My Thoughts

Alma 34:32

For behold, this life is the time 

for men to prepare to meet God; 

yea, behold the day of this life 

is the day for men to perform their labors.

If ever there was a frustrating aspect of my personality, this touches on it. I am lazy. I don't like to be, and I try quite often to overcome it, but thus far, I have been unsuccessful. "Cease to be idle" seems so incredibly impossible for me, and I don't particularly understand why. This aspect of my natural woman has such a strong grasp on me that my focus on this scripture this week has been a rather discouraging one. 

 

I know this is not right. I know in my mind that I can bring this weakness to Christ and He can make it a strength through His grace. But I am unsure specifically how to go about this right now. My parents are incredibly hard workers. I almost never see my Mother, but she is working, or serving, or planning to do so. And then there's me with my overwhelming inertia and seeming inability to move past it. Surely the advice to "just do it" or "take baby steps" or "do a bite at a time" shouldn't be so hard. And yet it is.

 

I believe I will need more time to work on this concept and overcoming this personal struggle. I know Christ is strong enough to help me with this, what I doubt is my own ability to come to Him and stay with Him and do my part adequately.   

I think I will pick a related scripture next week, and maybe for every week after until I feel like I am on my way to working through this.

Why I Chose This Verse

Alma 34:32

For behold, this life is the time

for men to prepare to meet God;

yea, behold the day of this life

is the day for men to perform their labors.

I was preparing my calendar for the coming year, and this scripture seemed appropriate to remind me of the need to be wise with my time in progressing spiritually as well as physically, intellectually, socially, and in every other way. I don't have forever to get to where I want to be. I only have right now, and I need to choose to fill it with worthy activities while I can.

Cross Reference

Alma 34:32

For behold, this life is the time

for men to prepare to meet God;

yea, behold the day of this life

is the day for men to perform their labors.

life:

TG Mortality

prepare:

2 Corinthians 6:2

2 Nephi 2:21

Alma 12:24

Alma 42:4 (4-6)

TG Self-Mastery

this:

D&C 138:57

labors:

TG Good Works

TG Industry

Now Is the Time to Prepare

Russell M. Nelson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Now is the time to prepare to meet God. Tomorrow may be too late.

My dear brethren and sisters, since our last general conference, my sweetheart—my beloved wife for 59 years—passed away. While I was at home on a rare Saturday with no assignment, we had worked together. She had washed our clothing. I had helped to carry it, fold it, and put it in place. Then while we were sitting on the sofa, holding hands, enjoying a program on television, my precious Dantzel slipped peacefully into eternity. Her passing came suddenly and unexpectedly. Just four days earlier, our doctor’s report at a routine checkup indicated that her laboratory tests were good. After my efforts to revive her proved fruitless, feelings of shock and sorrow overwhelmed me. My closest friend, angel mother of our 10 children, grandmother of our 56 grandchildren, had been taken from us.

Dantzel was not only a loved and loving companion. She was a teacher: by her noble example, she taught faith, virtue, obedience, and mercy. She taught me how to listen and to love. Because of her, I know all the blessings that can come to a husband, father, and grandfather.

With deep gratitude, I acknowledge the tremendous outpouring of love from dear friends across the world. Countless letters, calls, cards, and other messages have been sent. All tributes expressed loving admiration for her and sympathy for us whom she left behind. Those messages came in such large numbers that we, regretfully, were unable to respond to all of them individually. May I thank each and all for your great kindness toward us. Thank you so very, very much. Your expressions have brought much comfort through this time of heartache for our family. We really love dear Dantzel! We miss her!

From her sudden departure we can learn a very important lesson: now is the time to prepare to meet God. Tomorrow may be too late. Prophets through the ages have so declared: “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God. … Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance.” ¹

The Need to Prepare Now

Yet many do procrastinate. ² A prophet warns us: “Ye cannot say … that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will … possess your body in that eternal world.” ³ Another prophet adds, “He that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still.” ⁴

Great is the knowledge that “whatever principle of intelligence we attain … in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.” ⁵ From the Prophet Joseph Smith we also learn that “God has … a time … appointed … when He will bring all His subjects, who have obeyed His voice and kept His commandments, into His celestial rest. This rest ⁶ is of such perfection and glory, that man has need of a preparation before he can, according to the laws of that kingdom, enter it and enjoy its blessings. … God has given certain laws to the human family, which, if observed, are sufficient to prepare them to inherit this rest.” ⁷ Sister Nelson was so prepared!

That glorious goal seems mighty distant if one is discouraged by worldly trouble and gloom. I remember when a friend having a difficult day exclaimed, “Oh, why was I ever born?” God’s plan answers his question. We came into this life to acquire a physical body. We may fall in love and be married. We may have children and experience the trials of mortal life. (Please forgive me for mentioning children and the trials of life in the same breath. I sense that they are both part of our growing process.) The Church was restored—the earth was created—so that those families could be sealed in holy temples. Otherwise, the whole earth would be “utterly wasted.” ⁸

We came to be tried, to be tested, and to choose. ⁹ Our decisions determine our destiny. We are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator … , or to choose captivity and death.” ¹⁰ Those who choose the Lord’s way will likely endure persecution. ¹¹ But their reward is certain. Those who prove faithful “shall inherit the kingdom of God, … and their joy shall be full forever.” ¹² Sister Nelson has earned that reward. What comfort that brings to me and our family!

Trials and tests apply to rich and poor alike. Years ago, I was asked to perform an operation upon a very wealthy man. A surgical biopsy confirmed that he had an advanced cancer that had spread throughout his body. As I reported this news, his immediate response was to rely upon his wealth. He would go anywhere or do anything to treat his condition. He thought he could buy his way back to health. But he soon passed away. Someone asked, “How much wealth did he leave?” The answer, of course, was, “All of it!”

His priorities were set upon things of the world. His ladder of success had been leaning against the wrong wall. I think of him when I read this scripture: “Behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is … too late.” ¹³

In radiant contrast, Sister Nelson prepared throughout her life for the time when she would return to God. She lived each day as though it were her last. She cherished every hour, knowing that time on earth is precious.

Some people live as if there were no day of reckoning. Others waste today’s time with a disabling fear of tomorrow or a paralyzing preoccupation over mistakes of yesterday. Each of us might well heed the words of a poet, as posted on a sundial:

The shadow by my finger cast

Divides the future from the past:

Before it, sleeps the unborn hour,

In darkness, and beyond thy power:

Behind its unreturning line,

The vanished hour, no longer thine:

One hour alone is in thy hands,—

The NOW on which the shadow stands. ¹⁴

How Do We Prepare?

Now is the time. But how do we prepare? Begin with repentance! Scripture declares, “If ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye are found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; … no unclean thing can dwell with God.” ¹⁵ He gave this simple rule: “Except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.” ¹⁶

Now is the time to show reverent respect for one’s physical body. It serves as the tabernacle for one’s spirit throughout all eternity. Physical appetites are to be controlled by the will of one’s spirit. We are to “deny [our]selves of all ungodliness.” ¹⁷ We are to “forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, [and] live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.” ¹⁸

Because of frequent and frightening calamities in the world, some people doubt the existence of God. But, in fact, He is trying to help us. He revealed these words: “How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and … tempests, … earthquakes, … great hailstorms, … famines and pestilences of every kind, … and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!” ¹⁹

His hope for us is eternal life. We qualify for it by obedience to covenants and ordinances of the temple—for ourselves, our families, and our ancestors. We cannot be made perfect without them. ²⁰ We cannot wish our way into the presence of God. We are to obey the laws upon which those blessings are predicated. ²¹

God’s plan is fair. Even those “who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.” ²² His plan is also merciful. He “will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.” ²³

Now is the time to enroll our names among the people of God. This we do by paying tithing. He tithes His people to bless them. ²⁴ Sister Nelson taught that lesson to our family, over and over again. ²⁵

Now is the time to align our goals with God’s goals. His work and His glory—“to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” ²⁶ —can become ours. Of temple marriage the Savior declared, “If a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, … [they] shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, … exaltation and glory in all things.” ²⁷ We are to emulate the example of the Lord, to love as He did, to pray as He did, and to endure to the end as He did. ²⁸

Importance of Death in God’s Eternal Plan

Death is a necessary component of our eternal existence. No one knows when it will come, but it is essential to God’s great plan of happiness. ²⁹ Thanks to the Atonement of the Lord, eventual resurrection is a reality and eternal life is a possibility for all humankind. ³⁰ That possibility becomes a reality as we obey God’s law. He said, “Except ye shall keep my commandments, … ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” ³¹ One day we will be judged by the Lord ³² and go to our own mansion prepared in our Father’s heavenly house. ³³ Celestial glory awaits those who have been faithful to God’s gentle commands. ³⁴

Brothers and sisters, we live to die and we die to live—in another realm. If we are well prepared, death brings no terror. From an eternal perspective, death is premature only for those who are not prepared to meet God.

Now is the time to prepare. Then, when death comes, we can move toward the celestial glory that Heavenly Father has prepared for His faithful children. Meanwhile, for sorrowing loved ones left behind—such as our family and me—the sting of death is soothed by a steadfast faith in Christ, a perfect brightness of hope, a love of God and of all men, and a deep desire to serve them. ³⁵ That faith, that hope, that love will qualify us to come into God’s holy presence and, with our eternal companions and families, dwell with Him forever. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

In Context

Alma 34:32

For behold, this life is the time 

for men to prepare to meet God; 

yea, behold the day of this life 

is the day for men to perform their labors.

This comes from a sermon by Amulek to the poor people of the Zoramites. 

Amulek was from the city of Ammonihah and was commanded by an angel to take care of Alma. They became missionary companions and preached to the city of Ammonihah. The wicked in the city ended up burning the believers and their records, while Alma and Amulek were forced to watch. They were later delivered from prison and continued their missionary efforts. 

When they came to the Zoramites, they found that they had perverted their form of worship and cast the poor out of their churches. So they focused their teaching efforts toward the poor people who were rejected by the rich and prideful.

Alma gives a sermon on faith in chapter 32. They use the words of the prophets to teach them about worship and Christ in chapter 33. 

Chapter 34 includes the following:

Amulek bears his testimony of Christ and His atonement. Without an atonement all men would perish. This sacrifice will fulfill the Law of Moses. He shall bring salvation to all who believe on His name. 

Through this infinite sacrifice mercy can satisfy the demands of justice. However, those who do not exercise faith unto repentance are subject to the whole of the demands of justice. Therefore only the repentant can gain redemption.

You begin to exercise faith unto repentance by calling on God in prayer. Pray for mercy. He then gives some examples of when and where to pray and what to pray over. (Basically everywhere, and over everything.) "...and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually..."

After you have done this, if you turn away the sick and the afflicted, and refuse to give your substance to those in need, your prayer is in vain and you are "as hypocrites who do deny the faith."

Amulek reminds them of the various witnesses they have received and asks them to no longer harden their hearts, but to repent so that the plan of redemption can be brought about to them. 

Insert verse 32.

Do not procrastinate the day of repentance. If you do not take advantage of the time you are given in this life, then "cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world." (verse 34)

By procrastinating the day of your repentance, you are placing yourself in the power of the devil. 

The Lord does not dwell in unholy temples. 

Remember these things, work out your salvation, deny the coming of Christ no more. 

"That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessing which he doth bestow upon you." (verse 38)

Be watchful and pray continually that you are not led away by the temptations of the devil. He rewardeth you no good thing. 

Be patient in bearing your afflictions. "...do not revile against those who do cast you out...lest ye become sinners like unto them;"(verse 40)

"But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions." (verse 41)

What's Your Verse?

Alma 34:32

For behold, this life is the time 

for men to prepare to meet God; 

yea, behold the day of this life 

is the day for men to perform their labors.