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| ©Darrell Wyatt |
It has been said, over and over, that money is the root of all evil. People who don't believe that may say that money itself is not the root of all evil, but rather the love of money. I disagree with both sentiments.
And they did prosper exceedingly, and they became exceedingly rich; yea, and they did multiply and wax strong in the land.
And thus we see how merciful and just are all the dealings of the Lord, to the fulfilling of all his words unto the children of men; yea, we can behold that his words are verified, even at this time, which he spake unto Lehi, saying:
Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my commandments they shall prosper in the land. But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.(Alma 5:18-20)
Countless times, throughout all scripture - be it the Book of Mormon, the Old Testament or the New Testament, we are told that if we will keep the commandments we will be prosperous. I believe that one can be righteous and rich simultaneously, which would debunk that old phrase about money being the root of all evil. I also think one can enjoy their wealth, and even love it, without being evil.
So what would be the root of all evil? In my mind, it is selfishness. Throughout all periods of time, there are endless examples of one person or a group of people demonstrating a desire for more money, more power, more land. These selfish desires, almost always, have led to a war of some sort. This is what happened in the chapter that I read today.
But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni...(Alma 50:23)
This happiness lasted for quite a few years, until a group of people decided they wanted more land. They tried by brute force to take this land, but were ultimately defeated and humbled. This seems to be the cycle that mankind has gone through since the beginning of time. We are happy and content, until we're not. And then we suddenly decide we need more of something - land or wealth or food or power, and we become selfish and try to obtain what we want through whatever selfish means necessary until finally we fail and become humble. When we are humble, we are content with what we have or where we stand, at least temporarily. And then the cycle begins again.
So this morning, I've been thinking about how I can avoid becoming trapped in the selfishness cycle. I came to the conclusion that I've already been told how. I just need to remember what the scriptures have told me: Inasmuch as I keep the commandments, I will prosper in the land. Keeping the commandments is a full-time job. As I've said before, I can choose to actively engage myself in keeping them, or I can be passive about it. I believe being active is the way to go about it. If I'm busy actively keeping the commandments, I don't have time for selfish desires. They will be pushed aside, replaced by better and more important things. If selfishness really is the root of all evil, and I believe it is, I have to keep moving in order to prevent those roots from taking hold.
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