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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...
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3 Nephi 23 - Other Scriptures I Would That Ye Should Write


Christ is the source of truth and doctrine, and yet he spent a significant amount of time during His visit to the Nephites quoting the words of other prophets and reading the scriptures to the people. Jesus also paid a particular interest in the accuracy and completeness of the Nephite record. 

 Write the Things Which I Have Told You
Christ commanded the people to "give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles" (3 Nepih 23:4). Reading this passage got me thinking about the things that God has told me and whether or not I have written them down. What doctrinal nuances have I discovered reading the scriptures? What spiritual promptings have I received while prayer or attending church meetings? We live most of our lives in the private universe of our minds, and it is easy to forget to pull out and documents those internal thoughts that are most important to us. 

 Christ reviewed in detail the records of the people and made sure the Nephites corrected important omissions. He said, "Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not" (3 Nephi 23:6). Specifically, Christ was to ensure that Samuel the Lamanites prophesy about the resurrection that occurred at the time of Christ's coming was documented, "And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?" (3 Nephi 23:11). 

 Having a record of His teachings and the words of the prophets was not enough. Christ 
"commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded unto them" (3 Nephi 23:14). Christ's instructions to the people read like a chapter from an education textbook and emphasizes the importance of not only hearing God' teachings, but writing them down and sharing them with others. In an academic context this is how we learn and internalize a new concept. Recording Christ's words had the added benefit of being able to preserve them and pass them to others. 

 Insomuch That We Could Preserve the Commandments of the Lord Unto Our Children
In the opening scene of the Book of Mormon, Nephi and his brothers returned to Jerusalem to get the brass plates, which contained the commandments of God, and the genealogy of his family. After obtaining the record from the wicked Laban and returning to his father, Nephi remarked, "we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children" (1 Nephi 5:21). 

 In my life I have been blessed and strengthened by talking to my grandparents about their lives as young adults, and reading their journals. When I was adrift and disoriented in my early twenties, my Grandma Louise shared with the 25 was the hardest year of her life. Seeing what I considered to be her immensely successful life in this context gave me hope that eventually I would marry and find purpose and stability in my life. My Grandpa Schwab kept a line-a-day journal of the first five years of my mother's life. I read it after his passing. Not only has this journal inspired my wife and I to keep journals for our children, but it gave me tender insights into my grandpa's dedication as a father, and inspired me to do the same. 

 The records we leave can inspire and strengthen others, including ourselves. When we write down the spiritual experiences we have, and chart the trajectory of our lives, we can help those who come after us. 
Application Questions

 What record are you making of your life? How can you document and teach the spiritual experiences you are having to your [future] children and posterity. 
Image Credit: history.lds.org

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