When I first entered the field as a mission president, I met several times with a missionary who was struggling with obedience.
One day in frustration he blurted out: “What then do you want me to do?”
I replied: “You have missed the point. It is not what do I want you to do but what do you want to do?”
There was a moment of silence, and then he made this insightful observation: “You are not just asking me to change my behavior; you are asking me to change my nature.”
He was so right. If someone only changes his behavior while a missionary, then, when he goes home, he will be the very same person he was when he left, subject to the same problems that plagued him before. But if someone changes his nature, he will go home a new man, with the power and discipline to conquer his old Goliaths. If someone is only moral because his date insists on it, then he has only changed his behavior and will be equally susceptible when each new temptation confronts him. But if he is moral whether or not his date so insists, he has changed his nature. Then he will have an increased resistance when similar temptations come. If someone speaks good words but entertains bad thoughts, he has only changed his behavior. If he also changes his thoughts, then he will also change his nature. Our natures have changed when our inner motives and thoughts are consistent with our outward behavior. With the Lord’s help we can transform our natures.
Becoming Men and Women of Integrity
Tad R. Callister
of the Quorum of the Seventy
December 6, 2011
