Kingly Selflessness

King Mosiah was a righteous king. He worked the land with his own hands to provide sustenance for himself and for his family. Through his position as king, he did not seek power or gain. He was not puffed up in pride. He had a firm testimony of Jesus Christ and his faithful prayers (coupled with Alma's) enabled an angel to appear to his sons. He was a good man.

As King Mosiah neared the end of his life, he realized it was time to prepare and choose a new king. Because of his sons' conversion to the gospel, they all would rather serve missions than to be king. King Mosiah is left with a dilemma. I am awed with how he handles this dilemma.

Mosiah recognizes the potential problems in this situation: If he chooses someone outside of his family, his sons could potentially come back someday to steal the kingdom from the other king, trying to rightly claim the throne. Additionally, he sees that maybe having a king isn't such a good idea after all. One person ruling the entire nation means that the nation could fall prey to a wicked king, like they did in the past. Mosiah decides to stop potential sin before it even starts. He decides to implement a system of judges after having the people vote on it. He truly was a wise, selfless king who thought only for the good of the people and not for himself. He was going to die anyway and wouldn't see what would happen during the reign of the next king, but he loved his people enough to set up a system that would hopefully work for, not against, them.

I see the need to learn from Mosiah's wise counsel. Mosiah stopped sin before it even started. He learned from his own and others' past mistakes and chose a different path. He recognized a potential problem and sought to keep a way from it ever happening.

I know that there have been times in my life where I knew a problem was likely to arise if I put myself in a situation. Yet, I went into that situation anyway. And the problems did arise. And I had to deal with them! How much better would our lives be if we listen to the spirit, if we kept ourselves out of potentially sinful situations. It is better to avoid temptation and sin altogether than to put ourselves in a situation where we know we might sin.