A few weeks ago someone in church remarked that it would be nice if we could have a spiritual check-up once in a while; it would be nice to know how we're doing in our standing with God. Sometimes He is just waiting for us to ask, and he will give us a manifestation, as he did with Joseph Smith. However, often times it is up to us to take a good look at our lives and make the judgment ourselves. Even though we may not always be able to get direct feedback from God, we do have some tools available.
The more Christlike attributes we possess, the better off we are. This is testified to in the scriptures: Jesus said to the Nephites: "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto, even as I am" (3 Nephi 27:27). There is a page in Preach My Gospel that is quite helpful in gaining a better understanding of how one is doing developing Christlike qualities. I used this page multiple times on my mission. However, in our world of technology, a paper book, or even an electronic picture thereof, may not be so useful. To help get around that, I edited the pdf version of this page (which can be found at lds.org) to have drop-down lists of scores built in to the page. This way, instead of trying to keep track of all of these things on your own, the pdf will save what you scored yourself last time so you can track your progress over time. I would suggest downloading a new copy every time you do this activity.
Christlike Attributes - 1
Christlike Attributes - 2
I made two versions. The first just has the drop-down lists for scoring, while the second also will tell you your average number in each category. Not exactly sure how useful that is, but I thought it was kind of cool.
For those wanting more resources for self assessment, Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve recently gave some suggestions. See the section entitled "Assessing Your Personal Integrity"
Integrity of the Heart
In the Book of Mormon, Alma lists some questions we can ask ourselves on a regular basis to diagnose our spiritual well-being.
Alma 5:14-33
Please also be aware that next Saturday and Sunday, we will have the opportunity to listen to prophets and apostles speak during general conference. I encourage everyone to make it a priority to watch/listen to the proceedings. I noticed on lds.org the other day that the church posted a previous conference talk from Elder Andersen explaining the importance of general conference. I also encourage everyone to read/listen to this before conference. The miracle of general conference is that you can have your questions answered.
On a different subject, I have been thinking about the frequency of my posts. Previously I have tried to write every Sunday, but sometimes sickness or other things have kept me from writing. There may also be times in the future when I want to write about a particular thing, but it will take me more than a week to gather my thoughts. This begs the question: do I continue to post only on Sundays, or should I post my thoughts as soon as I finish them, even if it is in the middle of the week? Please send me your thoughts about this. Do you like having this to read on Sundays, or would it be fine to have spiritual things show up during the week too? Feel free to comment here or send me a message some other way.
The more Christlike attributes we possess, the better off we are. This is testified to in the scriptures: Jesus said to the Nephites: "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto, even as I am" (3 Nephi 27:27). There is a page in Preach My Gospel that is quite helpful in gaining a better understanding of how one is doing developing Christlike qualities. I used this page multiple times on my mission. However, in our world of technology, a paper book, or even an electronic picture thereof, may not be so useful. To help get around that, I edited the pdf version of this page (which can be found at lds.org) to have drop-down lists of scores built in to the page. This way, instead of trying to keep track of all of these things on your own, the pdf will save what you scored yourself last time so you can track your progress over time. I would suggest downloading a new copy every time you do this activity.
Christlike Attributes - 1
Christlike Attributes - 2
I made two versions. The first just has the drop-down lists for scoring, while the second also will tell you your average number in each category. Not exactly sure how useful that is, but I thought it was kind of cool.
For those wanting more resources for self assessment, Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve recently gave some suggestions. See the section entitled "Assessing Your Personal Integrity"
Integrity of the Heart
In the Book of Mormon, Alma lists some questions we can ask ourselves on a regular basis to diagnose our spiritual well-being.
Alma 5:14-33
Please also be aware that next Saturday and Sunday, we will have the opportunity to listen to prophets and apostles speak during general conference. I encourage everyone to make it a priority to watch/listen to the proceedings. I noticed on lds.org the other day that the church posted a previous conference talk from Elder Andersen explaining the importance of general conference. I also encourage everyone to read/listen to this before conference. The miracle of general conference is that you can have your questions answered.
On a different subject, I have been thinking about the frequency of my posts. Previously I have tried to write every Sunday, but sometimes sickness or other things have kept me from writing. There may also be times in the future when I want to write about a particular thing, but it will take me more than a week to gather my thoughts. This begs the question: do I continue to post only on Sundays, or should I post my thoughts as soon as I finish them, even if it is in the middle of the week? Please send me your thoughts about this. Do you like having this to read on Sundays, or would it be fine to have spiritual things show up during the week too? Feel free to comment here or send me a message some other way.
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