Binding – Blinding – Grinding

- Sermon –

Behavior is not just what we do --- our physical actions.  Behavior is also what we think --- our thoughts.  It is also what we feel --- our emotions.  Let us remember that it is our spirits who come to earth to obtain a body ---- it is not our bodies that come to earth to obtain a spirit.  It is the spirit that should govern – not the body. The spirit governs successfully only when it brings the body under its subjection.

In the Book of Mormon in Alma 12:13 – 14 it says, “Then if our hearts (let’s pause there and note that, in many cultures, the “heart” has been viewed as the seat of our emotions or feelings.) have been hardened (think – “emotionally numb or past feeling”), yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.  14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us….” This passage clearly suggests that our thoughts and our feelings can lead us into wrongdoing.

Now let us be clear.  Just having a momentary improper thought or feeling is quite a different thing than creating a welcoming, encouraging, nurturing place for such thoughts and feelings to dwell within us.  Most of the time we can remove bad thoughts by our own mental and spiritual efforts, just as Christ did, “He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them D&C 20:22. 

However, for some, who have made improper thoughts and feelings welcomed guests, prayer and the help of family and trusted Church leaders may be needed. 

Now allow me to insert a disclaimer here.  There are those who suffer from specific mental and emotional disorders for whom intrusive thoughts and feelings are not connected with sin, but from faulty biological processes in the brain.  For such people, therapy and not necessarily repentance is the prescription.

When our brain becomes clogged with impure and improper thoughts, there is no room for the warm, loving, peaceful feelings to come forth from the spirit.  This is what is meant by the scripture that says, “see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love…” Book of Mormon, Alma 38:12

Sinful thoughts and feelings lead to sinful actions and in the end, as I heard from a preacher-friend of mine, “sin will BLIND us,   BIND us, and then GRIND us.”  It blinds us to truth. It binds us up with chains so tightly that we are numb, when it comes to choosing the right.   We become like Lamen and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon who became “past feeling” thus, destroying our true freedom.  And lastly, sin will grind us into dust to be blown about to and fro.

The story of Samson in Judges Chapters 13 through 16 is given to us, not as an example of strength, but as a warning of how not governing our thoughts, feelings, and actions can “blind us, bind us, and grind us.”   The preacher’s sermon went on to say that Samson’s destiny was to be a giant of physical and spiritual strength.  He was to be a new Moses, leading Israel out of 40 years bondage to the Philistines.  He was set apart as a Nazarite - one who took sacred vows of dedication and service to God.  The Nazarite was to be clean, not partake of strong drink, and his hair was not to be cut, all as a symbol of his dedication to God. 

Samson seemed to have the strength of a hundred men. This strength, given of God for Godly purposes, in Samson’s hands, was turned for personal vendettas and was totally self-centered.  The writer of Judges, however, makes clear that this was a spiritual gift of God - given by covenant.  Had he honored those covenants, he might have become one of Israel’s great leaders. 

Charged with subduing the Philistines, he actually married a Philistine woman.   Though he hated most Philistines, he affiliated with them; both fought and played games with them.  In the end, after a life of betraying his vows and being betrayed by his wife, we read in Chapter 16 verse 20:  “And she said, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.   21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, (they blinded him) and brought him down to Gaza, that they might bind him with fetters of brass; and he did grind grain in the prison house.”

Thus, we see the end of him who lost control of his thoughts, his feelings, and his actions and dishonored his covenants.  He serves as a warning to all that sin is blinding, it is binding, and it is grinding.  What a different ending to the story we would have, had Samson repented along the way.  

For us today, what things are blinding us and causing us to lose hold of the iron rod of the gospel and to stumble in the “midst of darkness”?  What chains of sin bind us?  How much longer will we allow sin to grind us into dust?

We are all repenting of some things --- or should be.  None of us are perfect.  In this life – it is not expected – only consistent, persistent improvement – step by step perfection is the goal.  It is the Lord who purchased all our sins who will ultimately purify us prior to entering His kingdom.  The idea that somehow absolute perfection is the goal of this life is a doctrinal myth – often fostered by the Prince of Lies who seeks to blind us, bind us, and grind us.  Therefore, let us, as Jesus instructs, “be ye therefore perfect….,” but take it one day at a time.

Larry Doyle Crenshaw