We often speak of being worthy. We pray that we may be worthy. We urge each other to be
\nworthy. Sometimes we recognize that we are not worthy. But what do we mean by “worthy”? I
\nsuspect that the meaning we most often associate with the word is “having worth.” That phrase is
\nambiguous.\n<\/p>\n
One can have worth as what one is; presumably we have worth as spirit children of God.
\nHowever, since that is a worth we already have, it seems not to be something we can pray to be
\nor urge others to be, or something we can lose, so it seems not to be the worthiness we seek. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The other side of the ambiguity is that one can have worth by“having merit sufficient to deserve
\nsomething.” Perhaps we think of worthiness in that way: if we live a certain way, then we will be
\ndeserving of Christ’s blessings. The problem is that such a way of thinking seems to me to run
\ncounter to many scriptures. Paul’s proof-texting in Romans 3:10-12 comes to mind (he is quoting
\nfrom Psalm 14): “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that
\nunderstandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are
\ntogether become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Nephi explains (1
\nNephi 10:21) “Wherefore, if ye have sought to do wickedly in the days of your probation, then ye
\nare found unclean before the judgment-seat of God; and no unclean thing can dwell with God;
\nwherefore, ye must be cast off forever.” Everyone but Jesus Christ has sought to do wickedly in
\nthe days of his probation. The result is, as Mosiah says (Mosiah 4:19), that before God we are all
\nbeggars: we do not deserve the blessings he gives us. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Oxford English Dictionary<\/i> gives several meanings that may help us think better about what
\nit means to be worthy. One is “to be under an obligation to do something.” Another is
\n“distinguished by good qualities.” Those who have taken Christ’s name on themselves are under
\nobligation to live lives in harmony with him, lives led by the Spirit that “bloweth where it listeth”
\n(John 3:8) and, of course, to live such a life would be to be distinguished by good qualities. I
\nsuppose that when we pray to be worthy or urge others to be worthy, we pray that we might
\nrecognize and meet our obligation to live the life that taking on and remembering Christ’s name
\ndemands. <\/p>\n
<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We often speak of being worthy. We pray that we may be worthy. We urge each other to be worthy. Sometimes we recognize that we are not worthy. But what do we mean by “worthy”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn","category-mormon-life"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6417,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/6417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}