Who doesn't love King Benjamin?  In the beginning of his farewell address to his people King Benjamin talks of service.  In 2:17 there is the famous, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."  But I actually prefer the next verse where he says to us, "Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye labor to serve one another?"  This is such a great example to me.  There are many who labor to serve me, both spiritually and temporally, so what on earth would make me exempt from service?  There is a reason that idleness is one of the seven deadly sins.  In laziness there is fostered pride - pride that somehow you are owed.  That others have the responsibility to take care of you, or any other number of thoughts can creep in that are far from the truth which Benjamin points out in verse 21:  "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another -- I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." Explaining further in verses 23 and 24:  "...in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.  And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you.  and ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?"  I think these verses speak for themselves.
    On a slightly different note, I was sitting in sacrament meeting on Sunday and I began to wonder what the physical act of God's blessing entails?  As they blessed the bread and the water I imagined all the impurities leaving these morsels but blessings go beyond that.  They seem often very intangible so when we ask for God's blessing, what exactly does he do?  Just a thought...



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