Stay on the Lord's side of the line. (Lesson 18
George Albert Smith’s grandfather George A. Smith served for many years in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and in the First Presidency as a counselor to Brigham Young. George Albert Smith often repeated the counsel his grandfather used to give to his family: “There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord.” -George Albert Smith
How do we know that we are on the Lord's side of the line?
On the Lord's side: you will have no more desire to do evil, having a love for everyone, we have the companionship of the best men and women in the world, we will have influence on others to do the right thing. Invite us to do good and to believe in Christ. Safety, righteousness and happiness.
On the Devil's side: no clear thought or reason because you have lost the Spirit, refusal to see the truth. Persuade to do evil and to deny Christ. Rationalize our actions or make exceptions to the commandment.
There is a litmus test in Moroni 7:16-17.
"All safety, all righteousness, all happiness are on the Lord’s side of the line. If you are keeping the commandments... If you love your neighbor as yourself, you are on the Lord’s side of the line. ...all that enriches our lives and makes us happy and prepares us for eternal joy is on the Lord’s side of the line. Finding fault with the things that God has given to us for our guidance is not on the Lord’s side of the line. " -George Albert Smith
Sometimes we might feel that the commandments are so strict and restrictive but we soon see quite the opposite.
"You observe people running to and fro in the world, seeking happiness but not finding it. If they would only pause long enough to accept the Lord’s advice happiness would follow, but they will find it in no other way.
Now to me the laws of the Lord, so-called, the counsels contained in the Holy Scriptures, the revelations of the Lord to us in this day and age of the world, are but the sweet music of the voice of our Father in heaven in His mercy to us. They are but the advice and counsel of a loving parent, who is more concerned in our welfare than earthly parents can be, and consequently that which at one time seemed to bear the harsh name of law to me is now the loving and tender advice of an all-wise Heavenly Father." -George Albert Smith
"But if he can't get us to succumb to blatant evil, the adversary tries to coax us onto his side of the line by resorting to strategies that slowly wear us down, weaken our resolve, and dim our memory of who we are. See if any of these sound familiar. Lucifer whispers that it doesn't matter what we do now, that there is plenty of time later to get our spiritual act together. It is the Sin Now, Pay Later Plan. He feeds our vanity with promises of popularity, power, and prosperity. He tells us what we want to hear: that life is supposed to be easy and fun and that if we experience pain or undeserved difficulties the gospel must not be working. He always promotes shortcuts, though there are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.
He wants us to compare ourselves to others and then to criticize and judge one another. He numbs us to a sliding scale of morality so that we eventually embrace behaviors that repulsed us earlier. He wants us to believe that anything short of blatant immorality is just sport—no harm, no foul. He wants us so absorbed with school, dating, and careers that we don't have time to really live the gospel—to learn how to receive answers to prayer, to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, and to go to the temple. He rejoices in even small breaches in our integrity because he knows that unless checked they will ultimately lead us "away carefully down to hell"...."
"And others will he apacify, and lull them away into carnal bsecurity, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the cdevil dcheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." (2 Nephi 28:21)
How does the devil "cheat our souls " and lead us carefully down to hell?
Sometimes when you make bad choices it is hard to feel like there is a way back and to find hope in repentance. Sometimes the Devil can distract us by making others things more important. He can convince us that selfishness is the right way to live. Focusing on the grey areas and how close can we get to the edge of the "cliff". He makes you believe that you are gaining something when you are in fact losing something. Satan is still trying to get control one step at a time.
Choosing an uplifting atmosphere is essential to stay on the right side of the line. We all have detectors in our house that will sound an alarm if there is toxic smoke or carbon monoxide. We likewise have to have the same sort of alarm for whether or not a situation is a good one or our choices are leading us away from the Lord's side.
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