My Personal Leadership Journey

In my previous post, I introduced the idea of the “Gold Standard of the Gospel.” I hypothesized what happens when our faith becomes untethered from Jesus Christ and starts floating like a fiat currency, unbacked by a standard like gold.

Now, I want to look at exactly how that unmooring happens. It is rarely a sudden crash. It is an invisible drift.

When a nation abandons a physical standard for its money, the sky does not fall the next day. People still go to work. The money in their wallets looks exactly the same. The devaluation happens over time, imperceptibly at first.

Our spiritual lives follow the same pattern. Despite what it may externally look like, we do not wake up one morning and decide to abandon our testimony. It happens little by little as we slowly stop tying our daily decisions to the Savior and promptings from His Spirit.

Paul warned about this exact process. In Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”

The original Greek word for “let them slip” literally means to carelessly pass or flow by (see Lexical Summary). It is the image of a boat slowly floating away because the crew failed to drop an anchor or secure the mooring.

It is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security. We can still look the part. We can attend meetings and speak the right vocabulary. Our outward habits might look exactly the same as they did before. But if our daily actions are no longer backed by a real connection to Christ, our spiritual currency (aka testimony) loses its power. We start coasting on momentum. And momentum eventually runs out.

We have to intentionally attach our lives to something that does not move.

Elder David A. Bednar explains, “The sacred covenants and ordinances of the Savior’s restored gospel can be compared to the anchor pins and steel rods used to connect a building to bedrock. Every time we faithfully receive, review, remember, and renew sacred covenants, our spiritual anchors are secured ever more firmly and steadfastly to the ‘rock’ of Jesus Christ.” [Talk: Be Still, and Know That I Am God]

Our covenants are the anchor pins. Every time we partake of the sacrament, spend time in the temple, serve others, or magnify our callings, we drive those pins deeper into the bedrock [edit: make it sound more like the list in Mosiah]. We remind ourselves that our value does not float on the changing opinions of the world. Our peace is backed by the Prince of Peace.

You can stop the invisible drift today.

First, check your backing. Ask yourself what currently secures your peace of mind. Is it a perfect schedule, a specific bank balance, the approval of your peers, someone else’s testimony? Those things will all eventually shift.

Second, drive in a pin. Choose one small habit today to intentionally connect your thoughts back to Jesus Christ. It could be a quiet prayer in the car, reading a single verse of scripture before bed, or getting on your knees to pray.

Do not let your faith become a floating currency. Anchor it to the standard that never changes… CHRIST!