Cook - Personal Righteousness: The Reward of Righteousness - April 2013

Elder Cook discusses world peace and personal peace.  He shares about recent tragedies in Newtown Connecticut when a school shooting took place and the Ivory Coast where civil war had broken out.  He includes the tragedy of September 11 in New York City as exampels that take us further away from personal peace and leave us asking how we can find peace in this life.

• Events often occur that rob us of peace and heighten our sense of vulnerability.

He notes that the War in Heaven was fought over our agency and we cannot rob others of that agency.  Other choose to do things in life that rob us of peace.  But our agency is a gift from God.

• Agency is essential to the plan of happiness. It allows for the love, sacrifice, personal growth, and experience necessary for our eternal progression. This agency also allows for all the pain and suffering we experience in mortality, even when caused by things we do not understand and the devastating evil choices of others. The very War in Heaven was waged over our moral agency and is essential to understanding the Savior’s earthly ministry.

The Savior, who was the Prince of Peace, didn't bring world peace but provided The Comforter when He died that will allow us to find personal peace through living the gospel.  Of the Savior time, Elder Cook says:

• It is clear that universal peace did not exist on the earth during Christ’s mortal ministry, and it does not now.

We should not look to world peace as our ultimate goal.  Our goal should be to find personal peace.  This peace only comes from the Savior and His teachings.

• It is as individuals and families that we achieve the kind of peace that is the promised reward of righteousness.
• The peace to which I am referring is not just a temporary tranquility. It is an abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment. President Heber J. Grant described the Savior’s peace this way: “His peace will ease our suffering, bind up our broken hearts, blot out our hates, engender in our breasts a love of fellow men that will suffuse our souls with calm and happiness.”
• We all long for peace. Peace is not just safety or lack of war, violence, conflict, and contention. Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are and knows that we have faith in Him, love Him, and keep His commandments, even and especially amid life’s devastating trials and tragedies.

It is key to our search for happiness and peace that we realize this simple truth:

• For those who reject God, there is no peace.

Elder Cook shares three clear point as he concludes his talk.  The Savior is the source of our personal peace and it is only through Him that we can obtain this desired internal peace we all seek.

What are the sources of peace?

• Many search for peace in worldly ways, which never have and never will succeed. Peace is not found by attaining great wealth, power, or prominence. Peace is not found in the pursuit of pleasure, entertainment, or leisure. None of these can, even when attained in abundance, create any lasting happiness or peace. The answer is the Savior, who is the source and author of peace. He is the “Prince of Peace.”

How do we stay close to the Savior?

• Humbling ourselves before God, praying always, repenting of sins, entering the waters of baptism with a broken heart and contrite spirit, and becoming true disciples of Jesus Christ are profound examples of the righteousness that is rewarded by abiding peace.
• The Church is a refuge where followers of Christ attain peace. Some young people in the world say they are spiritual but not religious. Feeling spiritual is a good first step. However, it is in the Church that we are fellowshipped, taught, and nourished by the good word of God. More importantly, it is priesthood authority in the Church that provides for sacred ordinances and covenants that bind families together and qualify each of us to return to God the Father and Jesus Christ in the celestial kingdom. These ordinances bring peace because they are covenants with the Lord. Temples are where many of these sacred ordinances occur and are also a source of peaceful refuge from the world. Those who visit temple grounds or participate in temple open houses also feel this peace.

The Savior is the source of true peace.

• Even with the trials of life, because of the Savior’s Atonement and His grace, righteous living will be rewarded with personal peace.

The Savior is the source of true peace.  Living the gospel provides us with peace in this life and a hope of eternal life in the world to come. Although many different sources try to rob us of peace, we know that we can find true peace through following the Savior.  The temple is considered a refuge from the world.  Through temple worship, partaking of the sacrament, and studying His words, we have the best chance of obtaining peace in this life.  I hope we all can find that internal peace that the Savior provides.