"And thus God bringeth about his great and eternal purposes, which were prepared from the foundation of the world. And thus cometh about the salvation and the redemption of men, and also their destruction and misery.
Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.
If he has desired to do evil, and has not repented in his days, behold, evil shall be done unto him, according to the restoration of God.
And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance."
Alma 42:26-29
This is towards the end of some chapters where Alma is talking to his wayward son, Corianton, explaining the answers to some of his questions about the gospel. The first verse of this selection seems a little weird, since we are talking about salvation and destruction in the same breath. The next verse though explains that we're talking about restoration. Salvation and destruction are all part of the plan, because the plan is about restoring to us what we give out... kind of a giant, eternal law of karma, but with a repentance escape clause that was granted us by Christ. We can escape our own mistakes and the very just punishment of restoration that is coming to us, if we do the work and change our lives.
Changing our lives is more than we usually consider it to be though. True repentance isn't just changing our actions (though that is often a good place to start). To really tap into the power of the atonement, we have to change who we *are* … becoming a person that wouldn't have made that choice. Not just changing our actions, but also our minds and our hearts. Seems practically impossible, but with God's help it is within our reach. If we truly desire to change, he can help us.
I don't know about you, but I can think of plenty of things from my past that I would rather not have returned to me at the last day. Today, let's take some of Alma's advice and stop worrying about things that we can't change, and focus on the things that we can. Let's worry about the state of our own souls, and work with God on that issue. No matter how addicted to sin we are, if we go to God sincerely and ask him to change our hearts, he will hear us and help us. As we change and grow, we will learn how not to be those people we have been in the past. We'll learn to be better and kinder and closer to God... and so much happier. Some good ideas as we move towards the new year.
Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.
If he has desired to do evil, and has not repented in his days, behold, evil shall be done unto him, according to the restoration of God.
And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance."
Alma 42:26-29
This is towards the end of some chapters where Alma is talking to his wayward son, Corianton, explaining the answers to some of his questions about the gospel. The first verse of this selection seems a little weird, since we are talking about salvation and destruction in the same breath. The next verse though explains that we're talking about restoration. Salvation and destruction are all part of the plan, because the plan is about restoring to us what we give out... kind of a giant, eternal law of karma, but with a repentance escape clause that was granted us by Christ. We can escape our own mistakes and the very just punishment of restoration that is coming to us, if we do the work and change our lives.
Changing our lives is more than we usually consider it to be though. True repentance isn't just changing our actions (though that is often a good place to start). To really tap into the power of the atonement, we have to change who we *are* … becoming a person that wouldn't have made that choice. Not just changing our actions, but also our minds and our hearts. Seems practically impossible, but with God's help it is within our reach. If we truly desire to change, he can help us.
I don't know about you, but I can think of plenty of things from my past that I would rather not have returned to me at the last day. Today, let's take some of Alma's advice and stop worrying about things that we can't change, and focus on the things that we can. Let's worry about the state of our own souls, and work with God on that issue. No matter how addicted to sin we are, if we go to God sincerely and ask him to change our hearts, he will hear us and help us. As we change and grow, we will learn how not to be those people we have been in the past. We'll learn to be better and kinder and closer to God... and so much happier. Some good ideas as we move towards the new year.
No comments:
Post a Comment