Have you ever tried to walk up the down escalator?
If you’ve never done anything so risky, just to help you visualize it, I made a little
video clip.
Notice the safety equipment I’ve got on.
So, I’m walking up the down escalator.
My goal is to get to the next floor.
Notice that when I stand still, I go backwards.
If I walk slowly, I maintain the same position.
In order to get to the top of the escalator, I must move quickly.
I think we can liken mortality to a down escalator.
Because we live in a fallen world, we face a constant downward pull.
It takes real effort to make progress.
To make things more difficult, the downward speed of the escalator is increasing.
We have to walk faster and faster, spiritually speaking, just to keep up.
Notice these words from President Henry B. Eyring and look for how they relate to this
escalator analogy.
He said: “As the forces around us increase in intensity, whatever spiritual strength
was once sufficient will not be enough.
And whatever growth in spiritual strength we once thought was possible, greater growth
will be made available to us.
Both the need for spiritual strength and the opportunity to acquire it will increase at
rates which we underestimate at our peril.”
The war chapters in the Book of Mormon give a great example of how what worked earlier
may not be enough in the future.
In Alma 43, Moroni had prepared his people with breastplates, arm shields, and thick
clothing, while the Lamanites were mostly naked.
This was a big advantage for the Nephites.
But notice how 2 years later in Alma 49 when the Lamanites again attack the Nephites, the
Lamanites were now better prepared.
They had armor.
The Nephite’s technological advantage from 2 years previously had disappeared.
Fortunately, the Nephites had continued to progress.
Now they had built extensive fortifications that prepared them for this new threat.
But if the Nephites had not improved their defenses and simply relied on what had worked
in the past, it would not have been enough.
We see an unfortunate example of this in the Book of Helaman.
It was a time of extreme turmoil with intense political disagreements amongst the Nephites.
Sounds a little bit like our day.
Rather than improving their ability to defend themselves, the Nephites had grown complacent.
We read that the Nephites “had supposed that the Lamanites durst not come into the
heart of their lands to attack that great city Zarahemla.”
But they were wrong.
The leader of the Lamanite army came with such exceedingly great speed that there was
no time for the Nephites to gather together their armies.
Notice that phrase “there was no time.”
Once the Nephites realized their situation, they tried to rally their forces, but again
we read that the leader of the Lamanites “did march forth, giving them no time.”
From these passages, we learn a key lesson.
The time to prepare is before the attack.
You and I live in the world Pres.
Eyring described.
The forces around us are increasing in intensity.
Whatever spiritual strength was once sufficient will not be enough in the future.
What are we doing today to prepare for the difficult attacks on our faith that will surely
come tomorrow?
The time to prepare is before the attack.
While there are many things we can do, I believe that 2 later verses in Helaman give us some
important direction.
In Helaman 3:35, we read of a group of people who did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger
and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Jesus Christ.
Growing firmer and firmer in our faith of the Savior is the key.
Why?
Because as Helaman taught his sons, “it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ,
the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty
winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall
beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery
and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation,
a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
Did you notice the phrase “ye must build?”
Ye, that’s you and me.
Nobody can do it for us.
Must, it’s not an option.
Build, this is not a passive activity.
We must build on a foundation of Christ.
There are many specific things you and I could choose today to deepen our faith in Jesus
Christ.
My hope is that we’ll prayerfully seek guidance on what we can do today.
Because the time to prepare is before the attack.