The Importance of Obeying the Laws of the Lord

Many years ago I had the opportunity of teaching in the church seminary system. One of my fellow teachers gave me some interesting advise which I have since discovered to be the very approach Matthew Cowley used in all of his talks. “If you can’t teach them - entertain them.” That way, when the meeting is over, one might ask, “who spoke?”
The other would answer, “Brother Cowley”.
Then the first would ask, “what did he talk about”? And the other would answer, “I don’t know - but I sure had a good time!”

It is my hope that if you don’t remember what we talked about today, at least you will say that you had a good time.

I have been asked to speak on the topic of the importance of obeying the laws of the Lord. I am not sure that I can say anything new pertaining to this topic but if I say the same old things in a new way, perhaps someone may find new meaning in them.

We have a very big dictionary at home. It’s one of those dictionaries that is so big that you need a special table to put it on. If you tried lifting it you might injure your back. Certainly you wouldn’t want it on your lap because it would cut off the blood circulation in your legs. Anyway, I decided I would look up the word “LAW”. This is what I found:

LAW: The binding custom or practice of a community; Rules or mode of conduct made obligatory by some sanction which is imposed and enforced for their violation by a controlling authority; also, any single rule of conduct so imposed and enforced.



It is obvious that the dictionary is speaking about man’s law. It states that rules of conduct are obligatory and the violation of those rules have punishments affixed and are imposed by the ruling or governing body.

As long as the ruling body is righteous, the laws are just and will establish peace and tranquility among the people. However, there are many examples in the Book of Mormon where wicked men have risen to power and have enacted laws according to their own wicked natures. Such laws and the enforcement thereof have brought destruction to those societies.

Man’s law can establish harmony, peace and prosperity or it can foster wickedness - depending upon those who enact the laws. It can do this because man’s law is restrictive in its enforcement. If you violate man’s law there is a punishment and you loose your freedom.

In school I was taught there are four elements of control. I am guessing that most parents have figured this out for themselves but for the sake of clarification, here they are:

There are internal and external controls.
There are positive and negative controls.

By combining these elements we come up with four different ways of imposing control over others. Let me give you some examples using a parent and child scenario:

The external negative: If you do that again I am going to slap you!
The external positive: If you will pick up your dirty clothes I will give you a cookie!
The internal negative: If you do that again Mommy will be sad!
The internal positive: If you do that, Mommy will be surprised.

When I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the nature of man’s law, I turned my attention to “natural law” or the laws of nature.

I discovered that in the realm of natural law, there are no enforced punishments - only consequences. Did you know that falling off of a tall building will not kill you? It’s the sudden stop at the bottom that does it. The sudden stop is not a punishment - it is a natural consequence which is inseparably connected with the law of gravity.

There are no negative or positive internal and external controls. Natural laws work harmoniously together. Violations of those laws result in consequences which remove the violators.

This finally brings me to the realm of God’s law.

There are those who feel that the “thou shalt” and “shall not” aspects of the laws of the Lord are confining and restrictive. I suggest to you that an injunction against a particular act is not restrictive but is liberating. With that act comes certain consequences. Obedience to that injunction liberates us from those consequences. When you tell a child “don’t touch that stove or you’ll get burned.” Are you restricting that child or are you trying to liberate that child from pain? And if he or she touches the stove, are you punishing the child?

In the field of thermodynamics there is a concept which will help me explain my next point. When we speak of heat we refer to it in the term BTU’s, standing for British Thermal Units. Some of you may have air conditioners and we all have furnaces. The capacity, or size of these devices is rated in btu’s per hour. I used to wonder how much heat was in one btu. In case anyone is interested, one btu is the amount of heat you would get if you completely burned one wooden match stick. Or, if you happen to be scientific in your thinking, one btu is the amount of heat it takes to raise one pound of water one degree centigrade.

On a hot summer day, when you are wishing there were fewer btu’s around you, you go to the mall where it is cold. Boy, that feels good. That delicious cold all around you - it’s wonderful!
Now I don’t want to ruin your next trip to the mall but there is no such thing as cold. BTU’s have no opposites. You either have an abundance of heat or you have a lack of heat.

The commandments of the Lord have not been given to us for His pleasure. He is a loving Father. He cares for us. It is His desire to have us develop into great and wonderful beings. We are gods in embryo and He wants to help us fulfill our destinies. His commandments, when obeyed, results in our personal growth and development. Quite often the Lord will bribe us with an oath and a promise. He does not want us to suffer. But when we disobey His commandments, natural consequences follow and we experience the full weight of those consequences. It’s just like with the BTU’s. Obedience yields an abundance of blessings and disobedience results in the loss of those blessings.

If you were on a “game show” and you had just won $64,000 and the moderator gave you a chance to double that amount, would you do it? Imagine with me: You are on the stage of that show. There are two doors in front of you. If chosen, one of them will double your winnings. You could walk away with $128,000. If you choose the other door, you walk away with nothing! The audience is screaming their advice. Some want you to pick door number 1 and others want door number 2. Some are trying to tell you not to go for doubling. A 50/50 chance isn’t good enough! How would you feel if you chose the wrong door?

The Lord will not need to punish us for our disobedience. When we discover what we could have had and what we lost through our disobedience - that alone will be a punishment greater than we can bear.


Perhaps this is why when the Lord gives us His “rules of conduct”, He doesn’t mention threats, punishments and injunctions. He does reveal the consequences though and this is out of love for us.


As near as I can tell, there are three reasons for us to be obedient to the Lord. The first would be that we want a blessing. Hence, you will hear someone say, “Boy, I just have to pay my tithing or my pay-check won’t last”.

The second would be that we want to avoid a consequence. Hence, you will hear someone say, “There’s no way I’m going to smoke - I don’t want to get lung cancer!”

The third reason is best typified in the account of an angel appearing to Father Adam and asking why he was offering sacrifice. Adam’s response was that he did not know except that the Lord had commanded him to do so. Adam knew that the Lord would not ask him to do anything unless it was good for him. He loved the Lord enough that he would do whatsoever the Lord commanded him. The third reason for us to be obedient to the Lord is that we love Him!


I have a pocket computer with a puzzle program in it. It is called “Box Jockey”. In this program, a little person is in a type of maze. There are boxes and obstacles in the maze with this person. There are also targets to which the “box jockey” must push the boxes to. The box jockey cannot move more than one box at a time and it is not possible for the boxes to be pulled, they can only be pushed. Thus, if I have the Box Jockey move a box into a corner, the box cannot be removed from there and I have lost the game.

The first few puzzles are easy. Then they begin to get progressively harder. Many of them, at first glance appear impossible. I have been assured by the creator of the game that each puzzle has a solution. I just need to keep trying different solutions until I solve the puzzle.
Sometimes the Lord’s commandments appear to be overwhelming to us. We need to persevere.

I think Nephi would have been good at “Box Jockey”. Listen to what he says: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (I Nephi 3:7).

Jesus demonstrated the greatest tool to assist us in our perseverance. The apostles are on a ship in the middle of a vast body of water. It’s stormy and they are wondering how Jesus is going to catch up with them. Peter looks out and sees Jesus walking on the water, coming towards them. Peter cries out, “Master, bid me to come unto thee”. Jesus answers Peter and says, “come”! Peter immediately climbs over the ships’ railing, jumps down upon the water and begins walking towards Jesus.

Perhaps it was the enormity of the waves or perhaps it was just the realization that he was violating natural laws. Whatever it was, suddenly Peter’s faith waned and he began to sink. Fearing for his life he cried out, “Master, save me”. Jesus walked over to him and reaching down, grasped Peter by the arms and pulled him up. Then Jesus chastised Peter for his lack of faith.

We must have faith that the Lord loves us, that He wants what is best for us and that whatever He commands - it is doable. With that kind of faith we will strive to live all of His commandments.

Sometimes we fail. But the Lord keeps giving us new chances. I sometimes feel like He has put me on a ladder. My task is to climb to the top of the ladder. But each rung has some new spiritual attribute that I must develop before I can reach the next rung. As I experience and fail the test for the rung I am on, the Lord gives me another ladder and places me on the same rung as I was previously on. The ladder is new and the test I now face seems different than the previous one but I soon learn that the spiritual attribute He wants me to learn is the same one that I had failed to do on the previous ladder. It’s like the movie, “Groundhog Day”, I just keep doing it over and over again until I get it right. I want you to know that I have gone through a lot of ladders!

Moroni was feeling down because of his weaknesses and he expressed himself to the Lord. Listen to the answer he was given: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Don’t get discouraged. The commandments are schoolmasters. The Lord is showing us how to become like He is. When we fail, He will give us many more opportunities to succeed. He is a kind and loving Father. He knows what it takes to become a god. We are His children and He is infinitely patient with us.

Some of us will keep the commandments of the Lord because we want a blessing. That’s O.K. Some of us will keep the commandments because we want to avoid a consequence and that’s O.K. too. The important thing is that we strive to keep the commandments. As we do and we develop the spiritual attributes the commandments were designed to develop within us, our reasons for keeping the commandments will change. We will become greater in our understanding and wiser in our virtues.

Heber J. Grant said “That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the thing changes but that our ability to do it increases”.

Let us keep the commandments of the Lord. It is easy to live God’s laws. The hard part is to make up our minds to live them. We cannot be double minded with the Lord. He knows our hearts.

The Lord knows what we are capable of becoming. He knows what will make us happy. We must commit ourselves to Him and depend upon Him. Then, when the way becomes bumpy, He will help carry us.

Many years ago I heard Hugh B. Brown recite the following:
We ask for strength and God gives us difficulties which make us strong.
We pray for wisdom and God sends us problems, the solution of which develops wisdom.
We plead for prosperity and God gives us brain and brawn to work.
We plead for courage and God gives us dangers to overcome.
We ask for favors - God gives us opportunities,
This Is The Answer!

He loves us. His commandments are blessings waiting for the gleaning. The alternative is darkness and misery. Just look at the rest of the world. They have abandoned their birthright. They have forgotten who they are and why they are here. Let us not lean upon our own understanding but rather commit to the program of the Lord. It is He who has our best interests at heart.

This day, make a conscious decision to serve the Lord and keep His commandments.