As children of God striving for righteousness, we are choice in Gods eyes. However, I often see that people consider themselves to be a little too “elect” compared to more of God’s children. If you consider all the membership (not activity) in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that comprises of a whopping 0.2% of the world population. Even if you take out countries which can not be proselyted (e.g.; the Middle East and China) it gets you close enough to round up to 0.3%. That is to say, 99% of God’s children are not part of his restored church.

Can we all understand now the pressure we often receive to do missionary work? It’s not that we desperately needs numbers to stay afloat or simply grow tithable population. It’s because most, nearly all, of God’s children on this Earth are not part of his Church and likely have not truly heard his gospel.

More importantly, however, God has not forgotten about the 99% and finds other means to speak to his children abroad. We know he truly loves all of his children, we cannot assume that he’ll talk to one prophet and ignore the rest. God is ever-present, sending his spirit and calling all who will listen. Some of those are enlightened to create new technology which will improve the sharing of information and ideas, some to organize people and governments in fairness, some to create beautiful music, plays, and art, and some to teach eternal truths to their respective religious followers. And yes, some will receive sufficient clarity to seek out and join his true Church.  He’s going to do what he can to bless all of his children. If they can’t discover or have the faith for the church, he will find ways to make it more accessible, to inspire local leaders, anyone willing to open their heart to him and have them teach whatever portion of truth they have.

At one point the apostles thought they must have had a ‘corner on the market’ for all of God’s dealings when they forbad some men who cast out devils in Christ name but were not numbered among Christ’s disciples (Luke 9:49). He asked for them not to do so and with a simple rule of thumb stated that “he that is not against us if for us.” Similar to the apostles, we cannot be the judges on what people can or can’t do in order to serve on God’s behalf. God most definitely is fulfilling what he can of his work among the 99% of his children. We can all be inspired by films, read enlightening books, and have prayers answered by a complete stranger. There is much good in all the world around us, waiting to be discovered and to guide our mortal path. In order to create the restored church Joseph Smith took by inspiration many doctrines, customs, and practices of faiths in his today to restore the Church as we know it today. He went as far as to admonish the saints from insular thought

“The grand fundamental principle of Mormonism is to receive truth let it come from where it may.  If the Methodists, Presbyterians, or others have any truth, then we should embrace it. One must ‘get all the good in the world’ if one wants to ‘come out a pure Mormon.”

Hopefully, this admonition shouldn’t come as a surprise when considering that in the 13 Articles of our faith it ends with a statement that all members of Christ’s church should believe that “if there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”  I’m sure we often can recognize good and lovely things, but do we seek after them? I see that as actively filling our time and minds with good books, wholesome entertainment, elevating conversations, and regular selfless service. Unfortunately, we likely get ourselves caught up in bitter politics, seek popular  entertainment that demonstrates little virtue, or share rumors or criticisms that are not praiseworthy. On the other side, we may seek after good media, but produced only by those within our own faith. To truly live our faith, we must not just embrace, but actively seek out good, virtuous, praiseworthy, and lovely things from all faiths, races, and cultures.

A dangerous disposition we as members of Christ’s church can fall subject to is believing we are superior to others not of faith. This disposition can come from a sense that we are more choice or elect because of our knowledge of Christ’s gospel and covenants we’ve made with him. So much to the contrary, that knowledge and covenants calls us to be even more humble servants to Christ and blessing his children. Having this superiority complex not only keeps us from truly living the 13th article of faith, it diminishes our ability to bring more of God’s children into the fold.

The impact of this mentality was well articulated in the wise satire of the Screwtape Letters, written by C.S. Lewis, which recounts the training of a more experienced devil to a newer devil in training for a man who is exploring a Christian faith. In order to further isolate his newfound faith and continue in sin, the man’s tempter is given a new strategy

“This is done by exploiting his vanity… to enjoy the bawdy and blasphemy over the coffee with these admirable friends all the more because he is aware of a “deeper”, “spiritual” world within him which they cannot understand…he will feel, instead of shame, a continual undercurrent of self-satisfaction.”

When we assume to have all the truth or a more pious way of living, we risk to be the same as the pharisees of old who couldn’t distinguish true discipleship to their living God from adhering to religious rites. We can’t possibly know all of Gods workings, so we can never assume we have all the knowledge of his plan and how he’ll work with people within and outside of his Church.  When God revealed that he had called upon his servant, Joseph Smith Jr, and gave him commandments (D&C 1:17), he immediately followed that “and also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world” (D&C 1:18) indicating that was a work where Joseph Smith was not the lone spokesperson for God.

Consider influential people who likely were inspired by a greater power that have changed the course of human history. Though many in Christianity today disagree with the Catholic church, there likely would be no Christianity to argue about if it wasn’t for Constantine’s dream of a cross of light which converted him to the faith and the greater Roman Empire 300 years after Christ. Christians in that day were brutally persecuted, burned, and slaughtered in public display. It was all too likely that Christianity would be nothing of the mainstream religion it is today without that monumental shift.

Consider the American Founding Fathers who felt inspired by God to create the first constitutional government. The first of its kind, giving power and freedom to people never before experienced, leading to an explosion of innovation, thought, and economic growth that in the last 200 years has almost dwarfed all the achievements of mankind prior. Beyond the great, and well known examples, there’s likely millions of warriors for good all around us, helping to fight for peoples rights and quality of life, striving to strengthen our communities, or bringing hope and inspiration to our lives. These are all accomplishing Gods work.

Judging a person by the goodness of their works is what both the church and the Book of Mormon set as a standard to know if something is true. Mormon clearly laid out that no good thing can come from the devil. We must see that any good work is an act of devotion to God, weather they do it in the name of God or not,

Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.” (Moroni 7: 12-13)

Another beautiful demonstration of this is from another work of C.S. Lewis in his beloved children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia. In his books the character Aslan is a mightily lion who represents Christ, and Tash is a demonic beast who represents the Devil. In the final judgement, a good prince who worshiped Tash during his life is accepted by Aslan. To his bewilderment Aslan responds:

“[Aslan] I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted…[Prince] Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. [Aslan] Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

With that knowledge, is it no wonder we are encouraged to be actively engaged in a good cause. Missionary work should not be narrowly defined as sharing the Book of Mormon or story of the restoration. Is it more importantly, sharing and demonstrating virtuous living and good values. We should encourage people and organizations around us to demonstrate honest, chaste, faithful, truth seeking, grateful, and loving behaviors. That also is sharing the gospel of Christ. Leaders who encourage those values are just as much missionaries, whether part of the Church or not, as those of us who wear a badge for a few years.

Have we considered all the ways we can make principles of the gospel more accessible to others. Consider what some prominent LDS members have done in their careers to share values of the gospel, such as showing excellent service and hospitality by Bill Marriott, wise and generous leadership by Clayton Christensen, and building healthy and productive habits by Franklin Covey. Even the many ‘Mommy Bloggers’ can share many good principles of rearing of family and showing love without preaching from a soapbox.

Are we doing what we can to make the principles of Christ’s gospel practiced in our daily lives and shared to others in a way that is approachable? Do we shroud gospel principles in unnecessary jargon, artificial cultural norms, or unqualified judgements about what is a “good” person in they way they dress, speak, and act? By doing so we don’t accomplish Gods plan, but further isolate ourselves and the gospel principles God wants shared with all of his children. Though this blog is primarily oriented to an LDS audience, I want the content to be as accessible as possible for those not of our faith to understand and be inspired by it as well. I’d also encourage it’s readers to share content which has inspired them and expound on it in other places.

Making gospel principles more accessible in our daily life shouldn’t diminish the importance of actually sharing the message of the restored gospel. It is worth contemplating, if we truly believe that the modern day Church of Jesus Christ has God’s restored truth and authority on this Earth, how vastly incomplete the work to bless all his children must be if less than 1% have chosen to join it. Most of the people we work and associate likely do not understand our faith or may have not even be introduced to it. We know most will not likely join, but we should ensure they at least have a chance to hear and make that choice themselves.

You may wonder if God’s true church has only captured less than 1% of the world population, is it really “true”? Wouldn’t more of his children flock to join and follow his restored gospel? To make more sense of this we can use the history of the Bible. The historical Jews were God’s chosen people and the stories which the book recounts made up a very, very small population of the entire world. Also, even this small group of adherents to the Abrahamic God many times fell away in their belief, most of the writings are from the few believers trying to get the people to return to God.  It took several thousands of years for most of the Earth to know about the Jewish God and join an Abrahamic religion. Even today the Jewish population is small comparatively, comprising of 14 million globally, even less than the 16 million membership in the modern day Church of Jesus Christ. So we cannot base truth or validity on global popularity.

In addition, we should ask ourselves, for what purpose did God restore his Church? It most certainly was not to gain significant followers and popularity. True discipleship in Christ is never easy or popular. God clearly states his intention with calling Joseph Smith to restore his Church was in order to “bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness” (D&C 1:30). This can mean taking fragments of God’s prior church and giving it a formal and declared organization. This is done in order that “faith also might increase in the earth; That [God’s] everlasting covenant might be established; That the fulness of [God’s] gospel might be proclaimed.” A primary purpose of restoring God’s church was to establish the New and Everlasting Covenant, which are the saving ordinances which can only be performed by members of the Priesthood. Consider that Abraham “sought for [his] appointment unto the Priesthood” (Peal of Great Price 1:4) which lead him to the priest Melchizedek, who held the Priesthood to perform saving ordinances. Only then did Abraham start his journey of discipleship to God. So as it is today, God’s Church exists to ensure his saving ordinances can be performed prior to his return. In that capacity the restored Church is performing precisely against that mission. Any other purpose of Gods which falls outside of that mandate can be given to any inspired person inside or outside of his restored Church.

All in all, we should recognize God’s hand in many affairs of man and need not live our gospel centered lives in isolation. We need to be involved in the lives of people of our community, supporting those who share our values, and finding common ground with those who don’t.  God is doing a marvelous work among men. It involves people and leaders of all nations, kindreds, and tongues. We can choose to be apart of that work or not, seeking as much of the good works and good people God is inspiring. There are many friends we can make in this great effort and link arms in the cause of righteousness, without placing baptism as a qualifier. If we do this, we can help God’s gospel and even his Church blossom and flourish to bless no just a small fraction of his children, but all of them.