Mosiah 2:1-8
I've had a very interesting day again today, and it actually ties into the lesson from the reading for today. I've not felt very good the last few days, kind of out of it, really really tired for some reason, I might be fighting off my son's cold, but anyway, work has been really busy and I just needed a little bit of down time for myself, to just kind of chill out, and I got to do that today. I usually work out right after I wake up but because I've felt bad I skipped it today and I sat around and watched tv for a while instead, which was nice for me, and while I was chillin for a while, I read Mosiah chapter 2, the first half and also the IM portion going along with that because I've felt a disconnect for the last few days as I've been reading and writing, like just kind of out of it, so I decided to get a head start on today's reading and try to be a little bit more engaged, and I have been so that's been nice. But what's been really interesting is the people that I met today. I met one guy who just got out of prison after a 12 year stint, and most of that was spent in solitary confinement, while there he spent 6 hours a day searching diligently the scriptures, and is now fully devoted to the Lord. He said that he was baptized LDS but he's worried for me because some of the doctrine is a little bit crazy, and that he's just a regular Christian now. And it was interesting because after he told me all that he was waiting for me to respond and I was thinking "what am I supposed to say to him?" So I prayed really quickly for what to do and so I told him about this blog, about my in depth study of the scriptures and how it's ben a miracle as my heart has changed. He was a little bit hesitant to accept my answer, but he did. And we talked about what it really meant to be Christ like, and in what ways that we serve people, and really that's a major theme in King Benjamin's address is the constant need for service, and that's what I talked to this guy about today, and wouldn't you believe that it was the theme of the talks that I just happened to be listening to from general conference on my way to work, so I want to start this with, today I am grateful for other people. I'm grateful that I can learn from, grow with, and connect to many different people, and I'm grateful for the truth that comes from unexpected places. When I was talking to my new friend, he said that he was feeding the homeless and being kind, he quoted scripture to me and I can see now a little bit more clearly why the scriptures are so very important. The Bible is all he had for 12 years, that was his only friend, his only comfort and his only companion, and he says he will now talk to anyone who will listen about the Savior, he will pull over immediately and give a sandwich to a homeless person he sees and talk to them about Jesus. It was amazing to hear his story, and really brought into my heart what I want to do with my own life. I mean, at this point, I'm pretty maxed out, I don't think I could squeeze one more project into my life, I am at full capacity, but it won't always be like this, and when it's not I want to spend much time feeding the homeless, working in battered women's shelters, maybe run an orphanage in Cambodia, be a foster parent, give love and help others feel peace. We also talked about Homeboy Industries, which I saw a special about on BYUtv once, this is the kind of different that I want to make, this is the kind of service that I want to give. Watch it, do some research, and it's a deeply moving and beautiful story about the power of the atonement, the beauty of hope and second chances. When my kids are older, I fully anticipate not making a large Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves, but instead going and spending the day working in a homeless shelter, maybe going to dinner at a restaurant and giving the waitress a $500 tip. For Christmas I want to take the money that we've saved all year and buy presents to take to the battered women's shelter. I want my children to volunteer at the county hospital during the summer, and truly see all manner of humanity and for them to learn to love and serve all of God's children. When I was coming into work today there was a part of a general conference address by Elder Richard G. Scott called "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ" which said "fill your life with service to others. As you lose your life in the service of Father in Heaven's children, Satan's temptations lose power in your life." And I love that, the whole talk was amazing and I've felt a personal connection to so many of the talks that it's been uplifting in a way that is amazing for me. Anyway, this morning, I also read the IM breakdown of Mosiah 2:17, which is jumping ahead a little bit but I really found that it hit home for me. In the IM Elder Robert J. Whetten teaches "conversion means consecrating your life to caring for and serving others who need your help and sharing your gifts and blessings... Every unselfish act of kindness and service increases your spirituality. God would use you to bless others. Your continued spiritual growth and eternal progress are very much wrapped up in your relationships- in how you treat others... Isn't the measure of the level of your conversion how you treat others?... Service to others is what the gospel and exalted life are all about." This was so so powerful to me when I read it. I try very diligently to treat people with kindness and a good attitude, but that's mostly for people that I don't know, and this came to my mind when I saw that my ex mother in law had called and I started talking about her to a friend, and then I realized, that it wasn't just strangers that I needed to be kind to but that I needed to work on being kind and treating those who I really have a hard time dealing with, generously and with love. And that called to mind another general conference talk that I heard yesterday by Bishop Gerald Causse entitled "Ye Are No More Strangers." I really liked this talk because I found his voice to be soothing, and or course the message was amazing, but in it he reminds us "Jesus has asked us to observe the law of perfect love, which is a universal and unconditional gift. He said: 'For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'" When I remembered his talk and this teaching, it totally made sense to me, if I am kind to strangers, that's good, but it's not Christ-like, but in order to become Christ-like I need to learn to love those that I know, those who are a sore spot for me, who are unkind to me, those who are crazy and irritating to me. I need to learn to love them and treat them with the same kindness as I do everyone else, and I need to learn to do it genuinely, because I actually love them, not just fake it, which I might have to do at the beginning but I want eventually to have it be who I am and how I truly feel about them.
2:1-8 - One thing that I've always found interesting about the Law of Moses is that it really required a lot of faith to obey. For instance, in verse 3 it talks about the people coming to hear King Benjamin and bringing "the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses." Back at this time it was survival and giving up an animal and killing it and burning it was a major sacrifice because it greatly diminished your food supply, I mean, you might not have another animal that's healthy enough to eat, you might not know when you're getting a new one, it's literally taking food out of your mouth and giving it to God. So I always have respect for those who the scriptures talk about obey the law of Moses with animal sacrifice. I thought that it was an interesting view in verse 4 that the people came "that they might give thanks to the Lord their God," for protecting and delivering them out of Jerusalem and out of the hands of their enemies. But here's what's interesting, they were thankful to God for appointing "just men to be their teachers, and also a just man to be their king," because he had established peace in the land and taught them the commandments "that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men." They are truly grateful for their righteous leaders because they teach them the ways to happiness, and it's odd for me because I've never thought about it like that before, I've never thought to be thankful for my righteous leaders because of their wise and inspired counsel but now that I think about it, I am grateful for amazing bishops and I think that I want to focus a little bit more on being grateful for my leaders, especially now as I'm studying more general conference. Ok and the last part that I want to touch on is in verse 6 when "they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple." And I never thought anything of this verse before but I heard either a talk or an Ensign article talking about "what is our tent door open to?" In an April 2006 general conference Elder Ronald A. Rasband gave a talk entitled "Our Rising Generation," and in it he asks "figuratively speaking, brethren, are the doors of our homes pitched towards the temples we so love? Do we attend as often as we can, showing our children through our example the important of these sacred special places?" What is our focus on? We can tell our children all day long about what to do, but it's what we do with our own life and time that truly shows them what is important. The talk that first gave me thought to this verse is an April 2012 general conference talk by L. Tom Perry entitled "The Power of Deliverance" and in it he says "the old testament contains the account of Abraham taking Lord, his nephew, with him out of Egpyt. Given a choice of land, Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and he pitched his tent facing Sodom, a city of great wickedness. Most of the problems that Lot later encountered in his life, and there were several can be traced back to his early decision to position the door of his tent to look upon Sodom. Abraham, the father of the faithful, experienced life differently. Certainly there were many challenges, but it was to be a blessed life. We do not know which way Abraham's tent door faced, but there's a strong hint in the last verse of the 13th chapter of Genesis. It reports 'then Abram (or Abraham) removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built an alter unto the Lord.' While I do not know, I personally believe the door of Abraham's tent faced the altar he built unto the Lord. How do I draw this conclusion? It is because I know the Book of Mormon story about King Benjamin's instructions to his people when they gathered to hear his final address. King Benjamin instructed them to position the doors of their tents facing the temple. We can be delivered from the ways of evil and wickedness by turning to the teachings of the holy scriptures. The Savior is the Great Deliverer, for he delivers us from death and from sin." Suddenly this verse made more sense to me, and the imagery was beautiful, the metaphor profound. And I loved it.
2:1-8 - One thing that I've always found interesting about the Law of Moses is that it really required a lot of faith to obey. For instance, in verse 3 it talks about the people coming to hear King Benjamin and bringing "the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses." Back at this time it was survival and giving up an animal and killing it and burning it was a major sacrifice because it greatly diminished your food supply, I mean, you might not have another animal that's healthy enough to eat, you might not know when you're getting a new one, it's literally taking food out of your mouth and giving it to God. So I always have respect for those who the scriptures talk about obey the law of Moses with animal sacrifice. I thought that it was an interesting view in verse 4 that the people came "that they might give thanks to the Lord their God," for protecting and delivering them out of Jerusalem and out of the hands of their enemies. But here's what's interesting, they were thankful to God for appointing "just men to be their teachers, and also a just man to be their king," because he had established peace in the land and taught them the commandments "that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men." They are truly grateful for their righteous leaders because they teach them the ways to happiness, and it's odd for me because I've never thought about it like that before, I've never thought to be thankful for my righteous leaders because of their wise and inspired counsel but now that I think about it, I am grateful for amazing bishops and I think that I want to focus a little bit more on being grateful for my leaders, especially now as I'm studying more general conference. Ok and the last part that I want to touch on is in verse 6 when "they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple." And I never thought anything of this verse before but I heard either a talk or an Ensign article talking about "what is our tent door open to?" In an April 2006 general conference Elder Ronald A. Rasband gave a talk entitled "Our Rising Generation," and in it he asks "figuratively speaking, brethren, are the doors of our homes pitched towards the temples we so love? Do we attend as often as we can, showing our children through our example the important of these sacred special places?" What is our focus on? We can tell our children all day long about what to do, but it's what we do with our own life and time that truly shows them what is important. The talk that first gave me thought to this verse is an April 2012 general conference talk by L. Tom Perry entitled "The Power of Deliverance" and in it he says "the old testament contains the account of Abraham taking Lord, his nephew, with him out of Egpyt. Given a choice of land, Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and he pitched his tent facing Sodom, a city of great wickedness. Most of the problems that Lot later encountered in his life, and there were several can be traced back to his early decision to position the door of his tent to look upon Sodom. Abraham, the father of the faithful, experienced life differently. Certainly there were many challenges, but it was to be a blessed life. We do not know which way Abraham's tent door faced, but there's a strong hint in the last verse of the 13th chapter of Genesis. It reports 'then Abram (or Abraham) removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built an alter unto the Lord.' While I do not know, I personally believe the door of Abraham's tent faced the altar he built unto the Lord. How do I draw this conclusion? It is because I know the Book of Mormon story about King Benjamin's instructions to his people when they gathered to hear his final address. King Benjamin instructed them to position the doors of their tents facing the temple. We can be delivered from the ways of evil and wickedness by turning to the teachings of the holy scriptures. The Savior is the Great Deliverer, for he delivers us from death and from sin." Suddenly this verse made more sense to me, and the imagery was beautiful, the metaphor profound. And I loved it.
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