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...
I lost my cell phone today. It wasn't gone for long, and the entire process to search for and find it probably only lasted twenty minutes, but still. I had left it in a pew in the chapel of our church building and by the time I realized where I had likely left it, another congregation was meeting in the chapel. At the end of their meeting the bishop kindly made an announcement over the pulpit to see if if anyone had seen a lost cell phone. It was discovered immediately.
As I walked to my car with phone in hand, I was struck by the surge of relief I felt and just how happy and grateful I was to have found it. Not only was I surprised by the apparent strength of my attachment to my phone, but how urgently the members of the other congregation had helped me find it. The three people sitting in the row where I had left my phone stood up immediately with hands raised in the air almost shouting, "It's here!" "Here it is!"
Christ shared a similar parable in the New Testament of a "woman having ten pieces of silver" who did "light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently" until she found it. "And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:8-1o). God goes to great lengths to seek out and save His wandering children, and invites us to do the same.
One phrase in 3 Nephi alludes to a part of His earthly ministering that we know nothing of. Christ barely hinted to the Nephites that there were groups other than the Nephites and the Israelites that He planned to personally visit. These other sheep "are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them" (3 Nephi 16:2). To my knowledge there is no further record of who these people are, or what Christ said to them. It is almost as if Christ was practicing the advice he gave earlier to the Nephites and during the Sermon on the Mount to "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:3-4).
The works of God are infinite, and He is so anxiously engaged in the cause of goodness that it would be impossible to record all of His works. What a beautiful and aspirational goal: to be so consumed in efforts to serve and build that they can't all be written down. I experience this phenomenon in a way in marriage, nested among the thousands of gentle words and kind acts that no other human beings will ever know. I think most parents can attest to the service they render to their children that that their kids can never know about or fully understand. Christ visited an entire civilization and presumable revealed His gospel and granted priesthood authority, and we know nothing about it.
Living this kind of life--a life full of service--is what Christ was talking about when he commanded His followers to be the salt of the earth. Our efforts might be small, and we may be outnumbered, but acts of kindness and goodness carry disproportionate weight. It only takes a dash of salt to flavor a pot of soup. Christ also warned the Nephites that if "they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor" then they are "thenceforth good for nothing" (3 Nephi 16:15). If not to serve and bear witness of Christ, our lives have little meaning.
Application Questions
What constitutes your personal ministry? What acts of service and kindness do you render that no one will ever know about?
What can you do to be that "salt" of your world?
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