Our Labor to Perform

I was reading in Moroni 9, and came upon this interesting passage: “we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.” I was reminded by this verse of our overriding goals in this life.

A lot of people seem to assume that the overriding goal of life is to find companionship in marriage. They assume, then, that anything that prevents them from reaching that goal must be the work of man, since God would never stop them from doing so. However, while  marriage is available to most, it is not available to all—and while it is a righteous goal which ought to be pursued by all who are able, it is no one’s overriding goal.

Similarly, I can think of all sorts of life pursuits that are righteous—building up financial resources to help with charitable causes, discovering cold fusion, becoming a great teacher, saving our nation from ruin through politics, etc. However, none of these are overriding goals either.

What is our overriding goal? What is the one thing that must take complete priority in this life? Being able to stand before God at the resurrection with a clean heart and clean hands. That is our overriding goal. Whether we stand there single, married, with tons of converts under our belt or none, have lived a life of companionship or a life of loneliness, etc., is not going to matter nearly so much as whether we stand there clean. In fact, all of those tertiary goals pale into near nothingness when it comes to the overriding importance of standing their with a clean conscience, void of sin, through, repentance, relying on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and being faithful to the covenants we make with Him.