Do you agree with God?
Reading can be a great adventure. Which means that people like Bret Eborn, owner of Eborn Books in Downtown Salt Lake, can be a great adventure guide. Eborn Books is a 30,000 square foot, three floors high, book store that is filled with mostly used, rare and out of print books. Bret Eborn has been selling books for over 20 years and is as knowledgable about books as any person I know.
That means when I go into his store (incidentally this store is where we record some of The Cultural Hall Book Club podcast interviews) and ask him for a recommendation for a good book to read, I usually trust his recommendations. This was the case a few years back when he recommended a book to me titled “That Ye Might Have life” by Sterling W. Sill. Along with Bret, I highly recommend this book to everyone. It was printed in the 1970’s so, you may just have to contact Bret to get one of his used copies.
Inside this book came one of the few quotes that I have memorized and actually does influence my life, daily. I turned this quote into the desktop photo for my laptop, and so I see it every time I open it up and get to work. I love this quote and I genuinely try to govern my life with this in mind:
“It was a very fortunate man who said that he not only obeyed God, but that he also agreed with him.”
Sterling W. Sill – That Ye Might Have Life
It does prompt the question, “what does it mean to agree with God?” That can be taken a few different ways and I think it is a question worthy of some discussion (this is where you put your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this article).
For me, I think that this is where prayer comes in to the picture. Not the selfish, “give me what I want, God” kind of prayers, but the definition of prayer that we find in the bible dictionary:
“Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.”
When we spend our time in prayer, we should be seeking to “agree with God.” That means first determining what His will is, then acting on it. But, the quote from Elder Sill implies that there is more to it than just obeying. It is, as other scriptures say, to love God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. To agree is to be humble enough to cast aside our will, and seek to unify our understanding with God to such a degree that we give our all in defense of it.
It’s a lofty goal to be sure. However, when I have decided to live the principle, it has brought me happiness and joy. It seems that so much of the wars (both verbal and physical) that happen today are because people spend a great deal of time trying to get people to agree with their position, rather than encourage harmony with God’s teachings. I think Facebook should give everyone this shirt when they sign up for an account:
In any case, obedience is one thing, and it is a great step to be taking in discipleship. But agreeing with God is where we will feel of God’s fortune, and his love in the greatest measure.
Nick Galieti is an experienced podcaster as both producer/host of The Good Word Podcast, and was named the recipient of the 2015 John Taylor: Defender of the Faith Award by FairMormon for his podcasting effort with that organization. Nick has directed and produced two documentaries on the life of Joseph Smith Jr., Picturing Joseph, and Murder of the Mormon Prophet.
Nick is also a published author of the books Tree of Sacrament, and The Exaltation Equation. A past guest of The Cultural Hall (click here to listen), Nick now contributes as co-host of The Cultural Hall Book Club Podcast, and writes regularly for the blog. Nick was born in Southern California, and served a mission to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Nick is a freelance sound engineer of over 15 years, is married, has 5 daughters, and now lives in West Valley City, Utah.