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...
1 comment

Ether 5 - By and by It Shall Be Wisdom in God


As Moroni abridged the record of the Jaredites, he explained that the miraculous things that the brother of Jared saw were too sacred to share. He sealed that portion of the record and explained that it was not to be translated or published, “except by and by it shall be wisdom in God“ (Ether 5:1). 

 Sometimes as believers we are too certain that what we know is all there is, and that it will never change. This kind of arrogance about our ability to comprehend the will of God overplays our hand, alienates others, and limits our ability to learn more. Instead, God wants us to remain open to the additional light and knowledge He wants to give us, and to love each other deeply in the meantime.  

 I know we don't know everything God wants to tell us. His truth is infinite and cannot be understood by human minds. Even the pure revelation He gives us through an living prophet today is delivered to a limited human, who understands in incompletely, and transmits it through the filter of an imperfect language, before it enters our dull ears, and is interpreted by our biased thoughts and experiences. I love the notion that when we speak about "the truth" we learn more about ourselves than the actual nature of God and His universe. 

 I am equally confident that God reveals Himself to us directly through Spirit, and that while we will never fully comprehend God in this life, He has promised to reveal everything we need to know. We don't need to know everything, or even fully understand what we have been given, in order to enjoy all the blessings that God has prepared for those that love Him. 
Application Questions

 How can humility about what you know and believe make you a more faithful and loving person? When can certainty actually get in the way?
Image Credit: peegel.info

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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. ...
Post a Comment
Read more