The Apostle Paul was always quick to acknowledge his role as a humble servant of God in Corinth, reminding the early Saints that the remarkable transformation they were experiencing was not of his doing. Their lives were changing, and the credit belonged to Jesus Christ.
In order to teach this principle, Paul used a powerful analogy:
“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3).
This teaching would have resonated with the people, for they had seen letters yellow and crumble with age. They would also know about the difficulty of inscribing messages on unyielding stone. Stone was hard, unchangeable, and resistant to change.
And yet, they would also know how God worked in their life to change their stony hearts. Not a physical transformation but a transformation of thoughts, desires, and attitudes. A settling of the doctrine in their hearts.
Likewise, what if the doctrine that “the family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan” was more settled in our hearts? How might being settled help us every time we approach a sensitive social issue?
Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained, “Being settled keeps us from responding to every little ripple of dissent as if it were a tidal wave. We are to be disciples, not oscillators, like a “reed shaken with the wind.” (Matt. 11:7.) More members need the immense relief and peace which can come from being “settled” without which those individuals will be like “the troubled sea, when it cannot rest.” (Isa. 57:20.) There is another special reason to become settled: we will live in a time in which “all things shall be in commotion.” The uncertainties, upheavals, and topsy-turviness of today’s world will be such that those who vacillate and equivocate will be tossed about by severe turbulence.”
Just like the early Saints, our Heavenly Father can etch the doctrine of the family—His doctrine—into our hearts, making our faith unshakable, forever engraved within us.