I was reading through my scriptures last night and found a scripture that is not an unfamiliar one, but I'd written a cross-reference to another scripture next to it that I looked up and though I've read them both before, and probably together, they penetrated deeper into my heart. The first one is in Moses 1:39, which is in the Pearl of Great Price (it's a book of revelations given to Joseph Smith concerning things that were lost and/or omitted from the bible). It reads:
"For behold, this is my [Christ's] work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
My reference was to D&C 11:20 (D&C stands for Doctrine and Covenants, again, another book of revelations given to Joseph Smith). It reads:
"Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength."
So in exchange for keeping the commandments set forth by Christ, he is not only working on but glorying in my immortality and eternal life. He is up there rooting for me in all that I do and all that he asks is for my obedience to the things that he has said.
Words cannot express what this means to me. Right after I read these things I read Acts 17:27-29. It reads:
"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also as your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."
In him I live and move and have my being...I come from him and he wants me to return to his presence and progress throughout eternity.
In finding these things and continually discovering how well these writings work together for a greater understanding of who we are, where we've come from and where we're going...I think it's sad that not everyone has these things to read, study and ponder...that they think the bible is all God gave us to learn and grow from. He has given us even more than a book filled with words - prayer and personal revelation are so important to building a relationship. There have been times when I felt like defending myself because I had the Book of Mormon and many do not believe that it is true, that I couldn't use it in defense of my beliefs to anyone who didn't feel about it the way I do. But I love that book and the others I have quoted here. And if something makes one feel closer to God then I don't understand how it is usually so quickly rejected from peoples' minds for how most perceive it came into existence. I know that God lives and that he loves each and every one of us - so much that he sent his son to suffer for our sins, that we might be made clean in his blood and return to their presence. There is no greater gift.
One final scripture I came across:
Romans 8:16: "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
"For behold, this is my [Christ's] work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
My reference was to D&C 11:20 (D&C stands for Doctrine and Covenants, again, another book of revelations given to Joseph Smith). It reads:
"Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength."
So in exchange for keeping the commandments set forth by Christ, he is not only working on but glorying in my immortality and eternal life. He is up there rooting for me in all that I do and all that he asks is for my obedience to the things that he has said.
Words cannot express what this means to me. Right after I read these things I read Acts 17:27-29. It reads:
"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also as your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."
In him I live and move and have my being...I come from him and he wants me to return to his presence and progress throughout eternity.
In finding these things and continually discovering how well these writings work together for a greater understanding of who we are, where we've come from and where we're going...I think it's sad that not everyone has these things to read, study and ponder...that they think the bible is all God gave us to learn and grow from. He has given us even more than a book filled with words - prayer and personal revelation are so important to building a relationship. There have been times when I felt like defending myself because I had the Book of Mormon and many do not believe that it is true, that I couldn't use it in defense of my beliefs to anyone who didn't feel about it the way I do. But I love that book and the others I have quoted here. And if something makes one feel closer to God then I don't understand how it is usually so quickly rejected from peoples' minds for how most perceive it came into existence. I know that God lives and that he loves each and every one of us - so much that he sent his son to suffer for our sins, that we might be made clean in his blood and return to their presence. There is no greater gift.
One final scripture I came across:
Romans 8:16: "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
