Identity Theft of Another Form

Recently, I was asked to do the security for my complex on a permanent basis. As I've contemplated what must be done to secure the public areas, and thought about the different measures taken to safeguard various locations in our lives, I began thinking about in a more in-depth stance.

Throughout a typical day we perform many safeguarding routines, often subconsciously or even passively. We lock our car doors when exiting our vehicles, secure our houses and apartments, pat our back pockets periodically to make sure that we have our wallets or keys or whatever, and continuously think about creative ways to create difficult passwords while still being able to remember them. We even make sure that we have all the necessary phone numbers in our cell phones just in case we need to call someone in an emergency.

As a whole though, we are wildly irresponsible when it comes to our spiritual security.

Let us consider the typical day of many a member of the Church (including myself at times): We roll out of bed after hitting the snooze button on our alarm multiple times. We realize that we are now later than we had planned on being and must now rush to make up for lost time. We quickly grab something to eat on the way out the door and head off to our intended destination. Along the way we realize that we've forgotten something or a delay has arisen and we silently "pray" that we'll get through the new struggle and curse ourselves for being so irresponsible. Following that day's labors we come home and are engrossed in the latest sitcom and then retire to our beds only when we nearly fall asleep in our chairs, barely placing our heads on the pillow before exhaustion consumes our physical bodies.

While this may seem a little too condensed for a day and somewhat cliche, the fact of the matter is that its true...for a lot of people.

We go about our lives claiming to be children of God, and members of the Church, or whatever title you want to place in there, but do we really consider what it takes to be that? As a student at BYU-Idaho we carry student identification cards, and we have signed our names on a contract indicating that we will follow the rules that we have agreed to at all times, and in all things, and in all places. Thus, the cards in our wallets not only identify us to the school, but they become a symbolic identity of what we stand for.

What identity do we present to the world, or even to our roommates and families? Each week when partaking of the sacrament, we covenant to "always remember Him, and keep His commandments which he has given [us]" in an exchange for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. The question is though - how much do we REALLY remember Him? Further, what kind of an identity do we really carry out into the world, much less secure for ourselves?

Do we safeguard our lives at every chance we get, or do we hastily move about our daily activities failing to remember who we are and what we stand for? Just because we associate with those that do not hold our same standards, do we even make it known to them what we DO stand for, or instead, do we simply ignore the guilt pangs in our conscience or just go along with the crowd?

What about the judgments we pass on a daily basis? Do we judge according to the will and way of the Lord, or are we quick to be acted upon by the influences of the adversary and fail to act for ourselves in a rational way? Do we allow unrighteous dominion to enter the doors of our spiritual havens or rationale to be bent in the pursuit of something less than godlike?

What about our Spiritual Computers....our brains? Do we have those "password protected" - or in other words, do we control the thoughts of our minds such that the adversary cannot penetrate them and get into the hearts of our systems? The adversary knows the thoughts of our minds just as the Lord does, and to even rationalize in theory only is to unsafely reveal those things which may make our Spirits vulnerable to the wiles of the devil.

Let us not forget our Spiritual cell phones! Why is it that we fail to call home and talk to our Heavenly Father more frequently than not, and yet we are so willing to call our mortal parents and annoy them multiple times a day? Why is it that when we get the sniffles or have trouble functioning physically that we rush to the nearest physician for the latest in medicine, but yet even when we have massive Spiritual heart attacks we don't even seek the advice and healing power of the Master?

In fact, why is that we only turn to God in our lives in the most desperate times of need? How is it that we can go about our lives treating God like a Spiritual Paramedic that's called by the dialing of three digits, and fail to address him at any other time?

We call ourselves Children of God, and we claim to belong to His Church, but what identity have we sought to secure for ourselves? Have our identities been stolen by the adversary and shaped by him to become what HE wants them to be - weak, brittle, and rather crowd-like in nature, or have we taken the initiative in our lives to mold our identities to become similar to that of the Savior himself and emulate his footsteps always?

Just more to think about!