Coat tails...
http://www.seattlepi.com/comics-and-games/fun/Rhymes_with_Orange/2012-10-03/
It's easy to think that your eternal reward will be automatic, or that it's taken care of because your family has been in the Church for x-number of generations or you're related to or descended from someone amazing, like a General Authority. It doesn't work that way.
My grandfather gave a talk in church once, where he quoted Goethe as his theme: "Before we can possess that which we inherit from our fathers, we must first earn it for ourselves." I committed it to memory, intently. He elaborated on that principle, giving several examples to illustrate which I don't remember forty-plus years later; he may have started with the fact that he inherited a family business, but had to learn how to operate it and grow with it himself, or he could have simply presided over its decline. There were a couple of examples from so-called real life before he reached his deeper purpose.
But I remember the purpose, because it came at a time when I was ready to comprehend. Whatever our background or advantages, we each have to find our way and learn the path of discipleship. We have to internalize the Savior's teachings. We can talk about the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the Jews of Jesus's time relied on that legacy in their own minds and failed spiritually to 'possess it for themselves' by humility and obedience. They hadn't 'earned' the blessings, and they believed that they didn't need to. No one else will save you except by your own faithful choices. You have to learn, by your own experience and faith--and often hardship--to know what is true and choose what is right.
I have the gift of a marvelous heritage in the Church. I am grateful for that, it brings me strength. It means that I was taught, nurtured, and brought up in the atmosphere of testimony. That strength is in the nature of believing that if they can be brought through everything that happened to them, I can be too. It is a resource to me, rather than an entitlement. A convert friend asked me once if my pioneer heritage made a difference in my ability to press forward and follow the Lord in my own life. I first said that I of course had to make my own choices, that my ancestry wouldn't save me; then I thought a moment more and answered that the advantage was that all my family stories were gospel stories. I have examples of faithful perseverance, of endurance, that are real. That is a help. Those examples offer me a guide, not a guarantee--or rather, they offer a guarantee that the promises are real if I will put them to the test for myself.
There is only one set of coattails that we can stand on that will pull us through the celestial gates, and those are the Savior's through His atonement. Those are the coattails that are offered to every one of us in His mercy, but also through our efforts to follow Him and be true disciples. It takes repentance, service, love, faith, and enduring to the end, come what may.
It's easy to think that your eternal reward will be automatic, or that it's taken care of because your family has been in the Church for x-number of generations or you're related to or descended from someone amazing, like a General Authority. It doesn't work that way.
My grandfather gave a talk in church once, where he quoted Goethe as his theme: "Before we can possess that which we inherit from our fathers, we must first earn it for ourselves." I committed it to memory, intently. He elaborated on that principle, giving several examples to illustrate which I don't remember forty-plus years later; he may have started with the fact that he inherited a family business, but had to learn how to operate it and grow with it himself, or he could have simply presided over its decline. There were a couple of examples from so-called real life before he reached his deeper purpose.
But I remember the purpose, because it came at a time when I was ready to comprehend. Whatever our background or advantages, we each have to find our way and learn the path of discipleship. We have to internalize the Savior's teachings. We can talk about the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the Jews of Jesus's time relied on that legacy in their own minds and failed spiritually to 'possess it for themselves' by humility and obedience. They hadn't 'earned' the blessings, and they believed that they didn't need to. No one else will save you except by your own faithful choices. You have to learn, by your own experience and faith--and often hardship--to know what is true and choose what is right.
I have the gift of a marvelous heritage in the Church. I am grateful for that, it brings me strength. It means that I was taught, nurtured, and brought up in the atmosphere of testimony. That strength is in the nature of believing that if they can be brought through everything that happened to them, I can be too. It is a resource to me, rather than an entitlement. A convert friend asked me once if my pioneer heritage made a difference in my ability to press forward and follow the Lord in my own life. I first said that I of course had to make my own choices, that my ancestry wouldn't save me; then I thought a moment more and answered that the advantage was that all my family stories were gospel stories. I have examples of faithful perseverance, of endurance, that are real. That is a help. Those examples offer me a guide, not a guarantee--or rather, they offer a guarantee that the promises are real if I will put them to the test for myself.
There is only one set of coattails that we can stand on that will pull us through the celestial gates, and those are the Savior's through His atonement. Those are the coattails that are offered to every one of us in His mercy, but also through our efforts to follow Him and be true disciples. It takes repentance, service, love, faith, and enduring to the end, come what may.
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