The Blessings that come from Righteousness by Samantha Howard

The first verse of my favorite hymn Do What is Right says “Do what is right; the days dawn is breaking, hailing a future of freedom and light. Angels above us are silent notes taking, of every action then do what is right! Do what is right let the consequence follow. Battle for freedom in spirit and might; and with stout hearts look ye forth till tomorrow. God will protect you; then do what is right!”[1] This verse gives us both an instruction and a promise. If we will follow the Lord and do what He would have us do, then we will be blessed. This hymn has always given me courage and strength to choose the right, to follow Christ. Heavenly Father wants us to be righteous, and if it is our desire to be what He wants us to be, then our righteous desires will be granted unto us. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” [2] Each of us needs to be righteous because we need to set a good example as a follower of Christ, we need to have the blessings of God with us in our everyday lives, and at the judgment day each of us will be held accountable for our actions.

When we enter into the waters of baptism we take upon us the name of Christ and we covenant that we will always remember him. As Disciples of Christ we need to emulate the examples that Christ has given us. If we do not behave in accordance to the name of Christ we can and will be giving Him a bad image. For example, while one of my friends was serving a mission in Kentucky he became the assistant to the president. One night a few missionaries when out and got drunk and were later arrested. The next day the headline story in the local newspapers were these missionaries intoxicated. This gave an extremely bad image to all the missionaries who were tracking in the area. No one would listen to the faithful missionaries because they associated them with the two unfaithful ones they had read about. The mission president eventually had to pull out all of the missionaries that were in that area because no one would listen to a discussion anymore. These two missionaries had broken covenanted to take the name of Christ upon them, and to be an example of him to help establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. Furthermore, they hindered anyone who would have listened to Christ’s message. Alma, in the Book of Mormon, had a similar experience of people who were supposed to be representing the church but instead were leading people away by their bad example. “And it came to pass in the commencement of the ninth year, Alma saw the wickedness of the church, and he saw also that the example of the church began to lead those who were unbelievers on from one piece of iniquity to another, thus bringing on the destruction of the people.” [3] Our righteous example can help lead people to be righteous; however, our wicked examples can also lead people to iniquity as well.

In the Book of Mormon we read an incredible account of the army of Helaman. Two thousand stripling warriors went into battle, and each were spared their lives. A miracle like this could only have been done by the Lord, who preserved them and saved them while in battle. We know that all two thousand warriors were righteous. “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them.” [4] These men were so faithful that they did every command given to them with exactness, and because of this they were preserved and were delivered from death. If we want to have these blessings in our own lives, then we need to do what the Lord has asked us to do with exactness. We must try to be righteous in all things. We too have a promise that the Lord will protect and bless us according to our needs if we are righteous. “For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt though compass him as with a shield.”[5] This promise of being compassed about with the favour of the Lord, as if a shield were protecting us, can be ours if the will be righteous.

When Christ comes again he will judge the world and everyone who has ever lived in it. When this day comes every person who has ever lived will be judged according to their actions, thoughts, and intents. “Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live without God in the world, that the judgments of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye.”[6] This day does not sound like a pleasant experience for anyone who has not kept the commandments of God. Just as darkness flees from light, it is very hard for evil to be in the presence of good. But if we are righteous we will not have to feel this way when we meet the Savior. “Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgment, that ye may not shrink with awful fear” [7] If we have been righteous we will be able to stand in the presence of our Lord.

Several years ago I had a dream where I was going to be judged according to my actions while I was on the earth. I remember that everywhere around me was white and that I was also dressed in white. As I walked forward to meet the savior I looked around me and I saw hundreds of people on the ground holding themselves in the fetal position. I realized that for them, just the very thought of meeting Christ and our Heavenly Father caused them to shrink in terror, only there was nowhere for them to go. When I realized why they were like this I started to wonder if I was ready to meet Christ and Heavenly Father, and then a powerful feeling came over me telling me that I was, and urged me to continue walking forward. I sincerely hope that we can all be ready to meet our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ when the time comes, it will be a happy and wonderful day for those who have been righteous in this life. Being righteous can be hard at times, but the lord will protect and bless us when we Do What is Right.




[1] Hymn 237 Do What is Right
[2] Matthew 5:6
[3] Alma 4:11
[4] Alma 57:21
[5]Psalms 5:12
[6]Mosiah 27:31
[7]2 Nephi 9:46