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what are you deprived by living the gospel? (Maxwell)

 “What are you actually and specifically deprived of by serious gospel living?”

Ponder these several examples. By complying with the revealed Word of Wisdom, you are much more likely to be deprived of lung cancer, and surely deprived of becoming an alcoholic. You are much more likely to miss out on AIDS if you keep the seventh commandment and refuse to use drugs.

Before you die, my young brothers and sisters, you will thank Heavenly Father many times for the advantages of abstinence! Regarding certain destructive things, abstinence is so much easier than moderation! Meanwhile, you will see those about you who are surfing life’s pleasures indulgently. They will eventually crash against the reefs of reality.

By responding to the strong gospel emphasis on education, you will also be deprived of being ignorant.

You will be deprived of that large dose of human despair that “cometh because of iniquity” (Moroni 10:22). You will also miss out on the exhausting and finally futile calisthenics of trying to mold a meaningful morality by using the Play-Doh of permissiveness. It just won’t work!

Yes, you will be tested and puzzled, but because of your faith in God’s plan of salvation, you will thereby be deprived of cynicism, that corrosive emotion that relentlessly expresses itself in a hundred different ways. By having faith in Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, you will be inspired not only to keep the law of chastity, but you will be able to cope with adversity.

Obviously, you could easily add many more examples of what may for the moment seem to be deprivations that are actually great benefactions, greater than you can now fully appreciate!

Neal A. Maxwell, BYU Devotional 1996

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/neal-a-maxwell/brim-joy/

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