In response to a comment made by a good friend on yesterday’s post, I have been pondering throughout the night some of the universal truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ—something, as she put it, that all members of the church would agree upon. While the gospel is based on universal, foundational principles, the practical effect of those principles in our lives is entirely dependent upon our individual understanding and application of them in everyday life. So, while I hope to discuss such foundational doctrine as Christ, God, the Holy Ghost, faith, repentance, hope, charity, etc., it seems to me that the universal doctrine that ties all of these applications together is personal revelation. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe (and I can say that I personally know for myself) that we can each, in fact, individually receive personal revelation from our Father in Heaven as we seek to obtain truth in our lives.
Joseph Smith, the prophet who restored the gospel to the earth in the latter days, was a religious seeker who desired to know what church to join. As a young boy, he sought knowledge after reading a bible scripture in the first chapter of James that promised that he could, in fact, receive his own personal revelation:
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
The verses preceding and following this verse, however, add increased insight:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways
As I read this scripture this morning, I read it with the definitions of faith and perfection in mind (as described in my talk on faith--you can see here). This gave me new insight into this passage:
As we work to become “perfect” or “complete/entire” as Christ is, we must have patience as we seek personal revelation from our Father in Heaven by establishing first a foundation of faith, our “working knowledge,” before building upon it. Then, as our faith is tested, we must continue to have patience to see the result. Our faith, or current degree of knowledge, works in conjunction with revelation that we receive.
What benefit is it to us to ask a question that has no foundation in the knowledge we already have (our faith)? What benefit would it be to a scientist to attempt to understand photosynthesis without first understanding the properties of the sun and the plant? How could a mathematician create an algorithm if he does not understand mathematical language? Or for that matter, how could he even read an algorithm, let alone create one? He could not. Attempting to do so would only create confusion. How then should we approach personal revelation about questions of eternal significance? We must use our existing knowledge base to know what questions to ask, what hypotheses to form—to know what knowledge to seek next—or we will have no basis for interpreting the new information we acquire (or as the scripture puts it, we will be “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”).
Asking questions in this way—questions that are founded in the truth we have already established for ourselves—is asking “in faith”. If we do not “ask in faith, nothing wavering”, as verse 6 puts it, then verses 7&8 tells us that we shall not “receive any thing of the Lord” for “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways”. The Lord is our Father. He loves us and wants what is best for us—He wants what will allow us to return home to Him. If we have not established a foundation to build upon, why then would the Lord help us build upon no foundation? It would be to no avail, but rather, perhaps even detrimental to our learning, just as trying to understand an algorithm without a knowledge of mathematical language would cause confusion. He certainly would hope to help us build that foundation first, so that He might succeed as He opens more truth to us. So, let’s have patience as we seek personal revelation. Let’s put in the work necessary to have a strong foundation before we attempt to build; for the wise man buildeth upon a rock, while the foolish man builds upon the sand. And, let’s continue in our patience as we seek more knowledge.
Similarly, once we have asked a question, we must, at that point have the patience to receive the answer. If we were to conduct a study on the effect of a new drug, we would not administer the drug one day, and determine the next whether it had treated the symptom. We would allow sufficient time for the drug to interact with the chemical makeup of the body before determining the drug’s effectiveness. We would be patient and wait for the results. So we must do with our faith—our working knowledge. As we study new principles, we must apply them to our everyday lives, then have patience as we watch to determine if and how they have affected our lives. We must have the patience necessary to allow our faith to be tested, just as we would have patience necessary to allow a drug to be properly tested. And, as we witness the benefit of patience allowing our understanding to develop, we will, in turn, have more patience as we study new principles. In this way we build upon and establish deeper degrees of faith, or knowledge of truth. And, when all is said and done, we will be perfect (“complete”), even as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
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