“Read D&C 20” popped in to my mind.  So I did.

The first verses talk about Joseph Smith losing God’s favor in pursuit of worldly vanities, then regaining it.  One of the evidences that God favored him again was that God gave him commandments.  “Commandments that inspired him.”

That is interesting.

Most folks wouldn’t see God giving them commandments as evidence of God’s love.  Nor would they be inspired.

Yet commandments can be inspiring.  If God commands you, it means He thinks you are capable of it.  Very inspiring.

I will be personal for a sec.  Occasionally you will hear church leaders mentioning how they and their wife never go to bed angry. I figured that was just swank.  From time to time you will hear church leaders advising to not go to bed angry. I figured that was just otherworldly utopianism.

Until about three or four weeks ago, when through a variety of circumstances, God made it clear He was commanding me and her to do it.  It’s not a general commandment. But it was a commandment for us. I was inspired. I felt liberated, because I now realized it was possible.  The last few weeks have been exhilarating.

The much-maligned command to not masturbate is liberating. Without the command, young men would think they had no choice. With it, you are free to try, to repent, to succeed.

The world doesn’t know these things. Only those on the path can know it.