"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been since the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saiint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." - Mosiah 3:19
-
Isn't it natural for us to pursue our own self interest? This is not in and of itself a bad thing, right? We work to provide for ourselves...
"In the sweat of the face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." - Genesis 3:19
...and if we have families, for them as well. That is not only a good thing, it is expected...
"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." - 1 Timothy 5:8
But the common thread in these two verses gives us the context for why we are self-centric. Man is fallen. He seeks for his own self-interest out of the necessity of surviving in a temporal world and, since we inherit the physical attributes of the fall from our first parents, it is just not natural for us to pursue the things of God. We come to this world and increasingly become influenced by the needs of the flesh. How important it is to teach our children early on that they may actively seek the Light.
And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion. or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them no to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying of of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. - D&C 68:25
There is something so important about posterity that appears to be a theme throughout The Book of Mormon and that seems to be rejected in their time and generally overlooked in our own. For many years, the Nephites were warned about how their behavior would lead to destruction. In some cases, swift destruction was warned of, as Lehi was called to do, and was clearly merited, as it was for the people of Ammonihah. However, they were also warned about destruction that wouldn't occur for many generations hence. So, what did they miss? What did they care? Life was good, right? They were satisfied with their current living and lifestyles. Why would they give pause to something that was to happen to their subsequent generations hundreds of years after their lifetimes? There must be something so important about inter-generational righteousness; about the effect our lives have on our near and far posterity that the Lord wants to get through to us today.
There is such a value in a righteous posterity that Abraham was promised seed "without number" and that by whom "...all nations of the earth would be blessed." Can I get a "W0W!" here? There is something important about posterity that the Lord wants us to know, and it needs to arrest our attention.
The demands of the flesh, of mortality, seem overwhelming and we are relentlessly affected by the needs we have in this experience. To choose to come unto Christ is just... not... natural. However, it is eternally essential, because...
"For
the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been since the fall of
Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings
of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a
saiint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a
child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to
submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even
as a child doth submit to his father." - Mosiah 3:19
