"If Thou Wilt of Thyself…"

Paul Anderson

June 1

The angel who visited Alma delivered a stern warning. The heart of that warning was this directive:

Seek to destroy the church no more, ... and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.

Mosiah 27:16

Years later, when Alma related this experience to his son Helaman, he remembered the angel's words this way:

If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.

Alma 36:9

He told Helaman that those words literally stopped him in his tracks. The angel kept talking, but he couldn't hear anything else, "for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more" (Alma 36:11).

Sometimes when people are choosing unwisely, we might think a little selflessness could go a long way. We might say, "Think about how your actions are affecting the people around you," and that would be good advice.

But the angel took the opposite tack. Alma was already pretty clear of the impact of his actions on others. The angel wanted him to think about their impact on himself. That turned out to be an alarming, even horrifying thought for Alma. Apparently, Alma had never considered that in the process of destroying the church, he was also destroying himself.

Elder Neil L. Andersen said, "Your faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker" ("Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice," General Conference, October 2015). It's important, therefore, to evaluate the effect of our actions on our own spiritual growth. Are our choices making us stronger or weaker? Are they building our faith or destroying it? Obviously, some difficult challenges may hurt in the short run, but what about our long-term trajectory? Are we pointed in a direction that's making us better, stronger, happier, and holier? If not, what adjustments do we need to make?

Today I will follow the admonition of the angel and consider the impact of my activities on my own growth and development. I will adjust my schedule and priorities so that I'm having more experiences which bring me closer to God and to other people, and which help me develop Christlike attributes and talents.