Never Fall Away

 



In Alma chapter 23, the sons of Mosiah preached to the Lamanites.


The law was declared that the word of God could not be obstructed.


Note that the law did NOT say that everyone had to embrace and follow it, but their synagogues and temples and homes should be open to them.


And then in verse six, something stuck out to me.


Something that applies to our day.


“They were converted unto the Lord and never did fall away.”


NEVER DID FALL AWAY??


That sounds  like an important need in our day.  


My immediate question was HOW? 


So I read more closely.


Verse 7:


“For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.”


  1.  They became a righteous people.
  1. They did lay down the weapons of their rebellion.
  1. They did not fight against God.
  1. They did not fight against their brethren.



So what does that mean for us? 


  1. BECOME a righteous people.  Be willing to change.  Add the better.  A step at a time.
  1. Lay down our weapons of rebellion.  What is my go to weapon? Rationalization, resentment, arrogance? Elder Bednar cautioned, “To set aside cherished “weapons of rebellion” such as selfishness, pride, and disobedience requires more than merely believing and knowing. Conviction, humility, repentance, and submissiveness precede the abandonment of our weapons of rebellion. Do you and I still possess weapons of rebellion that keep us from becoming converted unto the Lord? If so, then we need to repent now.”
  1. Don’t fight God.  Let Him prevail.  Embrace gratitude- for we know that all good things come from God.  Elder Bednar expounded, “Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony.”
  1. Don’t fight with others.  Limit, prevent and stop contention.  Work more on my own improvement of faults and less on calling out others for theirs.  Give grace.  Be kind. Look for goodness first! 


I am grateful for the wise counsel in the scriptures, even when, or perhaps especially when, the words call on me to do better.


But the reward- to never fall away- means to always have the assurance of God’s love and presence.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trust

Image
  As I was riding a bike down the former train route along the Idaho-Montana border, I had hours to quietly reflect and appreciate the lush mountain landscape extending around me as far as I could see.   I was in a prayerful state, open to the promptings of the Spirit.   At one point I came to the edge of a meadow and needed to sit and rest for a bit.   There I found a lovely rustic bench made from a tree right there in the forest.  And it occurred to me how often the things we need are right there in our lives around us. The people, the resources, our talents and gifts. Psalm 34:8 lovingly promises “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him”. He will provide.   And as we learn to recognize that help, we will become more grateful and happy. 
Read more

Pancake Stirrers

Image
 Have you ever found yourself super upset over a rather simple offense? Generally when that happens it is actually due to much more than that incident.   It is likely just that incident that was the last straw, or used up your final bit of patience. Yesterday I had a student come to my room absolutely outraged.   She has a significant trauma history and so has learned to fight at all costs. Her counselors and our staff are working to help her build some new, more effective ways of dealing with frustration and confrontation. In this instance her role in her culinary arts class was to stir the pancake batter.   Only someone else did and her immediate reaction was to want to fight her. She knew that wasn’t appropriate so walked out and came to my room. After she had vented and calmed down, we talked through it.   Humor is a very effective tool for her so after gauging her body language I simply asked, “Are you going to let your whole day be ruined because someone else stirred the pancakes
Read more

Entitlement

Image
  As we stopped to get family donuts this morning, the sign in the restroom caught my eye. “Please be considerate of others and clean up any messes you may have left.” It reminded me of a sharp contrast I observed several years ago.  As a young class visited the restroom, a student balled up their paper towel and attempted to toss it into the trash can from across the room. He missed and went over to pick up the paper. His teacher immediately stopped him and commented, “Oh you don’t need to pick that up, that’s what we have janitors for.” What a missed opportunity. The child had naturally felt responsibility for his own actions and had tried to pick up his mess. Yet instead of helping cement that foundation of personal accountability, the teacher had reinforced entitlement and laziness. This same attitude is increasingly prevalent in society today.   It sounds like “Why should I have to?”, “Someone else will do it” or “It’s not my job”. Elder Dallin H Oaks stated, “The values of the wo
Read more