As we implement the commandments in our lives, we can understand the blessings God promises to the obedient.
As a chemist, my dad tests hypotheses about compounds to better understand how they react with one another. He doesn’t know the outcome of an experiment until he completes the procedures. Just like a chemist must follow certain steps in a science experiment, we must take the necessary steps to implement God’s commandments and discover their effects on our lives.
Image by Andre Benz
In an Ensign article “Experimenting on the Music,” young adult contributor Marcel Hall shares an experience implementing God’s commandment to listen to uplifting music (Ephesians 5:18–20). Even though he knew that God promises that we will be spiritually strengthened if we listen to uplifting music, Hall never felt like that was a necessary commandment to follow—until one day when he decided to experiment on the words of God.
Hall says, “For the next three weeks I went without my inappropriate music. It was hard at first, and I had many relapses. But after a few days, the peaceful feelings I began having every day were enough to get me through.” Hall’s experiment resulted in greater daily peace. Without experimenting, Hall wouldn’t personally understand the blessings we are promised as we listen to uplifting music.
Similar to how a chemist tests compounds, we can test commandments. We might be tempted to experiment with breaking the commandments of God, but what if we wholeheartedly experimented with keeping the commandments of God instead? As we conduct our own daily experiments to keep God’s commandments, we will understand and feel for ourselves the blessings God has promised each one of us when we obey.
Read Marcel Hall’s full article “Experimenting On the Music” to learn more about the blessings of experimenting upon the words of God.
Source: Ensign
—Abby Andrus, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY HANS REINIERS
Read more about implementing God’s commandments in our daily lives in Dale G. Renlund’s talk “Latter-day Saints Keep on Trying.”
Discover more reasons to follow God’s commandments in Von G. Keetch’s talk “Blessed and Happy Are Those Who Keep the Commandments of God.”