A fundamental component of discipleship is foregoing immediate comfort in the service of a greater good. Sometimes we call this sacrifice; other times, patience in affliction. It requires vision to recognize why you are paying this price and what you hope to achieve by it. Ultimately, you pay the price and endure the pain because you believe it will be worth it.
At the end of a revelation to church members preparing to migrate from Ohio to Missouri, the Lord indicates that difficulties and rewards lie ahead:
These things remain to overcome through patience, that such may receive a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, otherwise, a greater condemnation.
Doctrine and Covenants 63:66
This passage quotes from one of Paul’s epistles to church members in Corinth. After acknowledging the troubles, persecutions, and perplexities which face him and his fellow saints, he writes:
We faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
The adjectives “exceeding” and “eternal” provide two reasons for endurance.
- Exceeding – The expected reward is worth far more than its price.
- Eternal – Our current suffering is time-bound, “but for a moment,” while the reward will last forever.
A sign commonly displayed on a marathon route says, “Pain is temporary, your race time is on the internet forever.” I’ve appreciated some version of that reminder during both of my marathons. Even after months of training, it’s hard to maintain your perspective; reminders like this are motivating and helpful.
When Ammon and his brothers arrived in the land of Nephi to serve and teach their enemies, the Lamanites, the Lord encouraged them to maintain their faith through the difficulties they were about to experience:
Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.
Alma 17:11
This rather sobering charge gave them courage, and they responded by trusting God through some very difficult experiences. At one point, Ammon found some of his brothers and other associates imprisoned, naked, malnourished, and injured. “Nevertheless, they were patient in all their sufferings” (Alma 20:29).
At the end of their fourteen-year mission, Ammon recalled the Lord’s promise, acknowledged that they had suffered “all manner of afflictions,” and expressed gratitude for the blessings they had received. “There never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began,” he declared (Alma 26:27-35).
Today, I will remember that God’s promised rewards far outweigh any sacrifice or suffering I will temporarily experience. I will keep moving forward with hope and faith, in anticipation of a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
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