Where is our focus on worldly or spiritual things?

While I was reading the scriptures this week a verse made me think about what is truly important in life. Matthew 23:17 says, “Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?” When I think of this scripture “the gold” symbolizes worldly things and “the temple” spiritual ones.  Are we focusing more on gold or the temple, on worldly things that are temporary or spiritual ones that last forever? We are all human, make mistakes, and sometimes lose focus on what is truly important, especially in our marriages. Being imperfect beings is not a burden but a blessing. However, we need to always keep trying to be like Christ and not suffer from the natural man that is inside each of us.

The natural man is someone who focuses on “the gold” as mentioned earlier. If the natural man is always present often in any marriage, the partners will both suffer. A partnership needs love, selflessness, trust, and unity. If one or both partners focus only on worldly things and on themselves then they will never be truly happy. H. Wallace Goddard stated, “I believe that the key to a healthy relationship is being a healthy, saintly, God-seeking person. When we are more Godly, fewer things bother us.” I would think that all of us want to strive for a healthy relationship in our marriages. To achieve that relationship Wallace said that we need to be God-seeking people, therefore, putting off the natural man. Luckily in Mosiah 3:19 it clearly states how we can put away the natural man, which is an enemy to God, and instead be God seeking people. We need to, “become as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, [and] full of love.” Evidently, it would be hard to apply these qualities all at once. However, if we work on one at a time, we are already on the right track to developing better traits and happier marriages.

Thinking about my own marriage, it has been far from easy, but having the gospel in our lives really makes a difference. It can be hard to not focus on the worldly things and to keep an eternal perspective. On the way to our wedding driving cross country, our car broke down. It ended up costing a lot of money and made us focus on worldly problems. We would have rather wanted to be focusing on the covenants we were about to make in the temple to be sealed for all time and Eternity. Goddard also shared, “Everything we suffer was carefully designed by a perfect Father to prepare us for our work on high.” At the time when our car died, not knowing how we were going to make it to our own wedding, we did not see a learning experience. However, Heavenly Father taught us many life lessons and if we were not humble, God-seeking people we would have missed them. We trusted each other and most importantly we trusted God. He helped us turn a stressful situation into a learning one that helped us grow closer as a couple.

Thought I would include a picture of me and my handsome husband on our beautiful wedding day in San Diego, CA.