I am not really sure where this blogpost will be going to be honest, but as I was on lds.org I was looking for an idea to blog about this title jumped out at me.
As I read this title I thought, what is my duty to God? Pretty good question, right? Am I doing my duty? Have I been doing my duty? Is my duty done? Will it ever be done? These are just a couple questions that ran through my head.
Ironically though, I think the answer is very simple, so simple in fact, that it is something we as missionaries recite every day. It's something we desire to teach to everyone. It's the core of our religion.
The answer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Sound familiar?
In the premortal life, we all agreed to follow Jesus Christ's plan for us. We know that because we are here on earth. We agreed that we would come and be tested. We would use our agency, for better or worse, and we would have a Savior. We would be able to rely on the Savior and His Atonement in order to return and live with our Heavenly Father again.
The plan centers on Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Without it, we would have no way of returning to God. The instance we made one mistake we would no longer be able to live in God's presence because "no unclean thing can dwell with God" (1 Nephi 10:21). We knew this, and we agreed to follow our Savior.
Jesus Christ came to the earth and set an example for us. He showed us the way we need to live in order to return to Him. He taught the people principles of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He organized His church and established His doctrine.
Christ taught that in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He made it clear that it is only through Him we can return. "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." (Alma 34:32).
After Christ died the fulness of the gospel was no longer on the earth. As discussed in previous posts, Joseph Smith restored the fulness of the gospel to the earth. One of the things he did as a prophet was restore simple truths, such as "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Article of Faith 1:4).
So, let's tie the ends together. This life is the time to prepare to meet God, and it's only through Jesus Christ that we can meet God. We can only meet God it we are clean and we have an example of how to be clean set before us. It seems to me that our duty to God is to live His Gospel, to have Faith that Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God and that He truly did Atonement for our sins. When we have that faith we are led to repentance, which is the source of cleaning ourselves. Once we make the efforts to show God we desire to follow Him, we are baptized, which allows us to enter that path, the only path, to return to God. We receive the Holy Ghost which allows us to always have the Spirit with us in order to endure to the end in following Christ the rest of our lives.
This is our duty brothers and sisters, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we learn about it, study it, live it, teach it, share it, we will be fulfilling our duty to God. And He will bless us a thousand times over for doing it.
