What Are You Practicing?

A sleeper scripture tucked into 1 Nephi 14 became ‘new writing’ for me when BYU chose it for the theme for their women’s conference several years ago.

As Nephi saw the counterfeit gathering of Babylon preparing to fight against the Lamb of God, Nephi beheld “the power of God descend upon the saints of His church and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.” (1 Nephi 14:14)

So here’s some things to wonder:

- What does righteousness look like?

- What’s the difference between authentic righteousness and hypocrisy?

- How can righteousness arm you against evil?

- How can righteousness give you access to the power of God and His glory?

First - righteousness looks a lot like obedience to God’s law. It’s motivated by love of God rather than fear of God.  There’s desire to do what’s right that starts to become a part of the heart and mind and soul with each practiced act of obedience.

In spite of getting it wrong regularly, perhaps even on a daily basis, it looks like which way you’re facing at the end of the day, and which way you’re facing the next morning when you start again.

Hugh Nibley said:

“Who is righteous? Anyone who is repenting. No matter how bad he has been, if he is repenting he is a righteous man. There is hope for him. And no matter how good he has been all his life, if he is not repenting, he is a wicked man. The difference is which way you are facing. The man on the top of the stairs facing down is much worse off than the man on the bottom step who is facing up. The direction we are facing, that is repentance; and that is what determines whether we are good or bad.”

         - Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, pg. 301-302

Righteousness is a regular target of derision and criticism in the world at large as people often confuse self-righteousness with the real thing. In fact, if anything screams “me thinks he dost protest too much,” it’s a so-called unbeliever hurling the criticism of hypocrisy at a righteous person.

Hypocrisy is pretending you’re something you’re not; an authentically righteous person knows what he is not - perfectly righteous.  He fully recognizes he is a work in progress, riddled with flaws in a fallen world. A righteous person doesn’t feel self-congratulatory when he gets it right; he feels gratitude that he did for once.

The world seems to use this standard to define hypocrisy: anyone who lives beneath what he believes as part of his value system to be right and true and good.  Hmmph. By that standard, every single human except Jesus Christ is a hypocrite.

A righteous person knows full well he isn’t living up to every standard he values, but he is trying every day. But a hypocrite pretends he’s actually pulling it off.  There is nothing authentic or genuine in hypocrisy. From our friends at Google, we learn this about the root word:

“The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites — “an actor” or “a stage player.” It literally translates as “an interpreter from underneath” which reflects that ancient Greek actors wore masks and the actor spoke from underneath that mask.”

An authentically righteous person knows who he is trying to become, and readily acknowledges the distance between where he is and how far he has to go.

So how can being a completely messed up human being, who needs and uses the gift of repentance daily, become armed against the combined powers of evil in this world in the last battles? This is the essence of practice, and the beauty of becoming what you practice.

As a piano teacher I’ve watched daily practice literally transform piano students into legit pianists. Students worry about making mistakes at their lesson. They don’t realize that in spite of the mistakes, I can tell whether they’ve practiced during the week or not.  Practice simply… shows.

I think that’s what it’s like when you’re practicing being a better person than you really are - a more patient person, a more generous person, a more forgiving person. What if, as you practice those things - clumsily and horribly day after day - you begin to transform into a legit patient person, generous person, forgiving person?

What if you’re gradually, daily, inevitably, becoming the things you practice every day?

What if that’s the oil you’re putting in your lamp in preparation for the Bridegroom?

What if the reason it arms you against evil is because you’re turning into a person who doesn’t ever seek after evil anymore, and that gives you protection - because what if God’s natural laws of both the universe and human behavior are such that He is indeed bound when we do what He says (D&C 82:10), and He must give us additional access to His power and glory and protection when we make daily practice a lifestyle?

And what do we practice?  We practice listening when the Holy Ghost nudges us to not say this, or do say that. To use a free afternoon this way, or to not use a late night that way.

So many things to practice, and if we’re honest with ourselves and truly motivated, it might surprise us how very much more power we have to know what to practice every day - eventually in the very moment.

Saying you’re a righteous person is similar to saying you’re a piano student. We are students of righteousness - doing it quite badly on a regular basis. But if we’re facing the right direction every day, and we’re willing to try again every day, using the gift of repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, it’s enough.

It’s enough for a generous Father in Heaven, and our generous Savior who paid for us to have the privilege of daily practice.  And in the crunch of the battles of the last days, it’s going to matter that we’ve made practicing a lifestyle.

It’s going to show.