Jonah is every man and woman. The elements of this story could apply to each person on the Earth. Everyone is given a work to do, or a mission to perform. The plan was made before the world was even created, and everyone agreed to come to Earth and do their job. If everyone fulfills his mission, then we can be saved from death and hell, and may return, as individuals and as a group, to God in Heaven. The work is not all done by one person, everyone pitches in and performs his own tasks.
A personal mission
In the big picture, there was a plan made that would allow everyone to receive Eternal Life, not individually, but rather as a group, all the children of Adam can return to God and partake of life and exaltation. We each have jobs to do in order to carry-out the plan. We each were given a calling to provide a service to the group, and each is given the exact talents and abilities necessary to fulfill that calling. Before the world was even created we were shown our personal plan, and agreed to it. This is, in part, what qualified us to come to Earth.
We are not just sent to fritter-away our time here, seeing the sights, smelling the smells, and either enjoying our time here or working away to earn money. We are not just slaves to work for food, clothing and shelter, nor are we here to play with our toys all day. We must be about our Father's business. There is no retirement from this mission, except death. As long as we have breath in our lungs and a beating heart we have a job to do. We have a specific thing to do, that is unique to our talents and abilities, and nobody else will do it -- unless we reject our calling. We can always say, "No," in which case another will be called to do your work.
Agency
We are told that we have the ability to choose whatever we want on Earth. Actually, this isn't true. There are many things we cannot choose because we are unaware of them, or we don't have the talents needed to acquire them, or we are born into the wrong caste. We only really can choose between those things that are placed within our reach.
Ultimately, life isn't about choosing anything, but rather saying "yes" or "no" to our own mission. Whatever else we do is almost irrelevant. The only good we can ever do is our own work, that work which we agreed to while we were planning this life. There is no other work. There is no other good. Everything else is evil because it leads us away from our mission.
Resistance to your mission
Life is hard. When we get to Earth, we find it difficult to actually fulfill our promise to God. The mission we have to perform is difficult, and we are lazy. We want to make all sorts of excuses, trying to excuse ourselves from doing our work. We resist the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our conscience, which is constantly nagging at us to begin. We develop all sorts of reasons why we cannot do what we are called to do.
We run from our calling, like Jonah, because it's hard. Though we have been given the gifts we need, we are amazed by what it takes. It's a big mountain to overcome. We will need to work closely with the Lord in order to get it done. We will also need the help of others, but nobody can do our work for us, it is unique to us, and the others have their own work to do.
We find all sorts of distractions and reasons why we cannot do the work we were given. We blame others, such as our parents for not giving us all the tools we need. We blame our spouse for not helping us. We blame those who injure us in any way. It's their fault we cannot do our work.
One common distraction is church. We are so busy "doing good," by keeping all the commandments and doing all the work in church that we don't have time to fulfill our real mission. There is nothing more insidious than doing good in order to avoid our real work. The "good" we do is evil, in this case. We cannot really do good unless we are doing exactly what we are commanded by God to do, personally fulfilling the work He gives to us (which may include serving in His church).
Satan's mission
We are often told that the devil only wants us to do evil, to kill and hate, rob and maim. In reality, Satan has followers that send all sorts of distractions to keep us from doing the work God has given us to do. The purpose of the devil is to destroy the work of God. If he can prevent us from performing our mission, then he can frustrate the plan, and the work of God would be destroyed. He does this by distracting us in so many ways away from our personal mission:
- The lusts of the flesh
- Other people
- Doing good
- Laziness
- Work, or the cares of the world
- Drugs and alcohol
- Sickness or pain
We find we have desires of the flesh, needs that must be filled. Jesus explained to His disciples, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." (Mark 4:19) We can let all our wants and needs of the flesh distract us from our mission, and most do.
Other people distract us constantly. We may have friends, family, or co-workers who take our time and prevent us from doing our work. We can become so inwardly focused on every ache and pain that we spend every effort to work on our physical health in order to avoid having to do our mission in life. Fear can paralyze us to prevent us from our work. Fear is evil. The devil always works through fear.
Thus, evil is not only the destructive things we do to others, but even more so it's everything that prevents us from doing our work. This is the work of Satan, and he is very good at fulfilling all he was chosen to do.
Christ's mission
The word "Christ" refers to "Messiah," meaning, "the anointed One." There is One who had a specific mission to be the Son of God, and to take upon Himself our sins, weaknesses, and transgressions. This is a specific mission that only He could do, it had to be an "infinite atonement" because nobody else had the power, or was qualified to do it. Others may have been able to teach the Gospel. Others may have been able to perform miracles. Others may have been able to organize a church. But only He could perform the great Atonement for all mankind. Only He could suffer for the sins of others. Nobody else had that ability. Because He was the Son of God, He was uniquely given the gifts and talents needed to do the work He was called to do.
When He had finished his work, as He hung on the cross, "he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19:30) What was finished? His work on the Earth. When he then came to the Nephites three days later he said, "And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." (3 Nephi 11:11) Now, in the past tense, He tells them that He has done His work. He has finished His mission. He did all He said He would do.
Though He was hated, mocked, and rejected by the establishment of the Jews and Romans, yet He went ahead and did what He was commanded to do -- every jot and every tittle. He left nothing undone, but drank the bitter cup to the dregs, fulfilling all that He was given before the foundation of the world.
Fulfilling our mission
We don't need to do what Christ did, suffering for the sins of the world, but rather follow Him in performing the work we were given, and agreed to before the world was created. If we follow Satan, then we will waste our time here on Earth, no matter what we're doing. If we follow Christ, we will be guided to do what we came here to do. We all have our contribution to humanity. We all have our art to give. We have in our hearts and minds something to raise the level of mankind in some large or small way. It's hard. It's always hard because though we have a gift or talent to provide a specific service, we cannot do it alone. We must have help.
Help comes to us in many ways, through other people, angels, or in the direct intervention of God. We cannot fail. Once we take on our mission, focus on it, and put all of our energy towards it, there is no way to stop us. All of Earth and hell could combine against us, but could not deter us from accomplishing what we came to do.
Heeding the call
We start out with the calling. Once we are called, we need to repent of all our sins, or all of the things that distract us from our calling, turning to God, putting our faith in Him that, though it is hard, we will be able to finish the work with His help. We then make a commitment, to put our whole being, body and soul, to sacrifice all our time and talents to doing the work. At this point we are given help from above. The Holy Spirit of God comes to us to guide us on our path.
We can go directly to our mission, or we can take the long way. The Children of Israel had the option of going directly into the Promised Land from Egypt, but they were scared so they had to wander in the desert for 40 years first. Likewise, we can be led directly to our mission, and find joy in serving God and our fellow-men, or we can wander around for years, hoping that we won't have to do it.
When we repent and accept our calling we are no longer children, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. We are now on the Lord's errand. The Holy Ghost tells us what to do to accomplish every part of our mission. We no longer have needs in the flesh, for He will provide for our needs. We let go of the things of the world, money, food, clothing, homes, lands, and even people -- mother, father, children and spouse. All we need is given to us. Every tool we need will be provided. Like a surgeon in the operating room, the only one who can perform that operation, has others standing beside him, giving him exactly what he needs in order for him to finish the surgery, the Lord provides all we need for us to complete our work.
Failure
We cannot fail. There is no way we can not do the work we are given if we will just start. The only way to fail is to run away, like Jonah. We will be brought back. We will be put in positions that make us face our fears and choose to do our work. Nevertheless, we can always opt out and run away. We can refuse to do it -- this is the only failure.
Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, gives us the assurance that we cannot fail. We know that we don't have the power to do what we are called to do, but with His help we can actually accomplish it. Our job requires that we put our trust in Him, listen to Him, follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and take the step into the Jordan River before the water will part and let us through. It will always seem like failure is imminent, but each time help will come to keep us on track. There is no way to fail, if we try.
In fact, we don't really even have to try because, like Jonah, if we run the other way, we will be stopped. We will then shake a fist at God and ask, "WHY?" when bad things happen to us. Until we repent and do the work we came to do, the Heavens will combine against us, but we won't die, we'll linger in purgatory, wander in the desert, or otherwise feel like our life is a waste. The mission will be before us until the end of our lives. If we die without fulfilling our work, judgment will come upon us.
Final Judgment
We think we will be judged for our sins of omission or commission, the candy we stole from the store, or people we hurt, but really we are judged for not doing what we agreed to do, our work. That's why good and evil cannot be defined by an action. If our work requires that we kill people, the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" is irrelevant. If we are commanded to steal, plunder, hurt, or otherwise commit "crimes" it is counted as good if it is the work we need to do. Only the specific, individual commandments given by God to each of us independently are important. If we are told to kill, and we don't do it, that is a sin.
On the other hand, all the "good" things we do that keep us from our work is evil. If Mother Theresa was not called to help the orphans in India (which I believe she was) then all her work with them would be counted as evil to her. Nothing excuses us from performing our real work.
The reason we have scriptures and standards and "ten commandments" is to form a basis for learning. Every commandment in the scriptures is a guideline for the children to learn on. They are for the unschooled. Once we receive our calling we no longer need the general guidelines because we're guided by God through every step of our mission. To a great poet, the rules of grammar don't apply. To a great surgeon the rules of cutting bodies don't apply. To one who is called by God, none of the commandments necessarily apply. When a person accepts his calling, and commits to it, the guidance of the Holy Ghost is all that is needed. To him, the commandments are whatever the Spirit tells him to do. Period. Good and evil are defined only by our personal communications with God.
Accepting our fate
When I was eight years old I decided that nobody at home loved me, and I was going to run away. I made a peanut butter sandwich, put it in a lunch bag, and started walking without telling anyone. I got to the end of the street and realized that I had never been this far from home on my own. I didn't know where to go. I felt lost. It wasn't familiar to me. So, I turned around and went home, never even eating the sandwich. Though we may run away, and resist our calling, we cannot go far. The Lord is always right there, and will bring us back, even if it takes being swallowed by a whale!
We can do it. We must do it. We go to motivational seminars telling us that we can do it, but we don't know what "it" is. "It" is our work, our mission, our duty, our art, and our gift to mankind. Yes, we can do it, but we cannot do it alone. We must start by being called. When you are called, accept the calling.
The motivation we need is to give in to the guidance of the Lord. We need to be motivated to listen to the Spirit and do as we're told, putting our trust in God. M. Scott Peck, MD, in his book, The Road Less Traveled, begins by saying that life is difficult. He says that when we receive our calling, it isn't usually an "Oh Boy!" experience, rather it's usually an "Oh CRAP!" experience. Our mission will always be hard. There is always fear involved. We must face the fears and move ahead in faith, going through the fear with courage. In fact, the fear itself is a good indicator that it is our work. Those things we procrastinate are the most important things we do.
Peace, Joy, and fulfillment
Mark Twain said, "The two most important days in a man's life are the day he is born, and the day he finds out why." Knowing why we exist is the path to happiness. If we never know why, we cannot fulfill our purpose, and will find no joy in life. Those who accept their calling right away, and pursue it with vigor, have happy, easy lives. They find fulfillment. They aren't continually searching for their right place, pointing fingers at others, blaming and creating conflict. They have the assurance they're in the right place at all times. They have self-esteem. They connect with others. They have peace. Jesus said,
"Peace I leave with you, 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)
Knowing that we are on the errand of the Lord, and that He will guide us and give us help, strength, and gifts that we need to do our work is empowering. Knowing we cannot fail relieves all stress. When we are doing our work, fulfilling our mission, or living our dreams, then, and only then, will we have peace, rest, and fulfillment. When we fill the measure of our own creation, we find joy therein.
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