Day 108 Motivation: The Blessings of Keeping Commandments

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Let's talk about motivation today.

Welcome to day 108 on our 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 2, verses 37 to 41. Those last few verses you may have read yesterday, but if not, you're going to finish them all.

Mosiah chapter 2. And then you're going to go into Mosiah chapter 3 today, reading verses 1 through 7. So those will be our readings for today.

We're actually going to do one more verse from Mosiah chapter 2 today as our verse for the day in Savory Salt. And that is going to be verse 41. King Benjamin has been talking for some time here about the goods and the bads of keeping the commandments versus not keeping the commandments.

And he spent quite a bit of time on the punishment side of things through the verses leading up to 41. But then he gives us a great insight that I think talks a little bit about different motivators that the Lord uses to get us to keep the commandments. And King Benjamin understands them and he shares them with us here in verse 41.

So let's read it and take a look at it. And moreover, I would desire that you should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual.

And if they hold out faithful to the end, they are received into heaven. That thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. Oh, remember, remember that these things are true for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I love this. Remember the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. This got me thinking about different ways that motivators come into play in our lives.

Some of these you may be familiar with, some you may not. And I'll just share a little bit about them and then kind of see the way that King Benjamin talks about it. First of all, there's a very common one inside of the business world, super common a couple of decades ago, right?

But it was called the carrot and the stick. Now, carrot type motivation is motivation with rewards. This is do something, get something good.

That's a carrot. And the reference comes from kind of dangling a carrot in front of a donkey or whatever with a string attached to the carrot, right? And it gets the donkey to keep moving along the road or whatever, right?

It's this idea that there's something good in front of you and so you should move towards it. And then there is also stick motivation. And although it's considered a negative motivator, stick motivation is some of what King Benjamin was sharing earlier in the chapter here.

This is like if you don't do this, there are punishments attached. This is you actually running away from the negative consequences of the choices that you make. And so carrot and stick motivators can be used and they still could be used today.

In fact, maybe as parents, you may use different carrot or stick motivators in your own parenting skills. The interesting thing with that is those motivators are both typically extrinsic, meaning they are outside factors in your life. The Lord, I think, absolutely touches on both carrot and stick motivators.

He uses both of them in different ways. Be afraid of the consequences of breaking the commandments and also understand that I love that the Lord uses all sorts of different motivators to help us along our path as we The Lord blesses us with internal motivators, intrinsic motivators, in our lives that help us reach a state of happiness and joy simply because we choose to keep the commandments in our lives. We become truly blessed in all things as King Benjamin has shared here in Mosiah 2:41.

And then we have this ultimate motivation at the end that those that can hold out faithful to the end are received into heaven. And he defines heaven this way. He says that they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.

What an ultimate extrinsic and intrinsic motivator to come to a never-ending state of happiness after our trials here on the earth. I love it. I love that.

All the motivators the Lord has provided for us to live the gospel. And I am grateful for King Benjamin and other prophets that have provided some insight to those motivators in our lives. That's all for today, my friends.

Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.