"And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off."
Mosiah 27:25-27
It makes us uncomfortable sometimes to think about God casting people off... especially ourselves. We sometimes try to justify ourselves by saying that if God really loves us, then he will save us all, no matter what, and so there must be no such thing as hell or any kind of rejection or punishment.
The thing is, if God didn't have any standards or rules, there wouldn't be any reason to look forward to heaven... it couldn't be the perfectly good and peaceful place that it is if everyone could go. Either that, or God would have to force everyone to be good, and slavery isn't heaven either.
We make choices about who we want to be and how we want to live in our lives, and those choices determine our future... as we expect, right? If we choose to travel to New Mexico, we aren't going to expect to suddenly be in the middle of Pennsylvania. And if we choose to take the road towards Hell in our lives, we can't expect to suddenly be in Heaven after we die.
(Also, just so we're clear, I am not equating New Mexico with Hell and Pennsylvania with Heaven.)
Today, let's make changes to our path if we aren't headed where we want to go. Let's accept Christ's mercy in our lives and realize that we need his help to become who we want to be, and to get where we want to be... in this life and in the next.
And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off."
Mosiah 27:25-27
It makes us uncomfortable sometimes to think about God casting people off... especially ourselves. We sometimes try to justify ourselves by saying that if God really loves us, then he will save us all, no matter what, and so there must be no such thing as hell or any kind of rejection or punishment.
The thing is, if God didn't have any standards or rules, there wouldn't be any reason to look forward to heaven... it couldn't be the perfectly good and peaceful place that it is if everyone could go. Either that, or God would have to force everyone to be good, and slavery isn't heaven either.
We make choices about who we want to be and how we want to live in our lives, and those choices determine our future... as we expect, right? If we choose to travel to New Mexico, we aren't going to expect to suddenly be in the middle of Pennsylvania. And if we choose to take the road towards Hell in our lives, we can't expect to suddenly be in Heaven after we die.
(Also, just so we're clear, I am not equating New Mexico with Hell and Pennsylvania with Heaven.)
Today, let's make changes to our path if we aren't headed where we want to go. Let's accept Christ's mercy in our lives and realize that we need his help to become who we want to be, and to get where we want to be... in this life and in the next.
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