What seek Ye...?

I've been waiting for this. I was impressed with the final speaker's remarks at this past Sunday's worship services. Brother Hardy, a high priest, was visiting on behalf of our stake (area) council. I asked Bro. Hardy if I could have a copy of his talk. He sent it to me along with some supporting notes he said he did not end up using. (time & the holy spirit sometimes dictate edits at the pulpit) Bro. Hardy used the published remarks from 2 general authorities along with Biblical and Book of Mormon references in his talk to sustain his topic points. Here is Brother Hardy's talk:

WHAT SEEK YE……………
Good morning brothers and sisters, it’s nice to be here with you today. I would like to convey to you the love of the stake presidency. These good men work very hard and pray very often for the members of this stake. They are truly dedicated individuals.
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In John 1 35-38 we read: "Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
"And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! "And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. "Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?"
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Brothers and sisters, what seek ye?
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Your very presence here today would indicate that one of the things you seek is a closer relationship with our savior. Your presence here indicates you are seeking after eternal values. As the 13th article of faith states: “13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.�
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We find a world today looking for answers to the question, What seek ye? in so many different ways. Too many are sowing seeds of a fruit that will not nourish an eternal soul.
In Luke 8 5-15 we read the parable of the sower:
5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The deciples inquired of Jesus what the meaning of this parable might be. This is his reply:
11 Now the parable is this: The seed• is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation• fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked• with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest• and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit• with patience.
Brothers and sisters the key here is the ground not the seed. The seed is the word of God, we know it will be sowed over the face of the whole earth and it is perfect seed. The ground on the other hand is us, the inhabitants of this world. We determine what type of ground we will be. How well do we prepare ourselves to accept and nurture this seed that it might bear fruit? Are we the “good ground�?
Those who are the ground by the wayside hear the word then allow the Devil into their lives and take the word of God out of their hearts. Those who are on the rock receive the word with joy, but develop no root and fall away when temptation comes.
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Those who are among the thorns may describe the plight of many of the world today. They have heard the word and go forth and I quote: “and are choked• with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.�
This particularly hits home with me. Now I don’t feel that I pursue the pleasures of this life to excess, but the reference to being choked with cares and riches might apply. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a wealthy man in terms of worldly possessions. I’m just an average guy, but I fear I sometimes let cares about worldly issues and the pursuit financial reward choke my spiritual progress. It is a dilemma I dare say many of us have. I realize that many of us are not wealthy. One poor man said, “I know that money isn’t everything. For example, it isn’t mine.� And another observed, “Even books on how to be happy without money cost more than I can afford.� However, the relationship of money to happiness is at best questionable. An unknown author said, “Money is an article that may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.�
Once we can feed, cloth and shelter our family, how much more money do we need…..is there ever enough, and will we have to pay a spiritual price to get it?
Those who are choked with thorns of cares and riches and pleasures quote “bring no fruit to perfection.� Let us rather be the good ground and with an honest and good heart, and with patience bring forth fruit an hundredfold.
A major problem we face in preaching the gospel in many areas of the world is the general apathy toward religion, toward things spiritual. Too many are very comfortable with their present lifestyle and feel no need to do more than "eat, drink, and be merry". In 2 Ne. 28: 8 we read “And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat•, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify• in committing a little sin•; yea, lie• a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit• for thy neighbor; there is no• harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.�
These people are not interested in anything but themselves—here and now.
Societies in which this secular lifestyle takes root have a deep spiritual and moral price to pay. The pursuit of individual freedoms, without regard to laws the Lord has established will result in the curse of extreme worldliness and selfishness, the decline of public and private morality.
Such secular societies are described in Doctrine and Covenants 1:16: "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world."
For this reason, the Lord's Church was instructed to follow the prophet and seek something different from what the world is seeking.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides answers to the question, What seek ye? Our Church is the means by which men and women find our Savior and His gospel.
Most people are searching for happiness.
It is obvious that since we don’t always desire that which is good for us, having all our desires granted to us would not bring us happiness.
In fact, instant and unrestrained gratification of all our desires would be the shortest and most direct route to unhappiness.
In Alma 41:3–7 we read 3. And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
4. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—5. The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.6. And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.7. These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own "judges", whether to do good or do evil.
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Both happiness and unhappiness are much of our own making.
A friend sent me this e-mail: A 92 year-old, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he manoeuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.
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Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on
the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from it what you've put in it. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories and thank you for filling my Memory bank. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
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As the Prophet Joseph Smith told us, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God�
The more faithfully we keep the commandments of God, the happier we will generally be.
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Pleasure is often confused with happiness but is by no means synonymous with it.
The poet Robert Burns wrote an excellent definition of pleasure in these lines:
But pleasures are like poppies spread: You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white—then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow’s lovely form Evanishing amid the storm.
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Pleasure, unlike happiness, is that which pleases us or gives us gratification. Usually it endures for only a short time. We are enticed daily to pursue worldly pleasures that may divert us from the path to happiness. We are not content with what we have and think that happiness comes from having more or acquiring more or being more. We look for happiness but go in the wrong direction to find it.
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The story is told of Ali Hafed, a wealthy ancient Persian who owned much land and many productive fields, orchards, and gardens and had money out at interest. He had a lovely family and at first was contented because he was wealthy, and wealthy because he was contented.
An old priest came to Ali Hafed and told him that if he had a diamond the size of his thumb, he could purchase a dozen farms like his. Ali Hafed said, “Will you tell me where I can find diamonds?�
The priest told him, “If you will find a river that runs through white sands, between high mountains, in those white sands you will always find diamonds.�
Said Ali Hafed, “I will go.�
So he sold his farm, collected his money that was at interest, and left his family in the charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds, traveling through many lands in Asia and Europe. After years of searching, his money was all spent, and he passed away in rags and wretchedness.
Meanwhile, the man who purchased Ali Hafed’s farm one day led his camel out into the garden to drink, and as the animal put his nose into the shallow waters, the farmer noticed a curious flash of light in the white sands of the stream. Reaching in, he pulled out a black stone containing a strange eye of light. Not long after, the same old priest came to visit Ali Hafed’s successor and found that in the black stone was a diamond. As they rushed out into the garden and stirred up the white sands with their fingers, they came up with many more beautiful, valuable gems. According to the story, this marked the discovery of the diamond mines of Golconda, the most valuable diamond mines in the history of the ancient world.
Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own cellar, or anywhere in his own fields, rather than traveling in strange lands where he eventually faced starvation and ruin, he would have had “acres of diamonds.� We feel only pity for Ali Hafed as we picture him wandering homeless and friendless farther and farther away from the happiness he thought he would find in digging up diamonds in a far-off place. Yet how many times do we look for our happiness at a distance in space or time rather than right now, in our own homes, with our own families and friends?
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In the story The Little Prince, the fox was wiser than he knew when he said, “Now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye�
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The Savior of the world taught us to seek that inner peace which taps the innate happiness in our souls. He said: “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid� (John 14:27).
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That inner peace spoken of by the Savior seems elusive when we are preoccupied with things we have or things we wish we had. In a time when we are both obsessed and consumed with the possession and the acquisition of objects, the counsel of Moses seems more needed than ever: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, … nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s� (Ex. 20:17).
In Mosiah 2:41 we read : “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 out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness�.
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Many of us are consumed with being successful.
An unknown poet has written:
Success is speaking words of praise,
In cheering other people’s ways,
In doing just the best you can.
With every task and every plan.
It’s silence when your speech would hurt,
Politeness when your neighbor’s curt.
It’s deafness when the scandal flows,
And sympathy with others’ woes.
It’s loyalty when duty calls.
It’s courage when disaster falls.
It’s patience when the hours are long.
It’s found in laughter and in song.
It’s in the silent time of prayer,
In happiness and in despair.
In all of life and nothing less,
We find the thing we call success.
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If we truly seek after Christ and his blessings of happiness through obedience there is a key element that we must embrace and that is Charity. There are many types of charity but particularly significant in these trying times is to show love, even to your enemies, “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you�
Have you ever been hated, cursed or despitefully used?
IT IS EASY TO BE CHARITABLE TOWARDS THE PEOPLE WE LIKE. I HAVE A LOT OF FRIENDS AND IT MAKES ME FEEL REALLY GOOD WHEN I CAN HELP THEM OR GIVE THEM A KIND WORD OR A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT. BUT I WILL ADMIT THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE THAT ARE HARD FOR ME TO LIKE AND IN TURN I AM SURE THERE ARE THOSE THAT DON’T JUST DON’T LIKE ME. WE MAY HAVE OPPOSING OPINIONS ABOUT RELIGION OR POLITICS, OR WE MAY HAVE OFFENDED EACH OTHER OR TAKEN OFFENSE. IT MAY GO BEYOND DISLIKE. THERE MAY BE BITTER ANGER AND HATRED INVOLVED. HOW DO WE SHOW CHARITY IN THESE CASES?
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IN mathew 5: 43-48 we read
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43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
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THE SCRIPTURES DOCUMENT NUMEROUS CHARITABLE ACTS. ONE I FIND PARTICULARLY POIGNANT IS THE LOVE AND CHARITY MORONI SHOWED FOR HIS BRETHREN.
MORONI HAD WITNESSED THE GENOCIDE OF HIS PEOPLE THE NEPHITES. HE HAD BATTLED AT COMORAH AGAINST THE LAMANITES. IN THE FINAL BATTLE HE WITNESSED THE SLAUGHTER OF OVER 200,000 NEPHITES.
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MORONI FINISHED THE WORK HIS FATHER, MORMON, HAD STARTED. HE DID THIS TO BENEFIT THE DESCENDENTS OF THE VERY PEOPLE WHO NOW SOUGHT TO TAKE HIS LIFE. HIS WRITINGS END ABOUT 36 YEARS AFTER WE LAST HEAR FROM MORMON.
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AFTER HAVING FINISHED THE ABRIDGEMENT OF ETHER’S WRITINGS FROM THE 24 PLATES MORONI SEEMS ASTONISHED TO STILL BE ALIVE. WE TALKED ABOUT LOVING YOUR ENEMIES. HERE IS WHAT MORONI WRITES.
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MORONI 1: 1-4
1 NOW I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.
2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.
3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.
4 Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth• unto my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord.
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What a stellar example of charity to his enemy and their posterity.
Take note that he refers to them as his brethren.
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Our search for happiness largely depends on the degree of righteousness we attain, the degree of selflessness we acquire, the amount and quality of service we render, and the inner peace that we enjoy. Some of us may have detoured from the road to peace and happiness through transgression. Jesus has provided us with a chance to overcome that transgression. He urges us begin the process of clearing up any problem so that we may again enjoy a quiet and a peaceful conscience. When we truly repent of our sins, the Lord has promised, “I, the Lord, remember them no more� (D&C 58:42).
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“What seek ye� brothers and sisters?
May we always seek out that which is good and remember in our hearts the last article of faith we memorize in our primary sunday school lessons.
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“13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.�