Sunday, March 20, 2011
I missed last week (couldn't get the internet to connect from my house on Sunday, and then I went to San Fransisco and wasn't exactly spending much time on the computer), so this is for two weeks' time.
(18) Jacob 5:73 This is the parable of the olive trees, specifically the part where they are grafting in the wild tree with the "tame one:" "they did keep the root and the top thereof equal, according to the strength thereof." We should not branch out further than that which our roots can support. Or, in other words, do not force yourself to take on more than that which you have strength to bear.
(19) Jacob 6:5 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would... cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you." I thought it interesting that one of the definitions of "cleave" is to "become emotionally attached to" something.
(20) Enos 1:3 "... the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart." This one I just linked to Mosiah 2:41 which says, "I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to theend they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."
(21) Omni 1:21 "Yeah, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him" I remember learning that your soul is your body and spirit combined, so to offer up your whole soul would be to offer up all that you physically and spiritually have.
(22) Mosiah 2:14 contains the description of what is, to me, a nearly perfect form of government. I'm not going to type it up here, but feel free to
read it yourself and see what you think!
(23) Mosiah 2:33 talks about everlasting punishment. I think that part of the reason this punishment is everlasting is because we can never pay back all of our blessings. As stated in a previous verse, we are indebted to our Heavenly Father from the very beginning, from the time that we are given our bodies until the end of time we are indebted to him. There is nothing that we can ever do to pay back this great debt, save that we serve Him. Yet even after doing this, we are blessed with even more, and so our debt becomes greater, thus bringing about an endless debt.
(24) Mosiah 3:15 "And many signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows he showed unto them, concerning his coming" Look at the dictionary definition of this word (a person or thing symbolizing or exemplifying the ideal or defining characteristics of something; a symbol or an emblem). Do you think that the people all noticed all the types that they were given? For example, do you think that the Israelites noticed when Moses and some of the things he did was given as a type? Do we notice the types in our own lives? For if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then it stands to reason that the Lord still shows us many signs, wonders, shadows, and types to this day.
(25) Mosiah 3:19 "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." What exactly is a saint? I think this verse gives us some pretty good defining characteristics of sainthood. Read back over it again.
Labels: Book of Mormon, Religion, Svithe
