Knowledge, understanding, wisdom.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" James 1:5

What is wisdom?

The dictionary defines wisdom as being "the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement."

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints furthers this explanation by saying that wisdom is "the ability or gift from God to judge correctly. A person gains wisdom through experience and study and by following God’s counsel. Without God’s help, man does not have true wisdom (2 Ne. 9:28; 27:26)." 

"Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich" (D&C 6:7)

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

D&C 88:118

"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."

What is understanding?

"...and with all thy getting get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7)

"Understanding of what? Understanding of ourselves, of the purposes of life, of our relationship to God who is our Father, of the great divinely given principles that for centuries have provided the sinew of man’s real progress!" -Gordon B Hinkley

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart..." 1 Kings 3:9

It is important to have an understanding heart in order to develop righteous sensitivity and discernment towards our fellow men. It occurred to me that even if we go through the exact same experience as someone else, the way we feel, process and react to that experience is going to be different. Only with the help of the Saviour can we attempt to gain a true understanding and sensitivity towards another person's experience. 

What is knowledge?

Understanding, knowledge and wisdom are, of course all interlinked. The way I would put it is this: knowledge is what we know, understanding is knowing (discerning) when and how to apply what we know, and wisdom lies in the actual application of these knowledges.

We must learn to bring knowledge, understanding and wisdom into balance and harmony. We cannot have wisdom without knowledge and understanding, and acquiring knowledge without seeking understanding and wisdom is a menial task.

Above all, we must put our trust in the Lord, in whom all knowledge, understanding and wisdom rests. For "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." (2 Ne. 2:24.) Thus, as God’s perfect wisdom is a product of His knowledge of all things, so man’s wisdom is dependent upon his knowledge.  - "Converting Knowledge to Wisdom" - Marion G. Romney

Obedience

“I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” (1 Nephi 3:7)

"A soul-stirring account of obedience is that of Abraham and Isaac. How painfully difficult it must have been for Abraham, in obedience to God’s command, to take his beloved Isaac into the land of Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. Can we imagine the heaviness of Abraham’s heart as he journeyed to the appointed place? Surely anguish must have racked his body and tortured his mind as he bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and took the knife to slay him. With unwavering faith and implicit trust in the Lord, he responded to the Lord’s command. 

How glorious was the pronouncement;

 “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” 

Abraham had been tried and tested, and for his faithfulness and obedience the Lord gave him this glorious promise: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

Of course, the story of Abraham and Isaac is a representation of the sacrifice of the son of God; our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is important to remember that our father in heaven still had agency, but, through perfect love, chose exact obedience to the plan which had been prepared.

"God heard the cry of his Son in that moment of great grief and agony, in the garden when, it is said, the pores of his body opened and drops of blood stood upon him, and he cried out: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.”

I ask you, what father and mother could stand by and listen to the cry of their children in distress, in this world, and not render aid and assistance?

 I have heard of mothers throwing themselves into raging streams when they could not swim a stroke to save their drowning children, rushing into burning buildings, to rescue those whom they loved. 

In that hour I think I can see our dear Father, behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer, and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head, and hid in some part of his universe, his great heart almost breaking for the love that he had for his Son. 

Oh, in that moment when He might have saved his Son, I thank him and praise him that he did not fail us, for he had not only the love of his Son in mind, but he also had love for us." -Melvin J Ballard

In his talk "Israel, Israel God is calling", Jeffrey R Holland spoke about the importance of "taking a moral stand according to what God has declared and the laws He has given, but doing it compassionately and with understanding and great charity." He speaks of the need to be obedient - to diligently strive to be obedient ourselves and always hope that others will choose to be obedient. We must, however, always be sensitive and compassionate towards those who (including ourselves) make mistakes or choose to live contrary to the laws of God. 

Sometimes we worry that we are being judgemental when we implore others to be obedient also -

"It is a little like a teenager saying, “Now that I can drive, I know I am supposed to stop at a red light, but do we really have to be judgmental and try to get everyone else to stop at red lights? Does everyone have to do what we do? Don’t others have their agency? Must they behave as we do?” You then have to explain why, yes, we do hope all will stop at a red light. And you have to do this without demeaning those who transgress or who believe differently than we believe because, yes, they do have their moral agency."

"Keep the commandments; keep the commandments!

In this there is safety; in this there is peace."

The first law of heaven

 In October 1873 President Joseph F. Smith stated that “Obedience is the first law of heaven.”

“There is a law (1), irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law (2) upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20–21).

Discussing this with Dad, he and I came to the following conclusion:

THE LAW (1) - Obedience

A LAW (2) - A particular law e.g tithing, fasting, chastity etc.

We must follow "THE LAW" (1) to "A LAW" (2) to receive the predicated blessings. Exact obedience to all laws of the gospel will eventually result in a fullness of joy! =)

“The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.” - Gordon B. Hinckley

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold outfaithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

All heavenly father requires is our sincere obedience

“And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

“And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

“And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever.” (Mosiah 2:22–24.)

First and foremost, we must love the Lord our God -

References:

"Obedience brings blessings" Thomas S Monson

"Israel, Israel God is calling" Jeffrey R Holland

Humility

What is humility? What is it really? 

Sometimes to understand what something is, it can be easier by starting with what it is not.What is something that isn't humility? In other words, what is the antithesis of humility?

PRIDE

"The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition."

-Ezra Taft Benson

*I love this quote. Pride is concerned about opinions and being "right", whereas humility seeks to peacefully go about doing what one knows to be right, even when one is misunderstood.*

"Contemplate the advantages of life in a society in which considerations of status were only secondary, where citizens were more concerned with their responsibilities than their rights, and where those in authority might even occasionally step forward and humbly acknowledge, “I could be wrong." 
Must our need to be “right” be so all-consuming? 
One wonders how differently even recent world history might be written if its principal participants had yielded to the gentle nudgings of humility." - Marlin K Jensen

In one of our sacrament hymns we sing:

"In humility, our Savior,

Grant thy Spirit here, we pray,

As we bless the bread and water

In thy name this holy day.

Let me not forget, O Savior,

Thou didst bleed and die for me

When thy heart was stilled and broken

On the cross at Calvary."

I think that if we want to develop greater humility, we need to remember the saviour and his sacrifice for us - there is truly nothing more humbling than thinking of that scene and the love for imperfect beings such as ourselves. These two verses from "I stand all amazed" always tug at my heartstrings and cause tears of gratitude and humility:

1. I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
   Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
   I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
   That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.
2. I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
   To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
   That he should extend his great love unto such as I,
   Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

Unfortunately, we often mistake humility for worthlessness.

Feeling worthless can be a natural response to sin, but it can also be a tool that the adversary uses to get us stuck in a cycle of feeling inferior. This inferiority complex is actually another form of pride, though we often neglect to see it as such. Of course you wouldn't go up to someone and say "oh you're feeling worthless? That just means you're being prideful!" 

Remember that without charity we are nothing. 

We must be sensitive and tactful, as mental health issues are often involved with feelings of worthlessness and are painful and complex.

But the bottom line (if you are wondering what humility REALLY is) is this:
If you think you are better than anyone else, or worse than anyone else - that is NOT humility.

Humility is knowing your divine nature, reverently recognising who you are in relationship to heavenly father, and striving valiantly to submit your will to His.

The LDS website states: "To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. 

We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous."

Another aspect of humility in comparison with pride, is that humility demonstrates an attitude leading toward infinite progression - because one recognises that there can always be more to learn, or knew ways to grow and progress. In contrast, one who is prideful will be certain that they have all the learning, growth and progression they need. 

"Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught.  They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong." - Ezra Taft Benson

C. S. Lewis wrote that "once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone" He stated that “pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.”  

"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's” (Phillip. 2:21) Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled." 
- Ezra Taft Benson

"Consider the climate that would exist within a marriage or family—or any organization, for that matter—if through genuine humility mistakes were freely admitted and forgiven, if we were not afraid to praise others for fear they might gain on us, and if all were able to listen as well as we now verbalize."

Another facet of pride is contention. Arguments, fights, unrighteous dominion, generation gaps, divorces, spouse abuse, riots, and disturbances all fall into this category of pride.

Contention in our families drives the Spirit of the Lord away. It also drives many of our family members away. Contention ranges from a hostile spoken word to worldwide conflicts. The scriptures tell us that “only by pride cometh contention.” (Prov 13:10)

PRIDE is SELFISH (concerned only with ourselves)
HUMILITY is SELFLESS (always seeking what we can do for others, together with the Lord) - *giving the best of ourselves also requires taking care of ourselves; rejuvenating and replenishing our needs*

"The selfish individual has a passion for the vertical pronoun I. Significantly, the vertical pronoun I has no knees to bend, while the first letter in the pronoun we does." - Neal A Maxwell

John Ruskin memorably stated that “the first test of a truly great man is his humility.” He continued: “I do not mean, by humility, doubt of his own power. … But really great men have a curious feeling that  greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something Divine in every other man, and are endlessly merciful.”

Let us take the advice of Ezra Taft Benson and choose to be humble.
He suggests the following ways we can choose to humble ourselves:

• We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God.

• We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives.

I add my testimony to the testimony of Ezra Taft Benson: "Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can." 

Through the help of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; by reflecting on his life and infinite atonement, by truly coming to know and love him - we can become humble and faithful servants of Almighty God.