Contention

Today's scripture mastery comes from 3 Nephi 11:29.  This verse is among some of the first things that Christ taught the people in the Book of Mormon when he came to teach them personally after his Resurrection:

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of ^acontention is not of me, but is of the ^bdevil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

This can be a difficult thing for many of us.  We live in a culture where people love to contend with each other.  Turn on the TV or the radio, and there will be people contending with each other.  Read the comments left by others on just about any website, and you will find people who love to call names and insult one another.  Road Rage is very common--if somebody cuts us off, or drives too slowly for our taste, we lash out at them.

That type of behavior is definitely not Christlike behavior.  If we truly want to follow Christ, we must master ourselves.  We must not say those things that are only to raise contention.  We must "bite our tounge," rather than lashing out at someone who has offended us.

The apostle James taught about the importance of mastering our tongues in James 3:2-6.  He said this:

 2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

 Rather than letting our tongue set us on the "fire of hell," as James said--let us do as Christ taught instead (Matthew 5:44 or 3 Nephi 12:44):

 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Let us strive to be the peacemaker, rather than one who brings contention and strife.  As we do so, we will be more like Christ.

Where to build your foundation

Helaman 5:12 is today's scripture mastery:

 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

This verse goes very well with the parable taught by Christ in the New Testament, about the foolish man and the wise man (Matthew 7:24-27)

 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

If we choose to build our foundation on Christ--the only solid and safe foundation, we will be able to weather the storms of life.  However, if we choose to build our foundation on anything else, the storms of life will be able to overpower us, and our "house" will fall.

How do we build upon the Rock?  We must both hear and do the commandments of the Lord.  Hearing only is not enough--and we can't keep the commandments if we don't know what they are. . .So it is very important to read and study the scriptures.  It is important to go to church and listen to the word of God.  It is important to pray daily, both in our families, as well as privately.  But then we must go out and do those things that we have heard and read about.  There is a well known quote that goes something like this "Pray as though everything depends upon God, and then work as though everything depends upon you"  That is true doctrine.  We must DO those things that are right.  We must FOLLOW the example of Christ, and DO his works.  We must help the sick and the afflicted.  We must relieve suffering whenever possible (and not cause it ourselves).  We must KEEP the commandments.  If we do these things, we will be securely founded on the Rock--The Rock of our Redeemer--and when the storms of life and temptation come, we will be able to withstand them.

Wickedness never was happiness

Alma 41:10 is today's scripture mastery:

 10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

This verse was originally spoken by Alma to his son Corianton.  Corianton had done some things that were against the commandments of God.  He was attempting to find reasons in the scriptures to excuse himself and to convince himself that what He did wasn't bad.  Alma was teaching him the correct doctrine.  He boiled it down to the statement "wickedness never was happiness."

There is a saying that my father taught me that goes well with what Corianton was trying to do.  When I would do something growing up that I knew to be wrong, my father would say to me "Justification by rationalisation. . ."  In other words, many try to justify the things that they think or do by rationalising that they really aren't bad, or that no one will know, or many other reasons.  They try to convince themselves that whatever they do is right.

That just is not so.  We can try to rationalise all we want, but that does not change the fact that wickedness never was happiness.  When we do things that are contrary to the commandments of God, we are not happy--the reason is that the Holy Ghost will not stay with us when we break the commandments of God.

Let me finish by quoting the remainder of what Alma taught his son Corianton
 (Alma 41:12-15):

 12 And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?

 13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.

 14 Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.

 15 For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all.

 Let us all repent and keep the commandments, and be happy!

Learn wisdom

Today's scripture mastery is a short one, but the earlier we can learn and apply this in our life, the better.  Alma 37:35 is the scripture mastery today:

 35 O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

The commandments of God have been given to us not as a restriction or to make us miserable--but rather to keep us free from the pain and misery that God knows will come if we do the things that we have been commanded not to do.  I touched on that principle in my post back on Dec 17th, so I won't talk too much about it, other than to say that the wisdom that Alma is talking about is that we can be free from those traps that Satan wants us to become mired in, if we keep the commandments of God.  The sooner we do that, the sooner we can have the peace promised by the Savior, and the happier we will be.

If we keep the commandments of God, that does not mean that we will be free of trials and difficulties, but we will have the peace in our hearts, and we will be comforted in our trials.

How God does His work

Alma 37:6-7 is today's scripture mastery:

 6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

God occasionally does great and grand wonders for all the world to see (such as when Moses parted the Red Sea for example.)  However, He usually works in small and simple ways.  He often does His work through others, and does it in quiet and simple ways.

A good example of this is the restoration of His Gospel in these latter days.  He chose a young man of 14 years of age to reveal himself to, rather than to someone who was well educated and respected, or even to a High ranking and powerful person in the government.  The Lord's church has been restored, and it continues to grow, and spread across the world.  Those that spread the gospel are not anything special.  The gospel is spread typically not in large, miraculous ways, but rather simply the the Holy Ghost touching the hearts and minds of those who hear the message, and then change whatever needs to be changed in their lives to come in to His church.

I hope that my simple messages here are an example of that--I know that the words that I put down here on this blog are not anything grand or spectacular.  I know that I am not a fantastic writer, but I do know that I do have a conviction that what I say is true.  I hope that through this blog (and the many others which are out there who are sharing the gospel) that lives will be touched, and that the salvation of souls may even be accomplished.

Share your simple and small talents that you have with the world.  Through them the world is blessed!  If you have a testimony of the gospel as I have, don't hesitate to share it with others--for it is through the small and simple things that great things are brought to pass!

Now is the time. Don't Procrastinate!

Alma 34:32-34 is the scripture mastery for today:

32 For behold,this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea,behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
33 And now,as I said unto you before,as ye have had so many witnesses,therefore,I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life,which is given us to prepare for eternity,behold,if we do not improve our time while in this life,then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say,when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent,that I will return to my God. Nay,ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life,that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

We can not procrastinate something as important as preparing NOW.  As life is so unpredictable, we never know when we will be "heading home"  If we have not prepared ourselves by repenting, and by keeping God's commandments, it will be too late for us.

God is very merciful, but he is also just.  He gives us this time to learn of Him, and to repent, and come to Him.  If we don't take advantage of this time to do that, we won't have the chance later. . .If we have heard of Him, and know of Him, we are obligated to act.

If we were someone who didn't have the opportunity to learn of Him before we pass on, God being merciful, has given them the opportunity to repent and learn of Him afterwards--but for those of us who do know of Him. . .We have our chance now. . .

Don't procrastinate repentance until it is too late!

Faith

Alma 32:21 is today's scripture mastery.

 21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Here in life, we are often asked to believe in things that we may not yet have proof of.  We must have faith in things that we can not see.  Take the fourth article of faith as an example:

 4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

The very first thing that we must do in the gospel is to have faith.  And not just any faith--it must be faith in Jesus Christ.  The Bible Dictionary has a great definition for faith.  It starts by saying this:

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation.

How do we gain the required faith?  Alma taught us much about faith.  He taught us how we can gain faith.  According to Alma, the first step is to have a desire to believe.   Alma teaches much better than I can what we must do next.  In verses 26-43, he teaches us how we can have our faith go from a mere desire, all the way to having a "perfect knowledge."  Those verses I referenced are a little too long to quote here, but I encourage you to click on the link, and read Alma's words yourself.  It is probably one of the best sermons on faith that you will ever read/hear.