"And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Mosiah 3:17-19
There are lots of interesting ideas here, but the one I was thinking about today is the idea of humility and submission. These verses address those topics well. First, it says that salvation only comes through Christ, so we are in that way dependent on him. Then, we have to humble ourselves and become as little children, or we'll drink damnation to our own souls... this shows us that we can't just rely on ourselves, or we're really in trouble. Then, the final verse emphasizes that by telling us that we have to listen to and yield to God. We have to be submissive and meek and humble... willing to submit to ALL things.
I think some of this is hard for us to hear. We don't want to just stand still while anyone "inflicts" things upon us. We really, really want to have our own way and be strong and independent... and pigheaded and rebellious. :) It's that whole "natural man" nature of ours. :) I think what we have to just realize is that *none* of us can make it without God.
They have 12-step programs set up for many addictions, and even though they vary, one commonality is that the first step is admitting that we're powerless... not about everything necessarily, but about whatever that big addiction or obstacle in our lives is. And I think that maybe that's something that we all have to face in life as well. We're addicted to sin. Different kinds, yeah... but we're addicted to it. Rebellion, or selfishness, or power, or greed, or vanity, or almost anything... we know a lot of varieties. And we let those things get in the way of our lives, and get between us and God... us and salvation. Those words... humble, yield, submit... they scare us. We're like, wait wait... we've got this. We can handle it now. It was tough, but we want to do it ourselves, we're BIG. :) And really, spiritually, we're just little kids, and we need to understand that, because we *must* rely on God and have his help to get through this test.
Today, let's try to let go of that need to rebel. Let's admit that we're powerless over our sin addiction, and that we need God to help us. Let's be willing to submit to what the Lord has in store for us, and be eager to learn the lessons that he is teaching. As we do, we really will grow up spiritually, into strong, capable, loving, and pure people, still working with and dependent on the Lord for salvation... but able to handle more and more every day, and working to help others too. Let's accept God's help and love as we go. :)
For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Mosiah 3:17-19
There are lots of interesting ideas here, but the one I was thinking about today is the idea of humility and submission. These verses address those topics well. First, it says that salvation only comes through Christ, so we are in that way dependent on him. Then, we have to humble ourselves and become as little children, or we'll drink damnation to our own souls... this shows us that we can't just rely on ourselves, or we're really in trouble. Then, the final verse emphasizes that by telling us that we have to listen to and yield to God. We have to be submissive and meek and humble... willing to submit to ALL things.
I think some of this is hard for us to hear. We don't want to just stand still while anyone "inflicts" things upon us. We really, really want to have our own way and be strong and independent... and pigheaded and rebellious. :) It's that whole "natural man" nature of ours. :) I think what we have to just realize is that *none* of us can make it without God.
They have 12-step programs set up for many addictions, and even though they vary, one commonality is that the first step is admitting that we're powerless... not about everything necessarily, but about whatever that big addiction or obstacle in our lives is. And I think that maybe that's something that we all have to face in life as well. We're addicted to sin. Different kinds, yeah... but we're addicted to it. Rebellion, or selfishness, or power, or greed, or vanity, or almost anything... we know a lot of varieties. And we let those things get in the way of our lives, and get between us and God... us and salvation. Those words... humble, yield, submit... they scare us. We're like, wait wait... we've got this. We can handle it now. It was tough, but we want to do it ourselves, we're BIG. :) And really, spiritually, we're just little kids, and we need to understand that, because we *must* rely on God and have his help to get through this test.
Today, let's try to let go of that need to rebel. Let's admit that we're powerless over our sin addiction, and that we need God to help us. Let's be willing to submit to what the Lord has in store for us, and be eager to learn the lessons that he is teaching. As we do, we really will grow up spiritually, into strong, capable, loving, and pure people, still working with and dependent on the Lord for salvation... but able to handle more and more every day, and working to help others too. Let's accept God's help and love as we go. :)
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