Alma 13:30

"And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death."
Alma 13:30


This verse struck me today because it says "the second death," and that sounds particularly scary. When I think of spiritual death I get a mental picture of a person I knew in high school who became a drug addict. Blank eyes, personality somehow missing... seems like there is nothing left inside but this empty need. It talks in the Book of Mormon of people becoming "past feeling" and the results of that as well. ... And I wonder why we toy with that... with anything so scary. We're so afraid of death... the first, physical death... when we know that it's temporary. That someday we'll have our bodies back in a perfected state. And we just kind of gloss over the second, spiritual death pretty often, without taking it seriously. So, in this verse Alma is saying to us... please, take it seriously. It's a big deal, and nothing that you want. Today, let's be afraid of what is really frightening rather than what people think of us, or how bad the commute was, or how we don't have enough time. Let's do everything we can to revive our souls... repentance is a big one, but also prayer and studying the scriptures, and just drinking in the beauty around us, or helping other people and forgetting our selfish needs for a while. God's whole plan is designed to save us... not just our bodies, but to keep our spirits alive and sensitive to things that matter. Let's help him out, and soften up those internal places that are becoming hard and resistant to the spirit. Let's feel and know, and commune with our Father, who knows how to save us from all kinds of death.