"And Ether was a prophet of the Lord; wherefore Ether came forth in the days of Coriantumr, and began to prophesy unto the people, for he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him.
For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled—
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not."
Ether 12:2-5
There are some great ideas here. The first verse tells us that Ether could not be constrained because of the Spirit of the Lord. This makes me think that the Spirit offers and ensures our freedom, which is kind of cool, since we know how important free agency is to God.
I think the diligence of Ether is also pretty cool, working to teach and help the people, wanting them to be able to avoid destruction and teaching them about hope and faith.
I love the idea of hoping in a better world. In the Doctrine and Covenants, God says "thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better" (D&C 25:10), so sounds like we should go beyond hope and actually seek as well. :) Not saying that this life and what we do in it aren't important... they are. But I think that we are often shortsighted and get mentally trapped in the present, thinking that the rules that apply here are the ones that we are going to live by for eternity, or perhaps we get so focused on now that we are unable to muster enough imagination to grasp that where we are going is a much, much better place.
Keeping that focus on eternal goals helps us to see our lives in the proper perspective--important of course, but more as a preparation and preparation for the future. We *should* be happy and learn to enjoy our lives, for instance, but not just this moment... we want to focus on sustained joy that we can take with us into eternity, not on fleeting thrills.
Today, let's allow our hope to anchor us, and to help us to focus on the amazing future that awaits us as we stick with God. Let's not doubt because we cannot see. God manifests himself to us in many additional ways. We will be okay if we will pray and take the time to find his answers in our lives.
For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled—
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not."
Ether 12:2-5
There are some great ideas here. The first verse tells us that Ether could not be constrained because of the Spirit of the Lord. This makes me think that the Spirit offers and ensures our freedom, which is kind of cool, since we know how important free agency is to God.
I think the diligence of Ether is also pretty cool, working to teach and help the people, wanting them to be able to avoid destruction and teaching them about hope and faith.
I love the idea of hoping in a better world. In the Doctrine and Covenants, God says "thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better" (D&C 25:10), so sounds like we should go beyond hope and actually seek as well. :) Not saying that this life and what we do in it aren't important... they are. But I think that we are often shortsighted and get mentally trapped in the present, thinking that the rules that apply here are the ones that we are going to live by for eternity, or perhaps we get so focused on now that we are unable to muster enough imagination to grasp that where we are going is a much, much better place.
Keeping that focus on eternal goals helps us to see our lives in the proper perspective--important of course, but more as a preparation and preparation for the future. We *should* be happy and learn to enjoy our lives, for instance, but not just this moment... we want to focus on sustained joy that we can take with us into eternity, not on fleeting thrills.
Today, let's allow our hope to anchor us, and to help us to focus on the amazing future that awaits us as we stick with God. Let's not doubt because we cannot see. God manifests himself to us in many additional ways. We will be okay if we will pray and take the time to find his answers in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment