"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
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 do questionable stuff 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; if we are damned, 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? But we do exactly that... so, so often. I think we underestimate our ability to lie to ourselves. We keep telling ourselves that it will get better, or that this is what we wanted... and we ignore the feeling underneath that we should return to God, because we've invested so much in the wrong path already.
Today... let's stop ignoring and choose God's side. Traveling further along the wrong path won't ever get us to where we need to go. Let's work on not letting our hearts be hardened or our minds be blinded. Let's walk the path in the direction that promises happiness... not believing the devil's lie that there isn't anyplace better than the great and spacious building. Let's believe in what God offers us, and even if it takes a painful U-turn, let's allow him to convince us of peace, and life eternal.
1 Nephi 14:7
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 do questionable stuff 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; if we are damned, 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? But we do exactly that... so, so often. I think we underestimate our ability to lie to ourselves. We keep telling ourselves that it will get better, or that this is what we wanted... and we ignore the feeling underneath that we should return to God, because we've invested so much in the wrong path already.
Today... let's stop ignoring and choose God's side. Traveling further along the wrong path won't ever get us to where we need to go. Let's work on not letting our hearts be hardened or our minds be blinded. Let's walk the path in the direction that promises happiness... not believing the devil's lie that there isn't anyplace better than the great and spacious building. Let's believe in what God offers us, and even if it takes a painful U-turn, let's allow him to convince us of peace, and life eternal.
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