Our reading this week is from 3 Nephi 12-17. I loved our reading. Starting off, we read
about the Sermon on the Mount which is located in both the Bible and the Book
of Mormon. It’s the “Lord’s blueprint
for perfection.” President Harold B. Lee
said “Christ came not only into the world to make an atonement for the sins of
mankind but to set an example before the world of the standard of perfection of
God’s law and of obedience to the Father. In his Sermon on the Mount the Master
has given us somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect,
or what might be said to be ‘an autobiography, every syllable of which he had
written down in deeds,’ and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own
lives.” I loved it put in those
words. If we read these few chapters we
really can get a great glimpse into Christ’s life and can continually work on
perfecting our life.
I really enjoyed digging in and studying the Beatitudes
listed in Chapter 12. I spent a few days
just on this chapter. I thought I’d
share a few of my thoughts from it.
Give Head to the
Apostles – Jeffrey R. Holland said “In such days as we are now in—and will
more or less always be in—the storms of life ‘shall have no power over
you…” I don’t know about you, but each
conference, I have issues, I have problems and each conference I get my issues
resolved and problems solved. I feel
peace. Our lives are not going to be
sunny and happy each day; the storms of life will get us, but if we have that
foundation in listening to our prophets and apostles we will be able to handle
what comes our way.
Blessed Are All They
That Mourn- Recently Howard’s cousin lost their sweet 4-year-old in a
tragic accident. The next day, they had
their baby born. They had just moved
into a new neighborhood and hadn’t unpacked yet. When she came home from the
hospital from having her baby their neighbors had unpacked her house and put
pictures up on the wall. They mourned
with them, they didn’t just say they were sorry for their loss, they went to
work and made their burdens lighter.
Blessed Are the Meek – President Kimball said “Humility is not
pretentious, presumptuous, nor proud. It is not weak, vacillating, nor
servile. …
“Humble and meek properly suggest virtues, not
weaknesses. They suggest a consistent mildness of temper and an absence of
wrath and passion. … It is not servile submissiveness. It is not cowed nor
frightened. …
“How does one get humble? To me, one must
constantly be reminded of his dependence. On whom dependent? On the Lord. How
remind one’s self? By real, constant, worshipful, grateful prayer”
In the world we are told to be the opposite of
this. We shouldn’t be meek; we need to
be independent! But how lucky are we
that we can be dependent on the Lord and we show him this dependence by prayer.
Hunger and Thirst
after Righteousness- I think a lot of this hunger and thirst depends on our
desire. We need to have the desire to make it an action word. Sheri Dew said this “Hungering and thirsting
translate to sheer spiritual labor. Worshiping in the temple, repenting to
become increasingly pure, forgiving and seeking forgiveness, and earnest
fasting and prayer all increase our receptivity to the Spirit. Spiritual work
works and is the key to learning to hear the voice of the Lord” Its not enough to just hunger and thirst we
must then get to work!
Pure in Heart –
Joseph B. Wirthin said this about being pure in heart. “If we are without
guile, we are honest, true, and righteous. These are all attributes of Deity
and are required of the Saints. Those who are honest are fair and truthful in
their speech, straightforward in their dealings, free of deceit, and above
stealing, misrepresentation, or any other fraudulent action. Honesty is of God;
dishonesty of the devil, who was a liar from the beginning. Righteousness means
living a life that is in harmony with the laws, principles, and ordinances of
the gospel” Two things I liked about his quote, one its required of the
Saints. We must be honest. And two, by living righteous we are living in
harmony of the laws, principles and ordinances of the gospel. And we’re just plain happier.
Peacemaker – this
may be my favorite. We talk about this a
lot on our house. We talk about being
peacemakers at school at home with our siblings. Bruce R. McConkie said “Peacemakers: In the
full sense, only those who believe and spread the fullness of the gospel are
peacemakers within the perfect meaning of this Beatitude. The gospel is the
message of peace to all mankind. Children of God: Those who have been adopted
into the family of God as a result
of their devotion to the truth. By such a course they become heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Christ.” I hadn’t
really thought of being a peacemaker by being a missionary. But it only makes sense. The gospel brings peace, sharing the gospel
is sharing peace.
Whoever is Angry With
His Brother –We need to avoid judgment.
And I know this is much easier said than done. And then in verse 24 Jesus taught that you
need to get it resolved before you come to him.
Its better to avoid anger and judgement all together.
I Would That Ye
Should Be Perfect- James E Faust said “Perfection is an eternal goal. While
we cannot be perfect in mortality, striving for it is a commandment which
ultimately, through the Atonement, we can keep” This gave me a feeling of
peace. Perfection will not happen overnight. It will not even happen in this lifetime, but
its something I can continually work towards and grow.
I know that if we work on this list of goals to better
ourselves we can work towards perfection and continually being closer to our
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I’m
grateful for these chapters. I’m grateful for my testimony growing this week
while I learned directly from our Savior.
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