"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.
Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?"
Jacob 6:5-6
A couple of things stand out about these verses to me. First, the idea that God cleaves to us, or is loyal and unwavering in his devotion to us, and that we should return that feeling. I really like that, and I think it is really true. One of the biggest mistakes in life that we often make is thinking that God hates us, or won't forgive us. One of the very coolest things about the atonement though is that it gave Christ, who was sinless, a taste of the pain of being a sinful person so that he could really understand how to help us. Not cool in that he had to suffer of course, but cool in the "with his stripes we are healed" sense (Isaiah 53:5; Mosiah 14:5). He cared enough about us to go through that pain and understand the sufferings of every person throughout the history of the world. There is no pain that he can't understand, and he went through that for us. So that we could still have a chance to join him in heaven--a place that he deserves and we do not, except through his grace which gives us the time we need to repent and change. If that isn't love and loyalty, what is really? He does cleave to us, and he does everything he can (short of forcing us) to help us succeed.
These verses mention hardening our hearts against his mercy, and also against hearing his voice. I find that sort of crazy. I mean, I know that we do it, but I think we are crazy when we do. Who doesn't need mercy, and who doesn't want to hear God's voice? And yet we get distracted and focus on other things... our own guilt or some other, lesser goal... and we often miss out on what is really important. The end of the selection asks "why will ye die?" and unfortunately the answer often is just that we got distracted.
Today, let's accept his mercy and listen to his voice. Let's not harden our hearts, and go before him with full purpose of heart. Let's cleave unto God, and love him the way that he loves us... with all that we are.
Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?"
Jacob 6:5-6
A couple of things stand out about these verses to me. First, the idea that God cleaves to us, or is loyal and unwavering in his devotion to us, and that we should return that feeling. I really like that, and I think it is really true. One of the biggest mistakes in life that we often make is thinking that God hates us, or won't forgive us. One of the very coolest things about the atonement though is that it gave Christ, who was sinless, a taste of the pain of being a sinful person so that he could really understand how to help us. Not cool in that he had to suffer of course, but cool in the "with his stripes we are healed" sense (Isaiah 53:5; Mosiah 14:5). He cared enough about us to go through that pain and understand the sufferings of every person throughout the history of the world. There is no pain that he can't understand, and he went through that for us. So that we could still have a chance to join him in heaven--a place that he deserves and we do not, except through his grace which gives us the time we need to repent and change. If that isn't love and loyalty, what is really? He does cleave to us, and he does everything he can (short of forcing us) to help us succeed.
These verses mention hardening our hearts against his mercy, and also against hearing his voice. I find that sort of crazy. I mean, I know that we do it, but I think we are crazy when we do. Who doesn't need mercy, and who doesn't want to hear God's voice? And yet we get distracted and focus on other things... our own guilt or some other, lesser goal... and we often miss out on what is really important. The end of the selection asks "why will ye die?" and unfortunately the answer often is just that we got distracted.
Today, let's accept his mercy and listen to his voice. Let's not harden our hearts, and go before him with full purpose of heart. Let's cleave unto God, and love him the way that he loves us... with all that we are.
This is amazing. Thank you for the insight
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