Don't Blur the Lines!

      We are involved in a war that consists of many daily battles. Our adversary, Satan, is the ultimate deceiver and he is constantly working to make us believe that right is wrong and wrong is right. These daily battles involve us deciding whether we will choose to obey Heavenly Father or the temptations of the enemy. Our agency is one of the most important gifts Heavenly Father has given us because it allows us to decide for ourselves what we want to do in life. Then, He has also given us another precious gift: the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is our personal guide through life, helping us to know how to make the right decisions, to avoid Satan's pitfalls, and to help us know Heavenly Father's will. 

     Satan knows that we have all of these tools to help us stay away from his influences and he knows in the end he will lose the war. However, he is determined to ruin as many lives as possible and he one of his main targets is our families. Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy in the May 1998 Ensign talk "Agency and Anger" taught about how Satan lies to us and works to make us believe that we are at the mercy of our anger and it cannot be controlled. Elder Robbins taught, "His strategy is to stir up anger between family members...A cunning part of his strategy is to dissociate anger from agency, making us believe that we are victims of an emotion that we cannot control" (1). Here we see that Satan is working to attack our families by making each individual member focus on himself or herself, victimize themselves, and believe that his or her spouse is to blame. 

      The Lord's commandments and the forces of Satan are like two lanes on a highway and the lanes are divided by a thick line. The boundary between them is clearly defined and the Lord teaches us to stay on His side so we can remain safe and happy. But, as Elder Robbins explained, one of the adversary's favorite tactics is to blur the lines between right and wrong. In this case, he blurs the lines between anger and agency and makes us believe that we are slaves to anger and we cannot control it. This blurred truth can be very harmful to families because it can lead to constant contention between spouses and the anger can put a lot of strain on the relationship. Satan's hope is that by putting so much pressure on the relationship and making each spouse focus on himself or herself, then they will drift apart and the family will crumble. Satan knows that the love between husband and wife is the foundation of a strong, united family and if he can break it apart, then the whole family will suffer as a result. 

      Thanks to the gospel, we know this blurred truth is nothing but a big, fat lie! The gospel helps us to know that anger is not our master, but we are its master. The natural man would have us believe that we cannot control it, but the sanctified man is in control of his anger and does not let himself to have outbursts. Learning to control our anger will help us to keep our homes filled with love and the Spirit of the Lord. Contention and anger drive out the Spirit and cause tension in the family. If we follow the Savior's example and stay true to the gospel's principles, then it will be much harder for Satan to blur the lines and make us cross into enemy territory!