"And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the judgment day; whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil.
And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from which they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls."
Mosiah 3:24-25
This isn't a very cheery scripture, but I thought it was interesting as a contrast to the way life is now. Now... we are judged by the world usually for what we look like on the outside... the way we dress, the language we use... how much money we appear to have... the color of our skin... who we hang around with... the masks that we wear and the labels that people attach to us. And in the end... we'll be judged by what we wanted, and the way we acted towards other people... our works, good or evil. Now, we are able to block out guilt and pain by keeping "busy" or overwhelming it with some other feeling or addiction... chocolate for example. :) Then, it doesn't look like that will be possible. It will be there in front of us, apparent at all times. And of course the drinking damnation is a creepy image... what would that look like in a glass... and why would ANYONE drink it?
Anyway, so a little more contrast and then I'll end... Now, we have the ability to apply Christ's Atonement in our lives. Sometimes we suffer as we get to the point of the "fear of the Lord" that we talked about before... knowing the difference and the distance between God and ourselves. That is a hard realization, especially for those of us with a perfectionist bent who have a hard time thinking that it is okay to not be perfect. And sometimes we suffer when we want something that we know isn't right... it is very difficult to find the way to a change of heart at times. probably part of the fear of the Lord as well... the humility to see the difference and know that we need to be *there* and not think that he needs to come to us... but anyway... Now, we can change those things. we have power to feel that distance, and to work at forgiveness. After the initial realization, after the pain of the change of heart... then the rest is pretty easy. Christ suffered *for* us... we don't have to suffer once we have those things. we just have to realize the distance, and want to bridge it. after that, Christ takes care of it, and we don't have to suffer anymore... we can get back on the path to God, and go as fast as we can. :) But, if we don't do that work now... then, we will be beyond the veil. We won't be able to block out the guilt and pain anymore... we will automatically realize the distance and probably want to bridge it because we will remember who we were before this life, and the relationship that we had with God... and we won't be able to bridge the gap. Not cheery... but a good reminder for us all... let's do the work in this life. Christ died for us for a reason... let's find out what that reason is, and live for it.
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