1 Nephi 15

There are many topics covered in 1 Nephi 15 but I'm going to focus more on what verses 32-36 teaches. See, Nephi was explaining to his brothers that a day was going to come where "they must be judged of their works", the works they did "by the temporal body in their days of probation" (32).

There are words and phrases from all over the world that expresses this belief such as "karma" and "what goes around comes around." We all seem to have this belief. Good leads to good. Bad leads to bad.

We are each here experiencing "probation" or mortality. This entire mortal experience is a test of sorts. To see who we will become. We are sent to Earth with no memories of things before. But we were given bodies and agency. What will we do with them? Will we earn our reward in the Celestial kingdom? Or will we end up burying ourselves as we choose that which is not good?

The following is from the Book of Mormon institute manual:


Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke of how our works define who we are. What we become through our works constitutes the judgment we will receive:

"Many Bible and modern scriptures speak of a final judgment at which all persons will be rewarded according to their deeds or works or the desires of their hearts. But other scriptures enlarge upon this by referring to our being judged by the condition we have achieved. 

"The prophet Nephi describes the Final Judgment in terms of what we have become: ‘And if their works have been filthiness they must needs be filthy; and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of God’ (1 Nephi 15:33; italics added). Moroni declares, ‘He that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still’ (Mormon 9:14; italics added; see also Revelation 22:11–12; 2 Nephi 9:16; D&C 88:35). The same would be true of ‘selfish’ or ‘disobedient’ or any other personal attribute inconsistent with the requirements of God. Referring to the ‘state’ of the wicked in the Final Judgment, Alma explains that if we are condemned by our words, our works, and our thoughts, ‘we shall not be found spotless; . . . and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God’ (Alma 12:14). 

"From such teachings we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become" (in Conference Report, Oct. 2000, 41; or Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32).

I have an example that may help better clarify this.

Imagine a person who does all sort of things society would not support, but presents an innocent front. You know, like on the TV shows, it's that one character who is supposed to be good-looking or whatnot, but who is actually a criminal. Sometimes, if this person is ourselves (but not quite to that extreme Hollywood type), we try to rid ourselves of any outward appearance of our inward condition. This kind of person only cleans the surface. They scrub the outside of their person so that no one would suspect the dirtiness underneath. We sometimes call such a person as one with a mask on. This person is not really clean. Their state still comes through. We still suspect or are wary of such a person.

To really be clean, you have to clean the inside out. You have to clean and fix the source of the filthiness versus trying to cover the results of such actions and thoughts. You actually have to work directly on the actions and thoughts. It's basically repentance that I'm speaking of here. That's part of the miracle of repentance. A person so covered in grime in their souls can be made clean through the Atonement.

There are often those people in the world who just seem to shine. They seem to be bursting with happiness. Constantly being in that state can come from the doing of what is right. There's a reason why God gives commandments. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to choose to follow Him. As Elder Oaks said, "The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become." And what we can become is something magnificent that we can't really comprehend.

So try to do good. Go out of your way to do good. It'll be worth it.