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Welcome to the Verbal Motivation podcast. Where we talk about the things that motivate our lives, our religion and our relationships. My name is Nathan Vail.
If you have an opinion about the subject matter in today’s podcast, please leave it in a voicemail at 530-876-4153 or you can send an email to verbalmotivation@gmail.com.
This is episode number 38 called Practice Makes Permanent.
Have you ever wondered, as I did recently, if we are going to be resurrected into perfect bodies. And all our physical imperfections will be eradicated, what difference does it make what we do with our bodies here? Why does it matter if we exercise, eat right or follow the Word of Wisdom? That is the question I would like to tackle today.
In 1464 a large piece of marble was extracted from the quarries in Tuscany, Italy. It stood over 5 meters tall and weighed several tons. Its intended purpose, was to be one of a series of statues for the Cathedral of Florence. However, on two different occasions, professional sculptors attempted to chisel a shape out of the block, but in both instances, they declared it impossible because of the stone’s shape and imperfections. Under that declaration, the marble was left exposed to the elements for over quarter of a century; until a 26 year old young man named Michelangelo saw the discarded block and envisioned a figure within the flawed stone. Michelangelo managed to work with the marble’s imperfections rather than against them. Over a three year period, the form of a hero began to take shape. A hero that exuded a sense of human potential through strength and youthful beauty. It was a depiction of David…before he faced off with Goliath. Michelangelo’s David is one of the most iconic and celebrated sculptures in art history…carved from a flawed and discarded piece of marble.
That statue reminds us symbolically that each of us has the potential, despite our natural flaws, to become whomever we choose. But we are the artists and these bodies and what we do with them are a foreshadowing of who we will be in the next life.
I have a theory, and it doesn’t matter if it is true or not because the principle of it certainly is. I believe that resurrection is judgment. When we are resurrected, who we are becomes permanent. The physical flaws that we suffer from here will be corrected, no doubt, but that won’t change who we we have become.
In Alma Chapter 41:12, it says, “And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?”
As a Church we are often criticized unjustly by our Christian brothers and sisters who think that we believe that our works will save us. But they have it wrong. When we say works matter they do, but works don’t save us, they change us. These bodies are merely a conduit, a means of becoming something through the mastering of ourselves.
In October of 2023 President Russel M Nelson said, “your choices
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today will determine three things: where you will live throughout all eternity, the kind of body with which you will be resurrected, and those with whom you will live forever.”
I believe the “kind of body with which we are resurrected” will be a perfect reflection of who we tried to be in this life.
Mormon 9:14 says, “And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still…”
Imagine standing before the Savior after completing this life, knowing that who we decided to be here on earth was about to be made permanent.
It makes me want to try a little harder.
I believe that behavior is our testimony. What we say we believe is not really relevant, how we act and what we actually do is us telling God what we believe and carving a sculpture, if you will, of who we will be in the eternities.
When Adam and Eve were made to leave the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3: 24 “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
What God this is saying is that prevented Adam and Eve from taking the fruit of the tree of life because they would have become permanent in that wicked and sinful state. So, as an act of mercy, he sent them out into the world to learn how to choose between good and evil. On that day we each became Michelangelo, presented with a bulky mortal life full of flaws and in many cases discarded by the experts of the day. The questions is, what will we do with it?
In the Lectures on Faith page 77 it says, “No being can enjoy his glory without possessing his perfections and holiness.”
That’s a high bar. But as I discussed in episode number 3, perfection is not just an absence of sin. It is a proactive pursuit of improvement.
So the answer to the question I posed at the outset of this episode, is that these bodies were created for us, not the other way around. What we do with them will determine who we are and as president Nelson pointed out, what kind of body we will have in the next life.
Free agency can be hard. Success often feels far away. But our Savior died to correct our mistakes along the way, and we will ultimately be whomever we decide to be.
let me read, if I may, one of my favorite poems by Myra 'Brooks' Welch:
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought
it scarcely worth his while
to waste much time on the old violin,
but held it up with a smile;
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar"; then two!" "Only two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars twice; going for three.." But no,
from the room, far back, a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings
he played a melody pure and sweet as caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, and going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried, "We do not
quite understand what changed its worth." Swift came the reply: "The touch
of a master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin,
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine; a game - and he travels on.
"He is going" once, and "going twice, He's going and almost gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought by the touch of the Master's hand.
My name is Nathan Vail, and this is the Verbal Motivation Podcast