How fitting we read in Alma 41 about desires and appetites following a wonderful CES fireside with Elder Ballard. He asked us to look within ourselves and be honest with where we are, and where we want to be, then make changes now. Below is a quote from Elder Ballard from a previous talk given 31 years ago:
“If you have a bad habit, do you think death is going to change it? Do you think that habit will simply dissolve in some miraculous way and will no longer be with you? I believe that the Lord impresses upon you and me the need to repent and live the law, keep the commandments, and keep our lives aligned to the celestial goal; because it is when we are here in mortality that the body and the spirit can learn together.
For example, when a man who smokes dies and his body is placed six feet into the ground, is there any reason for us to believe that when his body comes back up out of the ground it will no longer have the desires that it had when it was laid down? I do not think so. I think that the body will rise in the resurrection with the same desires and that the body and the spirit together must work out this matter of eternal salvation." (Elder M. Russell Ballard, B.Y.U. Speeches of the Year, 1979, pp. 157-8.)
In order to help break habits we have formed that are not becoming of a disciple of Jesus Christ, we must set goals, pray for assistance, study the scriptures; in essence of what Elder Ballard said Sunday evening: "Always give the Lord equal time!"
We are in this together and can help one another.
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