Skip to main content

9 - 15 Mar - Learn With Joy and Not With Sorrow - Jacob 1 - 4

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...

Alma 38 - Bridle All Your Passions, That Ye May Be Filled with Love


After Alma finished offering counsel to his son Heleman, he spoke to his son Shiblom. Alma recounted his conversion story and emphasized the mercy of God in his repentance process. Despite Alma's incredible experiences with an angel of God and a lifelong ministry of preaching the gospel, he wanted his son to know that testimony or true knowledge can come only through the feelings of the Holy Ghost. "Now, my son, I would not that ye should think that I know these things of myself, but it is the Spirit of God which is in me which maketh these things known unto me; for if I had not been born of God I should not have known these things" (Alma 38:6). Alma implies that there are certain things we can only know if we have been born of God. 

Since Shiblom was to continue in his calling to preach the gospel, Alma gave him practical advice for being a good missionary. He counseled him to be humble, to work hard, and to not be overbearing. He also instructed him to control all of his temporal desires so that he could experience love. "See that ye are not lifted up unto pride; yea, see that ye do not boast in your own wisdom, nor of your much strength. Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness" (Alma 38:12-13). A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. When bridled, a horse can be a mode of transportation or a source of labor. Similarly, our passions fuel our capacity for work and can be accessed as a source of energy, but need to be directed in order to be useful. Harnessing may feel restricting, but is necessary to be productive. 

In the 19th century when Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, the word "passion" most likely referred to troubling movements of the soul—appetites, lusts, and desires. Passions were probably viewed as violent and self-regarding physical appetites (Thomas Dixon). While the connotation of the word "passion" is much more positive today, the principle taught by Alma is still relevant for all kinds of emotions and physical desires. The full range of human experience is ordained of God and part of His plan of happiness and growth for his children. Even our basest impulses and most uncomfortable emotions can benefit us during this mortal period of experience and testing. They are not to be ignored, squelched, or resented. Instead, all of them can be understood, harnessed and directed for good. When our emotional dimension is understood and leveraged, it allows us to be "filled with love." The main obstacle I experience to empathy, compassion, and caring is a preoccupation with my own emotional noise. Understanding how I think and feel, and being willing to feel any emotion without adding on layers of anxiety and shame opens up all sorts of mental and emotional bandwidth to care for other people.  

Alma gave further advice to his son Shiblom on how to love and serve others: "Do not say: O God, I thank thee that we are better than our brethren; but rather say: O Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy—yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times" (Alma 38:14). He encouraged his son to let go of comparisons between himself and others and to humbly acknowledge his dependance on the Lord. The key to humility is to care more about our standing before God than our standing among our peers. When we pray for others we increase our love for them and are better able to serve. 


Application Questions

What spiritual experiences have confirmed your beliefs? Are they recent? How can you seek a confirmation from the spirit, even for things you already accept intellectually?

What emotions do you avoid or feel shame for feeling? How can you experience them without reacting to them? 

When and in what ways do you compare yourself to others? How can you focus on your own progress and your relationship with God instead?


Image Credit: www.apa.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

1 Nephi 17 - That I May Find Ore to Molten, That I May Make Tools

Nephi is given the daunting task of constructing a ship to carry his family across the ocean. Like Nephi, the Lord asks us to do things that are beyond our current knowledge and ability with a promise that he will help us: "And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them ( 1 Nephi 17:3 ) From the experience of Nephi and his family, we can also see that the Lord grants us joy in our trials and certainty in his direction when we follow his commandments. When Nephi and his family reached the seashore, a brief respite before crossing the ocean, they enjoyed the break and celebrated their progress: "Notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its m...

Mosiah 16 - Speaking of Things to Come as Though They Had Already Come

Abinidi explains how Christ's atonement heals and redeems the righteous, while the wicked remain in their sins to be judged. The remarkable thing to me about Abinidi's teachings, and the teachings of all the Book of Mormon prophets who lived before Christ, is their level of conviction in what where, at the time, future events. Christ had not come yet. They looked forward to the ministry and atonement of Christ and were fully persuaded of its reality and the eternal impact it would have. It is hard enough to believe in Christ and follow His teachings after the fact, even with records of His life, and hundreds of millions of people who share a belief in Christ's divinity. But all that Abinidi and other prophets of his time had were their own revelations and inspiration from the Spirit.  Abinidi also alludes to Christ's own faith saying, "now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there coul...

Matthew 6 - Consider the Lilies of the Field

They Have Their Reward I've alway been a pragmatist when it comes to serving others. My attitude is that regardless of the purity of our motivations, it is better to serve someone than to not. I don't think Christ's teaching in the sermon on the mount necessarily contradict that notion, but He does teach a higher, holier way of being. He warns the hypocrites who give alms, pray, and fast for public recognition that they will not receive the blessings they might otherwise merit. He doesn't condemn service with impure motives, but simply warns that those who hypocritically do good for impure motives "have their reward" (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16).  In so many instances, we get to choose the spiritual outcomes of our lives. Even in the final judgment, we will not be  assigned to glory or punishment as much as we will  self-select based on our level of comfort. If we have not been transformed by the power of Christ we will not desire to be in his presence. ...