"And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul."
2 Nephi 4:27-28
I think we all wonder why we do what we do sometimes. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we made such poor choices. Nephi in these verses is going through that a little bit, and what I like about his wondering is that he points out some of the bad things that he has caused by making poor choices. When he gives in to sin, he lets evil into his heart, which destroys his peace and causes guilt and suffering. Anger does the same thing. And so when he tells himself to wake up and get back on track, he mentions specifically rejoicing, which leaves no room for the enemy. Lots of interesting ideas here.
When we sin, we open ourselves up to evil in a way that makes it easier to sin again, and we also lose the ability to feel perfectly content with our lives. Anger disrupts peace. The cool thing in the second verse here is that a couple of things can counteract that. First, waking up... the whole "droop in sin" thing seems to be symbolic of sleep. Sinning buries our souls under blankets, trying to smother and silence our consciences, and we need to wake up from that drowsy, permissive state and get back on track. The other thing is rejoicing. Sin likes to make us think that things are all bad, all the time, and that we need to escape from the badness through addiction or other temporary highs. But if we wake up and take off the blinders of sin, we see that there is a lot of good in the world too, and we can add to it. We're able to tap into the atonement, and forgiveness, and be our best selves again. We can get our peace back.
Today, let's wake up and rejoice. :) Let's remember God and how hard he works to help us, every day. Let's work to help him as well, in adding to the good in the world.
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul."
2 Nephi 4:27-28
I think we all wonder why we do what we do sometimes. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we made such poor choices. Nephi in these verses is going through that a little bit, and what I like about his wondering is that he points out some of the bad things that he has caused by making poor choices. When he gives in to sin, he lets evil into his heart, which destroys his peace and causes guilt and suffering. Anger does the same thing. And so when he tells himself to wake up and get back on track, he mentions specifically rejoicing, which leaves no room for the enemy. Lots of interesting ideas here.
When we sin, we open ourselves up to evil in a way that makes it easier to sin again, and we also lose the ability to feel perfectly content with our lives. Anger disrupts peace. The cool thing in the second verse here is that a couple of things can counteract that. First, waking up... the whole "droop in sin" thing seems to be symbolic of sleep. Sinning buries our souls under blankets, trying to smother and silence our consciences, and we need to wake up from that drowsy, permissive state and get back on track. The other thing is rejoicing. Sin likes to make us think that things are all bad, all the time, and that we need to escape from the badness through addiction or other temporary highs. But if we wake up and take off the blinders of sin, we see that there is a lot of good in the world too, and we can add to it. We're able to tap into the atonement, and forgiveness, and be our best selves again. We can get our peace back.
Today, let's wake up and rejoice. :) Let's remember God and how hard he works to help us, every day. Let's work to help him as well, in adding to the good in the world.
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