3 Nephi 13:14-18
13:14-15 -The Lord is very repetitive in the lesson that we must forgive in order to be forgiven, as it is in both verse 11 in the prayer and now as the first lesson of emphasis afterwards. In an April 1983 general conference address entitled “To Forgive is Divine” Theodore M. Burton taught “Jesus Christ gave his life to reconcile us to God so that through his atonement we can repent and receive forgiveness of our sins. We owe our Savior a great debt. Part of that debt is the obligation we have to forgive one another… That forgiveness which comes from our Heavenly Father is so complete that he will not even call to mind the sins we have committed. His forgiveness is so all-inclusive that the Lord will not even remember those sins… As we plead for mercy, we need to show mercy to others. The injury people do us may appear at the moment to be very great. Yet, just as time heals the wounds of the body, so time also heals the wounds of the soul. As we apply disinfectants to aid in healing the wounds of the body, we need to apply love and understanding in disinfecting the wounds of the soul. To the extent we give forgiveness to others, we can expect to receive forgiveness for ourselves. It is all part of the process of repentance.” This kind of goes hand in hand with what I was struggling with yesterday, with being angry with my ex-husband for not doing what I think he should be doing for our children, I need to forgive, I need to work through this. This is a much repeated lesson, and I mean if we think about it, what if the Lord didn’t tell us that we have to forgive? Because really, the Atonement covers it all, so to what end are we commanded to forgive? I think about the Law of Moses, which was the governing law at the time of Christ, as far as I understand, they weren’t required to forgive, they were a revenge based society, but what did that lead to? A people who were so wicked that the crucified the God of heaven and earth. Revenge and exact justice, not mercy or love or forgiveness was the overarching theme. It’s a painful existence to be sure; my dad says “holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Anger and resentment doesn’t affect the other person at all, it only affects you, and in fact this is a lesson that I’ve had to teach my daughter many times about her dad. Sometimes she says that she hates him, and I tell her that she’s allowed to feel that way, but do her feelings affect daddy? No, who do they affect? “They affect only me.” “And how do they make you feel?” “Bad.” “That’s right, you can hold on to how much you hate him or you can forgive him and be happy.” I have to be honest, she’s done really well with it, I’m really proud of her. In the instance of teaching about forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer, JET taught in “Jesus the Christ,” “In this specification of personal supplication we are taught to expect only as we deserve. The selfish and sinful would rejoice in exemption from their lawful debts, but being selfish and sinful would exact the last farthing from those who owe them. Forgiveness is too precious a pearl to be cast at the feet of the unforgiving; and, without the sincerity that springs from a contrite heart, no man may justly claim mercy. If others owe us, either in actual money or goods as suggested by debts and debtors, or through some infringement upon our rights included under the broader designation as a trespass, our mode of dealing with them will be taken into righteous account in the judgment of our own offenses.” This is a very difficult lesson, one that I’m struggling with specifically, but I need to work through it, not just because it’s a commandment but also because it’s a canker to the soul, it impedes progress. If forgiveness is in fact divine, then to not forgive would be satanic yes? The natural man vs. the Christ like man, anger and hate vs. forgiveness and love.
13:16-18 – I wonder why the Lord’s next topic of discussion is fasting, when He taught that fasting should be done in secret, much like prayer, and the giving of alms, I’m seeing a theme here, one of not secret but sacred spiritual growth and relationship to God. I guess that’s a good way to put it, fasting is designed to bring us closer to God, and when we fast in a way that is obvious to people, that takes the focus off of Godly fasting and puts it more in line with some sort of social standing, which has nothing to do with fasting. Again quoting “Jesus the Christ,” JET teaches “From the subject of prayer the Master turned to that of fasting, and emphasized the important truth that to be of avail fasting must be a matter between the man and his God, not between man and his kind.” This is what we were just talking about, and spiritual experience, not a social one. He continues “It was a common thing in the Master’s day to see men parading the fact of their abstinence as an advertisement of their assumed piety. That they might appear haggard and faint, this class of hypocrites disfigured their faces, went with unkempt hair, gazed about with sad countenances. Of these also the Lord said, ‘Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.’ Believers were admonished to fast secretly, with no outward display, and to fast unto God, who could see in secret and would heed their sacrifice and prayer.” Fasting has always been a difficult issue for me, one because I love food, and two because I don’t really understand it as a matter of spiritual showing. Fasting is about the body not having food, but how does it relate spiritually. The Bible Dictionary defines “Fasts” as “Fasting, a voluntary abstinence from food, is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ for developing spiritual strength; it has always existed among true believers. Without doubt it was practiced by Adam and his posterity from the beginning whenever they had the gospel among them. The early portion of the Old Testament does not mention fasting, but this is due to the scarcity of the record rather than the absence of the practice… Our Lord taught the religious value of fasting. We find it practiced in the early Christian Church. Fasting is confirmed in latter-day revelation as an ancient practice, but more significantly, the spiritual benefits are described more fully than in the Bible. The Book of Mormon, especially, is a fruitful source of information.” Again, we are taught that physical fasting is for our spiritual benefit. JW also gives Jesus's sermon about fasting a different view point, which he calls, "Fasting, Washing, and Anointing," in which he says, "A new order of fasting was then taught to add to the preceding instructions on prayer. In addition to requiring a secret inward righteousness in fasting and prayer, true fasting is to be accompanied with the purity of a simple anointing of the head and washing of the face. Washing the face, the head, the feet, the hands, or other parts of the body is symbolic of becoming completely pure and clean, 'clean every whit.' The concept is similar to the desire to become clean from the blood and sins that one encounters in this world. When a disciple seeks the Lord in true fasting and prayer in such a condition of inward and outward purity, the Lord promises that he will see and reward the supplicant openly in heaven. The importance of such rituals is evident: 'Whether someone's righteousness is safeguarded is therefore decided not by convictions of faith but by the performance of rituals.'... On three occasions in this section of the Sermon, the disciple is promised that the Lord will see him and reward him. Clearly, the desire of the disciple is for God alone to hear the words of his cries and for God to recognize and fill his needs. The pattern of repeating things three times, or grouping things in clusters of three, has been identified as a dominant characteristic of the Sermon on the Mount." That's an interesting point, fasting going along with ritual, because fasting is almost always accompanied with prayer, "fasting and prayer," "prayer and fasting," they go together, it's almost unofficial ceremoniously done.
Just as a side note of how amazing God is, as you know I've been struggling with my son and trying to figure out what to do, well when I was driving to work today I was pretty distraught about not knowing exactly what I was supposed to do, then an Ensign article called "Faith in God's Plan for Me" came on in which Jessica George talked about growing up in Kirtland, Ohio near the stone quarry that was used to dig stone out to haul a few miles over to build the temple. She related the difficulties that she faced in her own life to that stone quarry in Kirtland. She says "Today when people visit the stone quarry, they can see the Kirtland Temple in all its glory just down the road. The early Saints did not have that privilege. Their sacrifice and work were done without the end result, the finished temple, in sight. They likely could not envision that this temple would be the first of hundreds that would fill the earth and bring eternal blessings to God's children all over the world. They saw only the tools in their hands and the thousands of pounds of rock that needed to be removed. Yet their faith was strong, and they knew their sacrifice would bring forth great blessings. From those early Saints I learned that in every life there must be a 'stone quarry'- a time and place where we must sacrifice and work before we can see the blessings. Although I can't see the blessings that will come because of my trials, I know I can trust in God's will for me. And because of the example of those early Saints working in the stone quarry, I know that if I press on, blessings will soon come into view." I thought as I listened to that, I can't see the blessings that will come from working with my son through this struggle, but I do believe what I read yesterday, that God has a plan for us to use this road block as a stepping stone to build an amazing little family.
13:16-18 – I wonder why the Lord’s next topic of discussion is fasting, when He taught that fasting should be done in secret, much like prayer, and the giving of alms, I’m seeing a theme here, one of not secret but sacred spiritual growth and relationship to God. I guess that’s a good way to put it, fasting is designed to bring us closer to God, and when we fast in a way that is obvious to people, that takes the focus off of Godly fasting and puts it more in line with some sort of social standing, which has nothing to do with fasting. Again quoting “Jesus the Christ,” JET teaches “From the subject of prayer the Master turned to that of fasting, and emphasized the important truth that to be of avail fasting must be a matter between the man and his God, not between man and his kind.” This is what we were just talking about, and spiritual experience, not a social one. He continues “It was a common thing in the Master’s day to see men parading the fact of their abstinence as an advertisement of their assumed piety. That they might appear haggard and faint, this class of hypocrites disfigured their faces, went with unkempt hair, gazed about with sad countenances. Of these also the Lord said, ‘Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.’ Believers were admonished to fast secretly, with no outward display, and to fast unto God, who could see in secret and would heed their sacrifice and prayer.” Fasting has always been a difficult issue for me, one because I love food, and two because I don’t really understand it as a matter of spiritual showing. Fasting is about the body not having food, but how does it relate spiritually. The Bible Dictionary defines “Fasts” as “Fasting, a voluntary abstinence from food, is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ for developing spiritual strength; it has always existed among true believers. Without doubt it was practiced by Adam and his posterity from the beginning whenever they had the gospel among them. The early portion of the Old Testament does not mention fasting, but this is due to the scarcity of the record rather than the absence of the practice… Our Lord taught the religious value of fasting. We find it practiced in the early Christian Church. Fasting is confirmed in latter-day revelation as an ancient practice, but more significantly, the spiritual benefits are described more fully than in the Bible. The Book of Mormon, especially, is a fruitful source of information.” Again, we are taught that physical fasting is for our spiritual benefit. JW also gives Jesus's sermon about fasting a different view point, which he calls, "Fasting, Washing, and Anointing," in which he says, "A new order of fasting was then taught to add to the preceding instructions on prayer. In addition to requiring a secret inward righteousness in fasting and prayer, true fasting is to be accompanied with the purity of a simple anointing of the head and washing of the face. Washing the face, the head, the feet, the hands, or other parts of the body is symbolic of becoming completely pure and clean, 'clean every whit.' The concept is similar to the desire to become clean from the blood and sins that one encounters in this world. When a disciple seeks the Lord in true fasting and prayer in such a condition of inward and outward purity, the Lord promises that he will see and reward the supplicant openly in heaven. The importance of such rituals is evident: 'Whether someone's righteousness is safeguarded is therefore decided not by convictions of faith but by the performance of rituals.'... On three occasions in this section of the Sermon, the disciple is promised that the Lord will see him and reward him. Clearly, the desire of the disciple is for God alone to hear the words of his cries and for God to recognize and fill his needs. The pattern of repeating things three times, or grouping things in clusters of three, has been identified as a dominant characteristic of the Sermon on the Mount." That's an interesting point, fasting going along with ritual, because fasting is almost always accompanied with prayer, "fasting and prayer," "prayer and fasting," they go together, it's almost unofficial ceremoniously done.
Just as a side note of how amazing God is, as you know I've been struggling with my son and trying to figure out what to do, well when I was driving to work today I was pretty distraught about not knowing exactly what I was supposed to do, then an Ensign article called "Faith in God's Plan for Me" came on in which Jessica George talked about growing up in Kirtland, Ohio near the stone quarry that was used to dig stone out to haul a few miles over to build the temple. She related the difficulties that she faced in her own life to that stone quarry in Kirtland. She says "Today when people visit the stone quarry, they can see the Kirtland Temple in all its glory just down the road. The early Saints did not have that privilege. Their sacrifice and work were done without the end result, the finished temple, in sight. They likely could not envision that this temple would be the first of hundreds that would fill the earth and bring eternal blessings to God's children all over the world. They saw only the tools in their hands and the thousands of pounds of rock that needed to be removed. Yet their faith was strong, and they knew their sacrifice would bring forth great blessings. From those early Saints I learned that in every life there must be a 'stone quarry'- a time and place where we must sacrifice and work before we can see the blessings. Although I can't see the blessings that will come because of my trials, I know I can trust in God's will for me. And because of the example of those early Saints working in the stone quarry, I know that if I press on, blessings will soon come into view." I thought as I listened to that, I can't see the blessings that will come from working with my son through this struggle, but I do believe what I read yesterday, that God has a plan for us to use this road block as a stepping stone to build an amazing little family.
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