"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the devil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish."
Mosiah 4:12-16
Kind of a long selection, but today I was thinking about how much it changes our lives, just that simple belief in God. To know that there *is* a creator, that he made us, that he is our father... those are small facts perhaps, but they have an unimaginably large impact on our lives. And King Benjamin, here, is telling us all these things... everything in these several verses... is a direct result of our belief in God, having tasted of his love and remembering his goodness and his greatness. They are not only promises of what will happen and what we can hope for when we come to God, but also good indicators of whether we're on the right track. :)
I'm not saying we have to be perfect in every way to be believers in and followers of God. ... But the point here isn't a list of things that we do to prove that we are following God. These are *natural results* of following God. Our hearts change, and we start caring about things like this, noticing our behavior in different ways, and we becomes different people... better, kinder, more loving people. The gospel is really simple on a fundamental level. And the basic core of it is, God is real. And once we get our minds around that, and start understanding what that means for the world, and for our lives, it can change us. *He* can change us. We just have to let that knowledge work on us, and keep remembering it, every day, in everything that we do. God is real. He is our father. He has a plan for us. :) Today, let's believe that and try acting on it, or remember it if we already knew. :) And let's remember what a big deal that is. God. The creator of heaven and earth. And when we remember, let's let that knowledge change us, and guide our actions.
And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the devil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish."
Mosiah 4:12-16
Kind of a long selection, but today I was thinking about how much it changes our lives, just that simple belief in God. To know that there *is* a creator, that he made us, that he is our father... those are small facts perhaps, but they have an unimaginably large impact on our lives. And King Benjamin, here, is telling us all these things... everything in these several verses... is a direct result of our belief in God, having tasted of his love and remembering his goodness and his greatness. They are not only promises of what will happen and what we can hope for when we come to God, but also good indicators of whether we're on the right track. :)
I'm not saying we have to be perfect in every way to be believers in and followers of God. ... But the point here isn't a list of things that we do to prove that we are following God. These are *natural results* of following God. Our hearts change, and we start caring about things like this, noticing our behavior in different ways, and we becomes different people... better, kinder, more loving people. The gospel is really simple on a fundamental level. And the basic core of it is, God is real. And once we get our minds around that, and start understanding what that means for the world, and for our lives, it can change us. *He* can change us. We just have to let that knowledge work on us, and keep remembering it, every day, in everything that we do. God is real. He is our father. He has a plan for us. :) Today, let's believe that and try acting on it, or remember it if we already knew. :) And let's remember what a big deal that is. God. The creator of heaven and earth. And when we remember, let's let that knowledge change us, and guide our actions.
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