Hungering, thirsting after righteousness
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Only in accepting the Savior and doing His will do individuals acquire the "feeling to do right," declared Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve at the April 1976 general conference.
"If we break the commandments, we get a 'feeling' for that too," he said. "This explains why parents' hearts may be broken and bowed in shame because of the sins and waywardness of their sons and daughters. They are puzzled and perplexed. They say, 'We brought them up to be righteous boys and girls, and our family has always been a good family. We didn't teach them to behave like this!'
"The children learned all the precepts, but precepts do not necessarily furnish the will and desire to do right. Indeed, ignorance is not the only cause of sin and deplorable conduct. Fundamental to most wrong doing is lack of desire, the absence of a strong motive or the right influence, and a deficiency in living the precepts. Individuals who do right and "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt. 5:6) get and keep alive through their actions the feeling to do right.
"Inherent in the first principles of the gospel is the 'desire principle' — the desire to love God and fellowmen 'with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' (Matt. 22:37.) To attain these heights, each of us must work in harmony with God's will and create a spiritual climate that will bring Jesus into the midst of our lives; and then we must continue to live 'with an eye single to [his] glory.' " (D&C 4:5.)
