Why Do We Have to Obey God's Commandments?

 To be happy we have to obey the commandments of the Lord. That is what he promised in the past, and it is what he promises today. The Lord is always telling us that we have to be obedient because He has blessings prepared for us. Sometimes we forget that the way to receive those promises is easy, and we start living lives away from God because we think he doesn't care about us. But he cares! That is why he always says in his scriptures that we have to follow him, and obey his commandments. Every general conference we hear that we have to be obedient, because it is a way to help us remember the key to eternal happiness. In Mosiah 2:41 we read “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.”
Sometimes when we disobey the Lord and we choose to live a life apart of him, we start living the consequences he has stated in his scriptures. In those times of affliction and unhappiness the Lord is sad because he does not want us to live that way. He has given us repentance and prayers to be able to communicate with him again and to live a righteous life. Knowing that God really cares about how we live and if we are happy makes me feel that I have something important to do during my life here on Earth. And it is to obey him and to do what he has asked me to do. 

References:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13; 11:1, 8-9; 13:4; and 26:17-19.
Mosiah 2:41
Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21
Deuteronomy 4:29-31; 26:7-11
Isaiah 55:6-7
Ezekiel 18:21-23
Mosiah 26:30

Being a Nazarite Was not Only not Getting a Haircut

I have heard from some of my friends that when they don’t want to get a haircut, and everyone at church says them to do it because it does not look good and they are not reflecting a good image they say: Why should I cut my hair? Samson never did it, neither Jesus Christ, then why would I do it? And the bishop’s answer or the person’s giving the advice answer is always: Samson and Jesus Christ were Nazarites, that is why they never cut their hair, are you a Nazarite? In that moment they even say they are! But do they really know what being a Nazarite was?

Being a Nazarite was not only not cutting their hair, they had to give their lives to the Lord, every day of their lives was dedicated to the Lord’s work and they had specific things to do while being Nazarites. A few of them were:

o   They had to Separate themelves from wine and strong drink

o   Not drink vinegar if wine or vinegar of strong drink

o   Not drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried

o   not eat things made of the vine tree

o   not razor their head

o   offer one he lamb and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering

All of these things they had to do were commanded by God. So it was not easy to be a Nazarite. Some famous Nazarites of the scriptures were Samson, Samuel, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

In these latter days we are not asked to be Nazarites literally, but the Lord has commanded that we have to do everything he asks us to do while living in this Earth and in this time.

We are living different times, when the world is crazier than before and we have to be more alert than those who lived in the first days of the Earth. If we really want to follow God, and to be with him again we have to dedicate our lives to follow him, to do what He asks us to do and to always be willing to obey and accept his word through his prophets.

In Alma 5: 57 we read: “And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people;”

Let us all be separate from the wicked, and from those who seek the things of the world. If we want to live with God again, we have to fulfill his commandments. It is sometimes hard, or we might think we can’t, but the Lord has given us the scriptures, the conferences, a living Prophet, and manuals to guide us in our path towards living with him again.

References:

Numbers 6:2-6, 14, 18

 Judges 13:5, 24 

1 Samuel 1:11, 19-20, 28

Luke 1:13-15 

Bible Dictionary “Nazarite” (pg. 737)

Institute Student Manual commentary for Numbers 6:1-21, “What Was a Nazarite?” (pg. 199).