unorthodox and controversial procedures. Yet, eventually, he too will die. This is the one fact that none of us can deny. Yet, many of us still try to do everything on our own. It is true that we are encouraged to be self-reliant, but when we begin to believe our success is strictly due to our own merits, we begin to enter dangerous territory. Elder D. Todd Christofferson stated that “True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives – that is, our time and choices – to God’s purposes. In doing so, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny.”

TRYING WITH OTHERS

I know we all appreciate parents, relatives, siblings, and/or friends who have been instrumental in building our testimony. I encourage us to continue to build and expand these relationships. As we all know, the influence of others can be very beneficial. On the other hand, we also need to remember that influence of some can be very detrimental, even physically or spiritually destructive. Even people who have good intentions can say or do things that are not correct which could have lasting effects if we follow them. If that can happen with people who we respect and admire to guide us in correct paths, imagine the consequences we can experience by adhering to those with other intents. I believe relying solely on others can be dangerous because:

1. Others don’t know the end from the beginning.
2. Others seek popularity and power in unworthy ways.
3. Others can’t save us.

Others don’t know the end from the beginning

The influencers of today are in every direction we turn. Gone are the days when you could come home and feel relief from the wares of the world. Instead, the pervasiveness of technology not only has brought these issues into our home, but also into our own bedrooms.

Assuming a 90-year life span, we only have 1080 months on earth. One-third of this time is devoted to sleeping. Another third of this time is devoted to needful tasks of work, school, cooking, eating, driving, chores, bathroom, and hygiene. How do we use the remaining third of our time? Do we waste it on unnecessities of life? If the youth of today continue how they currently use their screens, they will spend 93% of their free time (i.e., 312 months) behind a screen.

Do we know how these behaviors affect us and others in the end? I believe these screens take our focus away from an eternal perspective to a here-and-now, self-gratifying perspective. I have heard close friends and family tell me that they “don’t need something controlling their life” and they feel free “doing what they want.” Yet, they discount the consequences from acting contrary to beliefs that once grounded them. If we are swayed by external influences, we too might lose the eternal perspective.

Others seek popularity and power in unworthy ways

I have my own YouTube channel and I have monetized it. I make a tenth to a fifth of a cent for every view my videos receive. It amounts to every 500-1000 views equaling a dollar (which is mere pocket change for me). However, for more prominent YouTubers, this amounts to huge sums:

1. Zach King, known for his video magic, received 1.9M views on one of his latest videos which amounts to $1,900-$3,800. He has over 763 videos. His most watched video received 111M views with estimated revenue between $111,000-$222,000.
2. Mark Rober, known for his educational videos, received 26M views on one of his latest videos which amounts to $26,000-$52,000. He has over 200 videos on one channel. His most watched video received 181M views with estimated revenue between $181,000-$362,000.
3. Mr. Beast, known for endurance videos among other things, received 160M views on one of his latest videos which amounts to $160,000-$300,000. He has over 853 videos on one channel. His most watched video received 769M views with revenue of $769,000-$1,538,000.

These influencers likely make much more per view because their audience watches the entire video. Additionally, these earnings don’t reflect the money they make from sponsors, merchandising, and other revenue sources. When you consider how much money is at stake, you quickly understand why influencers want our attention.

A whole slew of worthy influencers seek to educate, enlighten, and inspire; however, there is are so many influencers out there who do things for the money and don’t care about the impact their voice has on their audience including poor advice, trends, diets, etc. Consider the video on fractal burning several years ago. The "fractal burning technique creates lightning-like etchings by using jumper cables and disassembled microwave oven parts to run high-voltage electricity through a piece of wood soaked in a chemical solution.” The designs are intricate and amazing. However, just a brief accidental touch with the electrical connection is enough to send a powerful jolt through a person’s body. In fact, many have tried to replicate this without knowing the harm and lost their lives in the process. Since then, YouTube has taken down any videos on it.

Following influencers is a particularly huge problem among the youth. You can do a quick Google search of “deadly and dangerous TikTok trends” and the results are alarming. I don’t wish to mention specific trends (https://gabb.com/blog/tiktok-trends/), but I do want to highlight the consequences of recent trends I have read about:

1. 4 dumb trends have resulted in dishonesty, ruined image, cuts, bruises, burns, and health issues
2. 8 illegal trends have resulted in loss of personal boundaries (sexually), overdose, reckless driving, felony assaults, stolen cars, property damage, and deaths
3. 8 dangerous trends have resulted in broken bones, burns, leakage of sexually explicit photos (problem with online predators today), organ failure, and addiction
4. 6 deadly trends have resulted in aggravated assault charges, brain damage, overdosing, addiction, self-harm, suicide, and death. Some have reported over 20 deaths.

Others can’t save us

Others can’t save us despite the agendas they may or may not be pushing. Many may even seek to reduce the image of He who is the only one who can truly save us. Elder Holland states, “Yet down through history many have simplified, even trivialized our image of Him and His witness of who He was. They have reduced His righteousness to mere prudishness, His justice to mere anger, His mercy to mere permissiveness. We must not be guilty of such simplistic versions of Him that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable. This ‘dumbing down’ has been true even regarding His ultimate defining virtue, His love.”

TRYING WITH CHRIST

This brings me to the best way to try to go through life and that is with Christ. Why?

1. He knows the end from the beginning.
2. His time is eternal, and his power is unmatched.
3. He can save us.

He knows the end from the beginning

If I offered my students a sheet of possible answers to their exam, they would be eating it up like my three-year old eating candy left out by my older children. However, that is exactly what Heavenly Father and our Savior offer to us, yet so many of us reject the study guides thinking our answers and knowledge trump His who knows all. Elder Holland states, “So, through abundance as well as poverty, through private acclaim as well as public criticism, through the divine elements of the Restoration as well as the human foibles that will inevitably be part of it, we stay the course with the true Church of Christ. Why? Because as with our Redeemer, we signed on for the whole term—not ending with the first short introductory quiz but through to the final exam. The joy in this is that the Headmaster gave us all open-book answers before the course began. Furthermore, we have a host of tutors who remind us of these answers at regular stops along the way. But of course, none of this works if we keep cutting class.”

His time is eternal, and his power is unmatched

In case we forget, Christ’s power is unmatched. If we come to him, we allow ourselves to experience that power. Power enough to send the soldiers backwards and onto the ground when he spoke the words, “I am He”. Elder Holland further highlights this point, “…just being in the presence of the Son of God—the great Jehovah of the Old Testament and Good Shepherd of the New, who bears no weapons of any kind—that just hearing the voice of this Refuge from the Storm, this Prince of Peace, is enough to send antagonists stumbling into retreat, piling them in a jumble, making the whole group wish they had been assigned kitchen duty that night.”

If Christ’s voice has the power to cause people fear and tremble as well as heal and restore, who better to align our will with than him who is mighty to save?

He can save us

He is the only one that can save us. We must come to him and recognize the grace he offers. In D&C 20:30-31 in last week’s reading, we learn the following:

30 And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true;

31 And we know also, that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true, to all those who love and serve God with all their mights, minds, and strength.

Through his grace, we can be justified or made right or straight, and we can be sanctified or made holy to enter in God’s presence. In conclusion, I read the final remarks of Elder Holland when we are asked, “’Whom seek ye?’ With all our hearts we answer, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ When He says, ‘I am he,’ we bow our knee and confess with our tongue that He is the living Christ, that He alone atoned for our sins, that He was carrying us even when we thought He had abandoned us. When we stand before Him and see the wounds in His hands and feet, we will begin to comprehend what it meant for Him to bear our sins and be acquainted with grief, to be completely obedient to the will of His Father—all out of pure love for us. To introduce others to faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and receiving our blessings in the house of the Lord—these are the fundamental “principles and ordinances” that ultimately reveal our love of God and neighbor and joyfully characterize the true Church of Christ.”

In summary, I see three ways to go through life: (1) trying things on our own, (2) relying solely on others, or (3) trusting in our Savior. Let us be self-reliant, but not rely wholly on ourselves. Let us hear contrary viewpoints of others with patience and love, but not let unworthy guidance motivate our actions. Let us come to the Savior and rely on Him who knows the end from the beginning, is eternal, has infinite power, and can save us.