"And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free."
2 Nephi 2:4
The last line here strikes me today. "Salvation is free." Salvation, of course, cost Christ a lot of pain, but in overcoming sin and death, he offers salvation to *us* for free... but again, it depends on how you look at it. Salvation in terms of being resurrected and living again is utterly non-dependent on our actions. It will happen for all of us that have lived mortal lives on earth. However, where we live eternally is dependent on our actions and desires: both who we want to become and who we do become.
It is still free, really. Christ paid a cost that we could never pay, and we could never attain any of it without him, and even if we do really badly in life but we don't actively fight against God, we will make it to some sort of good place... at least better than here. But we can do better if we learn more and become more.
Christ helps us grow into our goals... sort of like a college. He offers us free tuition, but if we went to college hoping to be a teacher but just kept taking racquetball classes, there would be a problem. Christ isn't going to let us graduate with a teaching degree without learning some teaching skills... and if we really want to play racquetball as a career, he might suggest some classes that would help us earn a degree in Racquetball Performance, but eventually if we are just mucking about not progressing towards SOME sort of degree, our scholarship funds are going to run out.
It is similar in life. We don't all have to be the same, but there are some basic general education things that we have to learn as we move forward and progress. Some of it is getting along with other people, learning some faith and some love, etc. Other parts are specific to us, learning to develop our talents and how we can serve and help others in our unique ways.
Salvation *is* free, but if we put some effort into it and do more than nothing, then it becomes more like "salvation is freedom." Christ gives us that foundation of not having to worry about death and eternal darkness, and then we can build on that if we want more life and more light. Today, let's live more like who we want to be, and who we want to be around, eternally. Let's build on the Salvation and freedom that Christ has blessed us with and do more, help more, and become more.
2 Nephi 2:4
The last line here strikes me today. "Salvation is free." Salvation, of course, cost Christ a lot of pain, but in overcoming sin and death, he offers salvation to *us* for free... but again, it depends on how you look at it. Salvation in terms of being resurrected and living again is utterly non-dependent on our actions. It will happen for all of us that have lived mortal lives on earth. However, where we live eternally is dependent on our actions and desires: both who we want to become and who we do become.
It is still free, really. Christ paid a cost that we could never pay, and we could never attain any of it without him, and even if we do really badly in life but we don't actively fight against God, we will make it to some sort of good place... at least better than here. But we can do better if we learn more and become more.
Christ helps us grow into our goals... sort of like a college. He offers us free tuition, but if we went to college hoping to be a teacher but just kept taking racquetball classes, there would be a problem. Christ isn't going to let us graduate with a teaching degree without learning some teaching skills... and if we really want to play racquetball as a career, he might suggest some classes that would help us earn a degree in Racquetball Performance, but eventually if we are just mucking about not progressing towards SOME sort of degree, our scholarship funds are going to run out.
It is similar in life. We don't all have to be the same, but there are some basic general education things that we have to learn as we move forward and progress. Some of it is getting along with other people, learning some faith and some love, etc. Other parts are specific to us, learning to develop our talents and how we can serve and help others in our unique ways.
Salvation *is* free, but if we put some effort into it and do more than nothing, then it becomes more like "salvation is freedom." Christ gives us that foundation of not having to worry about death and eternal darkness, and then we can build on that if we want more life and more light. Today, let's live more like who we want to be, and who we want to be around, eternally. Let's build on the Salvation and freedom that Christ has blessed us with and do more, help more, and become more.
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