1 Nephi 14:7

"For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other--either to the convincing them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken."
1 Nephi 14:7


Yee-hah.  what a cheerful scripture.  And, you know... once you get over that little initial shock, it isn't that sad.  In fact, it is kind of cool.... which, you know, is why I decided to write about it today. :)  I think it is really interesting that the Lord's work will basically force us to choose sides.  We try to be fence-sitters sometimes, thinking that we can have God in our lives, and still hang out with the devil on the side... but that isn't true, and as time progresses towards its end, it becomes more and more apparent how untrue that is.  God doesn't damn us, we damn ourselves.  All he does is make the choices more and more obvious in our lives.  We see where they will lead... to salvation or destruction... and we choose whether to continue on the path as the destination becomes more and more obvious.  It's kind of like Lehi's dream--God gives us the straight path and the iron rod and a view of the tree... even a taste of the fruit.  But, still, some people feel along the iron rod and walk the path in the wrong direction, trying to find their way to the great and spacious building instead.  ... also, don't you find it rather odd that God talks about "convincing" us about peace and life eternal?  Do you think that we become so cynical that we can't even believe in peace anymore... we start believing it is all just a fairy tale, or a Disney interpretation of the facts?  I mean... we *do* have a choice, but why choose discontent and doubt over peace and love?  And, we do exactly that... so, so often.
Today... let's not let our hearts be hardened or our minds be blinded.  Let's walk the path in the direction we want to go.  Let's not believe the devil's lie that there isn't anyplace better than the great and spacious building.  As we believe in what God offers us, he will convince us... of peace, and life eternal.