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• ⋮Actions for “Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (3)”

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  Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles The most inspiring thing about the life of Jesus was not his ability to quiet the storm or control the tempest, but his absolute control of himself. The Master did not need to make a single mistake in order to find out that it was wrong. We have developed a fairly good control over some of our body members; for example, I have great authority over my finger. If I tell it to bend, it bends. If I tell it to unbend, it unbends. If I give my feet an order, they obey immediately, and we will have succeeded in our religious responsibility when we get that same kind of control over our thoughts, our emotions, our tongues, our industry, our faith, and our desire to serve God. Some of us have mistrained our appetites to a point where we tend to "think" with our stomachs; that is, our appetites frequently have more influence in directing our lives than our reason or even the commandments of God. This same misuse of our powers frequently gives our fears, our doubts, our prejudices, our hates, and our sex impulses the control of our lives. Before we can be successful in our God-given dominion, our emotions must be brought under the direction of the spirit. St. Augustine said, "Wouldst thou have thy flesh obey thy spirit? Then have thy spirit obey thy God. Thou must be governed, if thou wouldst govern." And only when we properly govern ourselves according to what is right, can we escape the destructive rule of our moods and appetites. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "A man must first govern himself, ere he be fit to govern a family; and his family, ere he is fit to bear the government in the commonwealth." Each of us has been given a magnificent instrument called a brain, which was intended to play a much more prominent part in our religious life than it sometimes does. The brain, not the feelings or the passions, was designated by God to be the presiding officer of the personality. And when we honor the authority of the mind, we become masters instead of slaves.

  Elder Sterling W. Sill

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  • Doubt

  21 Oct 2026