"We all know that not getting up at the appointed hour on your mission or being in violation of the dress code here at BYU–Hawaii is a minor transgression," began Craig Earnshaw at BYU–Hawaii's devotional on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, at the Cannon Activities Center. "By itself, it will not impair our eternal salvation. But when we seek to minimize or dismiss such rules that we have agreed to of our own will and choice, when we seek to rationalize disobedience with one excuse or another, then we have started down a slope that may prove most slippery indeed."
Earnshaw, Adjunct Professor at BYU–Hawaii with the College of Business, Computing and Government, and with The Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship, stressed the importance of obedience. His speech, titled “You Will Lead; Learn to Obey," focused on the need for and the outcome of being obedient.
He stated, "It is not wrong to obey out of fear or out of desire for reward. The purpose of this life is to learn to obey. But if we find that our obedience is motivated by either one, I suggest that there is a more excellent way."
"We are natural men and women," He explained. "We will not keep the commandments, but the commandments will keep us. They will keep us from the consequences of disobedience."
He further explained, "Our Heavenly Father knows each of us individually and has designed our mortal test here on this earth individually for each of us. While we may desire to get out of a difficult situation, He may leave us there, knowing that we will learn and grow. Instead of praying for things that we want, we should consider asking the Lord to show us His will, and then we should do it. When we align our will with the will of the Lord, as the tuning fork picks up the vibrations and itself begins to vibrate, then we will participate in miracles in our lives."
--Photo by Monique Saenz