Diligence is a word that we hear a lot but may not fully understand. In the
1828 dictionary, the dictionary Joseph Smith would have used, has two definitions that I think best fit the context that the Book of Mormon uses for this word.
The first is to love earnestly. What best fits this description is the constant instruction to exhort with all diligence. Lehi was a great example of this in teaching his sons. After his dream of the tree of life, he exhorted Laman and Lemuel with all diligence (
1 Nephi 10:2). Now this doesn't really clear much up in the feelings that he put into teaching them. When I was first studying this subject, I thought exhorting with all diligence meant covering ever subject so that you taught them everything. The problem with that is that would be "casting pearls before swine" so to speak. You would teach people sacred things who were either not prepared for it or not willing to follow it. Another scripture about Lehi fixed this problem. Earlier in the Book of Mormon it says that Lehi did "exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent" (
1 Nephi 8:37). We do not have to give the perfect lessons where we cover every material we had planned, with the perfect pinterest worthy handout. Contrary to popular belief, that does not constitute a perfect lesson. It's okay to get tongue tied, skip a part, or run out of time. A perfect lesson is when both the teacher and the learner come out edified. The first step in that is making sure the learner feels the love that the teacher and Heavenly Father has for them. Lessons are taught through love.
Another application is through service to Heavenly Father.
Mosiah 7:33 says to "turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage." Replace diligence with this first definition. Serve him with earnest love of mind. For me when I was younger, I did service because it was my duty. I dragged along by my dad or it was mutual so I was to participate. I served because I had to. But as I grew older that the reason why my dad dragged me along to serve others was because of the earnest love that he had for the people he served and for the Lord. He was ensured he did his best was because of his love.
Now there is another context of diligence that fits into this scripture. The second definition is "steady application in business of any kind; constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken; exertion of body and mind without unnecessary delay or sloth."
Turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him constantly with body mind and spirit without delay. That is when you receive his protection. That is when you invite the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. Because you will listen and follow right away.
We are all asked to participate in missionary work, name badge or not. An example of how we can diligently bring the peace of the gospel to others is found in
2 Nephi 29:4, when it says, "Do they remember the travails, the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me in bringing forth salvation to the Gentiles?" The Jews went through a lot to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Just look at Peter and Paul and all that they did bringing the gospel forth. That diligent work took constant exertion, both with their body and mind, to bring the gospel truths out without delay or sloth. The same can be with us, with that friend at work that has had a traumatic event happen in the family, with that family member that can't seem to ever be happy, or to the loved one who can't find the right path. Constant teaching with earnest love, using both the body and the mind. Without ever saying, I don't feel like it, or I am scared of their reaction. If you say it lovingly, they will not hate you for bringing gospel truths to them.
Finally, how can we strengthen ourselves through diligence. My favorite verse that I found when I was searching through the 80 some odd scriptures that talk about diligence was
Moroni 7:19. "I beseech of you, brethren, that ye would search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ."
In high school I knew many kids, who were members of the church who would not search in the light of Christ to find what was good and evil. They would only see the gray areas and stay there, unsure of what was the right thing to do or not. It lead to a lot of them struggling with the church. Every day we hear lots of voices calling to us to see the "good" that they have to offer. If we do not grow the light of Christ that has been given us, it can be really hard to see in the dark what is truly good and what is disguised to be good. If we work diligently to have the light of Christ burning bright within us, we will easily see the difference between good and evil. Not only that but we will want to have the good in our life, and cleave to it. That is when we will have the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and take the name of Christ upon us.
Diligence is not a 100 meter sprint. It is a marathon. We may look up, tired and exhausted realizing that we still have 20 miles to go. But if we take it step by step, constantly pushing forward, not delaying that next step, we will reach our final goal.
Scriptures:
Examples of diligence: 1 Nephi 2:19, Jacob 1:7,19, Jacob 2:3, Jacob, 4:3, Jacob 5:74-75, Enos 1:10-12, Jarom 1:11, Mosiah 8:8, Mosiah 26:38, Alma 1:26, Alma 12:8-9, Alma 17:2, Alma 21:23,
Alma 40:3,9, Alma 49:30, Alma 60:10, Helaman 15:3-9, 3 Nephi 6:14
Why we should be diligent: 1 Nephi 4:34, 1 Nephi 10:17-19, 1 Nephi 15:11, 1 Nephi 16:28-29,
2 Nephi 9:51, 2 Nephi 25:23, Jacob 5:61, Jacob 6:3, Jacob 7:1-3, Mosiah 1:7,11,16, Mosiah 4:6,26-27, Alma 7:23-25, Alma 32:41-43, Alma 37:41, 3 Nephi 23:1, Moroni 8:26, Moroni 9:6
