Come Off Conqueror

There's a battle going on inside you. Not the kind with armies or weapons — but one that's just as real, and the outcome matters far more than any game you'll ever play.

The Enemy You Weren't Warned About

Most people assume their biggest threats come from outside — bad influences, toxic people, hard circumstances. And sure, those are real. But the ancient prophets pointed to a different enemy entirely, one who lives a lot closer to home.

Themselves.

The scriptures call it the "natural man." And before you picture some wilderness caveman, understand what that actually means: it's the version of you that defaults to self — what I want, what I feel, what benefits me right now. Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it plainly: the natural man is naturally selfish. And selfishness, left unchecked, is a slow-motion form of self-destruction.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit…

Mosiah 3:19

Why Selfishness Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think

We tend to think of selfishness as one problem among many — like being a little too self-focused. But Maxwell argued it's actually the detonator for every other sin. Think about it:

It makes dishonesty easier.
When the truth is inconvenient for you, selfishness gives you permission to bend it.
It numbs you to other people's pain.
A self-centered life shrinks your world down to one person — and that person is never enough.
It fuels every addictive pattern.
Pleasure, validation, scrolling, substances — all of it is selfishness seeking a shortcut to feeling full.
It hardens your mind against growth.
"A mind hardened in pride" — Maxwell's words — can't receive correction, counsel, or the Spirit. And it's often the brightest people who fall into this trap.

Here's the brutal irony: the more you feed the natural man, the smaller and lonelier your world gets. Selfishness doesn't expand your life — it collapses it inward.

Worth sitting with

"The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere." — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The Model You Actually Want to Follow

Jesus Christ wasn't just morally perfect — He was the most intelligent being who ever lived. And yet He was also the most meek. He put everything on the altar, without bargaining, without fanfare. When it was all said and done, His declaration was simply: "Glory be to the Father."

That's not weakness. That's the most radical form of strength imaginable — the ability to subordinate your will completely to something greater than yourself. To belong to the mission, not just to yourself.

Maxwell described the men and women of Christ in sharp contrast to the natural man:

They're quick to praise, slow to claim credit.
They celebrate others without it costing them anything — because their identity isn't built on comparison.
They're the same in private as in public.
No double life. No two sets of books. What you see is what they are.
They don't vent — they exercise patience.
Not because they're passive, but because they've chosen long-suffering over reaction.
They magnify their callings without magnifying themselves.
The work is the point. They are not.

What Shedding It Actually Feels Like

Here's something young people don't always hear: carrying the natural man is exhausting. The selfishness, the pride, the performance — it's heavy. Maxwell compared it to a load we haul around that we never had to pick up in the first place.

Putting it off isn't instant. It's gradual, gritty work. But every gospel covenant you keep is designed to shear off a little more of it — like a chisel slowly revealing the person God already sees in you.

And when it lifts? Even just a little? Everything becomes clearer. You see people differently. You feel less alone. You find your actual identity — not the one built on what others think of you, but the one written in eternity.

On a clear day, rise and look around you — and you'll see who you are.

Alan Jay Lerner, quoted by Elder Maxwell

The Battle Is Real — So Is the Victory

Maxwell asked the question plainly: "How goes the battle?" Not is there a battle — but how is it going for you? Is the natural man being put off, even gradually?

The Lord's call to you is direct: "Come off conqueror" (D&C 10:5). That language isn't accidental. Conquerors fight. They struggle. They take losses. But they don't quit, and they don't crown the wrong king.

You are not stuck being the version of yourself that takes the easy path, seeks the quick validation, or folds when it gets hard. That's the natural man. He doesn't get the final word.

The promise on the other side of this — when the natural man is finally put off — is staggering: covenant-keepers inherit all that the Father hath. Not a portion. All of it.

That's worth the fight.