Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte...
Jacob explains his reasons for making a record of the spiritual teachings of his people on plates stating, "we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow" (Jacob 4:3). His goal was not only to teach his posterity, but to make that learning journey a joyful one. God has designed our mortal life to instruct and refine us and if I'm not reading too much into Jacob's words, we can gained this learning with joy or with sorrow. So what makes the difference? The next verse gives a clue about how to make spiritual learning in this life joyful:"For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ ... and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us" (Jacob 4:4).
By coming to know Christ and have a hope of His glory, the learning process of this life can be a joyful one. Jacob then gives the example of keeping the law of Moses, and compares it to Abraham's obedience to illustrate how even keeping what seem like arbitrary commandments can bless our lives. "Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son. Because they believed in Christ and worshipped the father, keeping the law of Moses was "sanctified unto us for righteousness."
The point is that our life on earth, and even keeping the commandments, blesses us most and leads to the greatest growth and learning when we believe in Christ and worship the Father. Like keeping the Law of Moses, there are certain things that God asks us to do that--even if we perform them perfectly--may not benefit us unless they are done with faith. Furthermore, even in the course of the learning we will all receive as children of God through our experience on earth, we apparently have a choice between learning things joyfully and learning things in sorrow. We can heed the teachings of the prophets, possibly to avoid some self-inflicted suffering, but more importantly to embrace and eternal perspective and to be buoyed by faith in Christ. The alternative is to suffer unnecessarily from the consequences of our poor choices, and feel alone in our struggle.
I personally believe that we have been allotted a certain amount of pain that we will experience in our lives that does not fluctuate based on our righteousness or wickedness. The goal of living a righteous life is not to avoid pain. For the Lord "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45) and we know that in this life "there must be opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11). God would be doing us a disservice and shortchanging our experience if he removed our trials. While pain is immutable, suffering is optional. In the midst of our growing pains, we can maintain perspective and hope in the face of physical and emotional trauma by building our faith in Christ: "Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea. Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things" (Jacob 4:6-7).
Having the power to move forests and mountains and seas sounds like the power to remove all pain and obstacles, but I would hesitant to draw that conclusion. A more useful interpretation is to view such acts as doing work, not avoiding it. The work may be achieved through the power of God, but is was not trivialized or made easier. The forest had the same number of trees, the mountain maintained its mass, the sea did not change in volume. As I think of those who are truly faced with insurmountable trials, and the first-world problems that give me chances to grow, I know the gospel of Jesus Christ makes the experience better, not easier. I know that I don't have to wonder why me and why them because I believe that God has prepared a perfect curriculum for his children and that even in the darkest chapters of our lives, we can choose to "learn with joy."
Application Questions:
How can you shift your perspective on life, learning, and trials to focus on making things better, not easier?
What are you recording and sharing with others "that they may know that we [know] of Christ?"
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