Episode #232 - The Second Mile

So often in life the answer to our problems in life or when we are seeking blessings is do more, serve more, be more. The difficulty with this approach is that our personal spiritual efforts are only part of the equation.

Transcript

Episode #232 – The Second Mile.  I am your host Damon Socha.  There exists an idea that is prevalent within church culture and at times the doctrine that we as members of the Lord’s church should be willing to “Go the Second Mile.”  At times the theology is so strong that we could call this the Third Great Commandment.  Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.  Thou shalt love thy neighbor.  Thou shalt go the second mile in service.  The answer to any spiritual problem as members is often met with the same answer.  Seek more, do more, serve more and become more.  Meaning if you are suffering trials, looking for answers, seeking comfort and counsel, you should be more righteous. The problem with this idea and the statement is that many times we are already doing enough.  Yes it is and can be very helpful to seek our Father and Savior in a deeper way when we are seeking those blessings and answers.  Tuning into the Spirit as it were.  But even then we so often take this mantra of be more, serve more, do more to its extreme and the truth is, it isn’t helpful to our cause of salvation or our testimony, especially when we suffer with debilitating illnesses.  When we seek blessings in this manner of extremes, we are giving into the idea that if we do enough service, work, engagement, temple service, family history and so forth then we will reach our spiritual giving goal and like a vending machine our blessings will appear.  It turns worship and service into a spiritual monetary system, where we give to obtain.  In so doing we negate the Lord’s will and timing, turning worship into nothing more than a trip to the spiritual grocery store.  We pick out our blessings, tell the Lord what we are willing to do to obtain them and then work to pay the price we owe.  The problem is that we do not consider the Lord’s obvious advantage of knowledge and experience and consider only that we need the blessing.  We do not consider that the trial may have a much greater purpose beyond limiting the good we can do.

Now we cannot entirely throw out the idea that service, and worship is not only important but necessary for our salvation.  And the same is true for acting in ways that provides a more fitting home for the spirit.  Meaning that repentance, service and striving for spiritual understanding is important to solving our difficult trials and problems.  But we should not look upon such service, repentance or worship as a type of spiritual account with which we can draw heavenly coinage to satisfy the requirements of a desired blessing.

Many times I have been asked by many individuals who listen to this podcast, how do I know when I have done enough?  I read scriptures, worship and serve in the temple, attend church, pray and pray some more.  I do everything I am supposed to do.  When do I know that I have done enough?  This is especially true for individuals whose capacity has been seriously diminished by their illness whether that is emotional, mental or physical.  At the core of these questions is a common theme.  I am searching, working, struggling to even survive, how long, how much work must I do before the Lord provides the relief I need?  When will my sacrifice be enough that he will bless me?  How do I obtain enough spiritual capital that the Lord will hear my prayers?

I admit that I have asked this question almost my entire life.  And I have frequently pursued the same course of doing more It is not an easy question because it is so individual to the person.  Why blessings come to us at the time and manner they do is not always apparent.  Why today is not as good as tomorrow is something we all struggle to understand.  Until recently, I did not have any real concept of how this principle works.  I think that the difficulty lies in the fact that we rely upon one principle of the gospel to explain it and it really involves two intertwined principles that allow the Lord flexibility when needing to provide for our salvation.  The first principle is taught very clearly in the church and I admit church culture has placed far more weight behind it that the second principle.  The first principle that we learn is blessings are tied to obedience to the laws and commandments.  We can almost repeat the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21.

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

And so when we are seeking a blessing, a miracle, a divine manifestation or revelation, we most often view the blessing from the perspective of obedience.  When we are obedient enough the blessing will come.  This naturally translates into a similar but troubling statement, if my blessing has not come then I have not done enough.  Actually both statements are incorrect or better said not complete.  They are missing a critical element that we do not often consider or correlate with this idea of obedience. 

The second principle is simple.  Obedience will bring forth the blessing but the timing and manner in which the blessing is provided will be determined by the Lord.  Yes we need to be obedient but obedience and effort are not the only qualifications for the blessing.  When we consider them to be the only qualifications we will tend to extend ourselves beyond our capacity an treat miracles and blessings as an account needing to be rectified.

Now we can equate obedience and effort to our faith. Faith is simply the driving force for our actions.  We know that faith is critical to the blessing process. Yet we see many individuals with strong faith live with serious health issues for much if not all of their lives.  If faith or as we might call it obedience and effort were the only qualifications for healing, I would think that we would see far more healed individuals.  And yet we tend to see more suffering and struggle than healing.  That doesn’t mean healing doesn’t occur.  It does.  But statistically, if faith were the only requirement for the blessing, then we should expect to see far more healing and blessings than we do.

This simply means that faith and righteousness cannot possibly be the only qualifications for a blessing.  Now that is frustrating in a sense.  We have some control over our efforts but we have no control as to how and when the Lord provides the blessing.  That is troubling to our minds.  Our mind needs closure in a sense.  It needs to know first that our struggles have an end and then it needs to know when that end will be.  Our mortal and perhaps our spiritual minds cannot easily accept the unknowns.  And so we lean into the only thing we can do and we wear ourselves out trying to be enough for the Lord.  We certainly would not want to miss our chance at healing because we were not trying or had not done enough to qualify.  And leaning into this idea we become fixated upon it. 

The problem we find is that we don’t know when we have done enough to qualify and so we put our shoulder to the wheel and push on.  And as we do we attempt to understand the idea of enough.  The trouble is that enough doesn’t exist.  The purpose of commandments, callings, service, scriptures and so forth is not quantity but daily consistency and quality.  We are working towards salvation and exaltation through a daily consistent effort to do so.  That daily consistent effort for those of us who suffering with debilitating exhaustion emotionally and physically may be very problematic because it many vary significantly day to day and week to week.  The Lord is not looking so much at the quantity of our spiritual work but the quality and consistency.  When the Lord commended the widow who had thrown in her two mites, he took into consideration her capacity to give.  He stated that she had given far more than others because she had given everything she had.  Now everything she had wasn’t very much but the Lord sees effort through our capacity to give that effort.

He fully understands that he has given us a limited ability to serve, to worship and to feel the promptings and revelations of the Spirit.  In his mercy, he takes into account what we feel and our capacity to give.  When we give while struggling through our own problems and limitations we are giving as the widow did.  Could the Lord have given the widow more money and capacity? Certainly he could have.  He is the Lord over all the earth.  The same is true for each of us.  But the Lord doesn’t need to know that the widow would give of her great fortune.  He knows that already.  He knew that when she threw in her two mites.  However, what her poverty in this sense provides is an increase in faith and opportunity to grow spiritually.  When we don’t have issues or weaknesses in life sufficient to try our faith, our faith tends to dwindle in unbelief.  It diminishes as it remains untried.  A tree given plenty of water and no wind our storm tends to grow shallow roots.  And the first real wind tends to cause it to easily buckle.  The Lord needs trees with deep roots that can weather the storm, shake off a couple of broken branches and continue to grow and develop.  And so we tend to stay inside of these difficult storms with occasional respite.

Now for the more difficult part to understand as we consider the how Lord dispenses blessings.  Blessings come in all types sizes and shapes from small miracles to difficult trials.  It is strange to many members of the church that some of the most difficult illnesses and trials in this life are the greatest blessings we can receive.  The Lord’s purpose is not to send us on a spiritual vacation but to train us to be Gods as he is.  The most fertile training ground is not a multitude of miraculous blessings that keep us from ever really experiencing significant difficulties in life.  The most fertile training ground and where we experience the most spiritual growth is when we come to say I cannot do this anymore.  It is there that we reach a boundary of spiritual growth and where the Lord can work with us.  Until that point, we are often saying, I can handle this, I can make do.  When we humbly come to the Lord is when he makes our weaknesses, strong.  That level of humility is generally only found when we realize that we cannot continue further without the Lord.

So it is rarely about doing enough or being enough if we are putting in daily effort.  If we are trying and doing what we can without exhausting ourselves then our efforts are accepted such as the widows mites.  We should not be as concerned as we are about the quantity of our daily efforts as we are about the consistency and quality of our efforts as much as it is possible.  We must allow the Lord to do his work upon us if we are to be considered for celestial life.  And yes that is a difficult statement.  To learn to have patience and trust the Lord without really seeing the end of the struggle is one of the most difficult lessons of life.  Ultimately, though this type of testing turns theology into reality.  A god taught in the pages of ancient and modern prophets becomes real to us.

So now let’s talk about the second mile mantra we seem to go to for every problem we face.  How do we know when we should go the extra mile or avoid running faster than we have strength?  First of all let’s take a look at the actual scripture.

This is found in Matthew 5:39-44.  Listen carefully.

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

43 ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Can you see the context of these scriptures and the second mile verse?  To what is the Lord referring.  This scripture does not talk of obtaining blessings by going the extra mile.  It even uses the word compel.  What the Lord is stating here is actually about how we treat others who as he says despitefully use us.  The second mile is far more about understanding, compassion and treating our fellow man with respect, dignity and as a child of god, even if they are not treating us as such.  This is about showing love where it isn’t deserved and giving mercy to those who have not merited it.  Going the second mile is not a mantra, a third great commandment or anything of that nature. And it doesn’t speak of how we should approach seeking miracles and blessings. It is about being like God in how we treat others.

The problem we find with the question “Have we done enough?” is that it is the wrong question when we are seeking blessings from the Lord.  Yes we must seek out the Lord through our actions, desires and motivations but we must consider the will of the Lord.  When we seek him out, we are already enough.  And we likely are already doing more than enough.  What we need to do is to seek out the will of the Lord.  We need to avoid the grocery store approach to blessings.  When I have accumulated enough spiritual capital the Lord will gladly dispense the blessing. We should continue in daily spiritual tasks and seeking the will of the Lord.  This doesn’t mean we serve when we can, we should.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t work at living the gospel and just sit back and wait for our blessings.  What it does mean is that two mites can be more than sufficient for the Lord.  But working ourselves into a frenzy trying to appease the Lord and then collapsing into exhaustion does not provide value to the process and can in many instances aggravate our illnesses causing deeper harm.

So how do I approach it?  I do what I can and leave the rest to the Lord.  I don’t exhaust myself trying to appease him or work beyond what I am capable.  I find peace in that I am able to give two mites today.  Maybe I can give more tomorrow but that is tomorrow.  I realize the difficulty in those statements.  They are not clear in the sense of tasks I need to complete.  They sound great but can be difficult to apply.  One thing to remember is that the Lord is very merciful to those who suffer debilitating illnesses.  He knows of your difficulties hearing the spirit, finding peace, leaving behind the anxieties you can.  The last thing the Lord wants is for the gospel to be so anxiety inducing that you quit living it. I promise you that he his working a greater work upon you than you realize.  When you look back one day and see what he has done for you in giving those troubling weaknesses, you will fall down at his feet and be grateful for everyday you suffered.  His grace is most definitely sufficient for you.  May you find peace in giving the two mites and in the Lord’s words to the widow “She has cast in more than they all.  For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”  The Lord knows your sacrifice and in time he will grant your blessing.  Until next week do your part so that the Lord can do his.