Prove All Things; Hold Fast That Which Is Good

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). When you get right down to it, we are embodied intelligences. We have the light of Christ and the power to discern good from evil. When we are keeping the Commandments and repenting regularly, we also have the Holy Ghost to lead and guide us. And we have the word of God in the Holy Scriptures and from living prophets to show us the way. We also have been given agency, or the freedom and the power and the responsibility to choose and act for ourselves. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 gives us the pattern for how we can utilize all of these resources and faculties to make the most of our lives. We are to prove all things. We are not mere objects to be acted upon. We are not the victims of fate or circumstance. We are children of Almighty God. We have a duty and a responsibility to actively and thoughtfully prove all things. We should not persist in doing things just because that's how it's always been done. We need to honestly and fearlessly examine all things, and if some of those things are not good, then we need to let them go, and hold fast only to the good. If something is bringing peace and joy and beauty and meaning to our life, then we need to hold onto it with everything that we have. If something is not bringing the good into our life, then it's time to get rid of it. We tried it, we proved it, and we found that it wasn't good, so we now need to let it go. This is the essence of the repentance process. We don't need to hold onto sinful behaviors and we don't even need to hold onto the guilt for a moment longer than necessary. We tried something which is what we were supposed to do, and now that we have proved that it is not good, it's time to let it go. And if we are tempted to pick it back up again, either the sinful behavior or the guilt and the shame attached to it, we need to remind ourselves that we already proved it's not good and there is no need for us to hold onto it. When the Savior told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more, He was telling her, in essence, You tried adultery and you proved that it is not good, now it is time to let it go - both the sinful act and the guilt - and move on. It's such a big world, and there is so little of it that we can carry that there is no point holding fast to the bad when there is so much good that is out there for us to hold fast to.