Eat, drink and be merry

This week as I was reading the scriptures, I came across a verse that I have loved for a long time, 2 Nephi 28:8. It reads as follows:

8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God--he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

It might be easy for us to slip into thinking this way because of how our culture is. For example, we go to school and we receive a grade for our performance. We can sometimes think to ourselves, I don’t need to try very hard on all the assignments and I will still get an “A.” What I think the scripture is saying is we should not have this attitude toward the gospel. We should give our best effort to be obedient to God’s commandments and we will be blessed for it. This scripture has helped me to reset my attitude many times when I needed it and I am grateful for it.