I burned up my gospel time yesterday writing a blog post, which is something I cannot do today. However, I will say the following as quickly as I can.
I received an email from someone who just read the book I wrote on repentance. She said, in part,:
"The way you described how our conscience is God’s voice was...something I very much want to share because it was not taught that clearly at church."
I replied, in essence:
"As far as I know, it has never been revealed since the foundation of the world.
What benefit has been made available to the world through understanding the idea that God’s voice is the voice of improvement / conscience / idea of what God would do in your place? Such an easily understood and conveyed idea, and yet it gives everyone instant access to the very next step towards God, and every step thereafter. No waiting, no confusion. It is impossible to express the value of that. And yet the book sits unread, even by those who know it exists and have a reason to believe it might be worth reading.
We have grown so numb to value (perhaps because we are surfeited on wealth, or perhaps because we fill our lives so completely with things of so little actual value) that we presume there is no value to be had in what we do not already have.
There are things that God is willing to give that are worth any price to obtain. There are truths he has that are worth crawling on our knees across the country to obtain. And yet, people struggle to put down their phone for five minutes to read a book, and wonder why God doesn’t give them more."
I grew up quite poor. I remember that on the few gift-giving holidays where I did not get pants, we had a very small price limit, and had to choose what we wanted the most given that limit. There were hardly any things we wanted that were within that price limit. I am extremely grateful for the sacrifices my mother made for me, and I was always very grateful for any gift, including pants.
When it comes to the gifts God has, he does not set the price limit. We do. And you have defined an excruciatingly narrow window of receipt. How much more you would receive from God if you acted like a poor kid given a blank check. That is exactly what you are and exactly what you have been given with respect to what God has to give you, what God wants to give you, and what you have to gain through it.
I invite you to begin to live in accordance with the fact that God has treasures of uncountable worth. Live a life of paying a great price. Because of the requirements of faith, you will fail to see those treasures until after you believe such valuable things could exist, and live your life accordingly.
God cannot send you blessings that are wider than the window you have set up to receive them. He cannot send you treasures of uncountable worth without your being willing to pay the price required. He can try--and he has, and will continue to--but you will fail to see them, fail to value them, and fail to receive them. You will ignore them, resist them, and cast them aside as things of naught. This is what the people did to Jesus. Do you think you would respond differently? Are you sure?
Scriptures for reflection:
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3) Note: This passage is not about tithing. It's about giving God his due. Think about it.
And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men. (1 Nephi 19:9)
Wo unto them that turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good, and say that it is of no worth! For the day shall come that the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish. (2 Nephi 28:16)
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55)