2 Nephi 5: 16... It says:
And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.
The Importance of Temples:
Nephi, one of the great Book of Mormon prophets, left his home in Jerusalem in order to obey a commandment from God. He and his family traveled many distances to get to the Americas where he would now call home. One of the first things he did when he reached the Americas was to build a temple. That is the context of this scripture. The fact that one of his first priorities in establishing a new place to call home included building a temple tells me a lot about the importance of a temple. The blessings must have been so great to have a temple that he delayed building additional living courters, helping to provide food for his family, and other things.
While preparing to share a spiritual message with some members nearby (home teaching), I decided to write a list of blessings that the temple gives us members of the Church. These are only the ones I thought of at the time.
1. We become closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ... This includes knowing more about Them, being physically closer to Them, and learning how to become more like Them.
2. We gain an eternal perspective... Being in the temple helps us remember what truly matters most and that this life is only a small space of time compared to the eternities ahead.
3. We gain hope for the future... In the temple we are reminded of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ always loving us and always having a better future for us if we strive to keep Their commandments.
4. We're reminded of our covenants... When we go to the temple we remember the promises we've made to God and it strengthens our zeal to keep those promises.
5. Helps get our priorities and goals straight... This goes along with gaining an eternal perspective. When we know what truly matters most, it becomes easier to prioritize things in our lives. Also, it can become clearer to us what goals we need to set to improve our lives and be happier.
6. Reminds us of sacrifice... Seeing temples can remind us of the sacrifices made to build those temples (tithing, manual labor, etc.). Going to the temple to serve others is also a sacrifice we make. After receiving blessings from that sacrifice, we're reminded that sacrifice really does bring forth the blessings of heaven.
7. Gives us a nice break from life... Temples are always peaceful and spending time there can help us to take a break from the struggles we so oft go through.
8. Strengthens us against temptation... When we're reminded of the blessings to come if we keep the commandments, we're strengthed in our zeal to keep them and to fight any temptation to sin or slack off in our obedience to God.
9. Know how to treat our bodies... Our bodies are compared to temples. We see that the insides and outside of a temple are always in top shape. They're clean, neat, and as beautiful as possible. Seeing a temple, we can easily see how awful it would be to defile it. We should make sure we keep our bodies in the same condition and treat them the same way. But of course, on days off its okay to wear pj's and forget to do our hair. I'm more focused on the not defiling our bodies aspect.
One of my incredible roommates related temples to the pills used in the movie "Limitless" that helped the characters who took the pill to use more of their brain. The main character described what it was like to take the pill. He said something like this: Your mind becomes clearer, you know what you have to do and you know how to do it. That is what going to the temple does for us. It clears our minds, helps us know what we need to be doing in life and helps us know how to do it and find the motivation to do it.
Just Do Your Best:
One thing Nephi mentions is that he couldn't build a temple as great as Solomon's temple because he didn't have the materials necessary to do so. He adds that even though he didn't have the best material, the workmanship was still exceedingly fine. When I read this scripture I think of how Nephi did the best with what he had and the Lord was pleased with it. He had good craftmanship skills, but didn't have the best materials. So he took what he had and made the best temple he could. Each of us have talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The most important thing in life isn't whether someone has better attributes than us, but rather that we are grateful for what we have and we use it.
Let me share an example. On my mission, a family needed help doing construction on their house. This actually happened a few times, but we'll use the example of when I first got to Nevada. My mission trainer and I went to help them build this house with additional missionaries. My mission trainer is an army guy: tall, strong, knowledgeable, etc. I'm average height, skinny, and not too knowledgeable when it comes to house construction. We both worked hard and I'm sure he accomplished more than I did in that day. But what was most important was that we both did our best to help this family out. As I see it, that's all the Lord really cares about. I believe that if we do our best with what we have, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will be happy with us and They'll love us no matter what.
Below: One of the houses I helped work on
A Biblical example is the Parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). The man with the five talents was just as blessed as the man with two. The only problem with the man with one talent was that he didn't do his best with what he had. Among us members of the LDS Church, some of us have parents that are fully active, some of us have parents that might be less active or only one is active, and some of us have parents who aren't members and are in fact against the Church. I believe that these can represent a number of talents. Fully supportive parents are the 5 talent crew. Partially supportive parents are 2 talents. And if our parents are completely against the Church, we have only 1 talent. It doesn't matter which situation we're in, what matters is that we do the best with what we have. I won't deny the fact that it's definitely harder for some than for others though.
Moroni, another one of those great Book of Mormon prophets, was scared that his inability to write well would affect the power of the Book of Mormon (Ether 12). He considered his lack of writing skill to be a weakness. But Moroni did the best with the skills he had and wrote some of the most powerful scriptures in the Standard Works. If we do the best with what we have, who knows the miracles that will follow.
Below: Moroni praying that what he and others had written would be powerful to all those who would read its pages.
So let's all be more grateful for what we have and do the best we can with it!
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