Thursday, August 31, 2017

D&C 45:57 -- On Abiding the Day

"For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day."
Doctrine and Covenants 45:57


Malachi 3:2 contains an important question.  Speaking of Christ, it asks: "But who may abide the day of his coming?"  This verse seems to be at least a partial answer.  If we are wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for our guide, then we will be able to abide the day.

Wisdom is a common theme in the scriptures.  Jacob 6:12 says "O be wise; what can I say more?" ... Clearly, however, the wisdom that will allow us to abide the day is not the wisdom of the world.  Nor is the truth here the twisted self-deception that often gets labeled truth by the world, and often by us as we accept and embrace the world.  In order to have the wisdom and the truth that this verse talks about, we need to be listening to the Lord and heeding his counsel, which means taking the Holy Spirit for our guide.

Learning to listen to the Holy Ghost and really allow God to guide us is sometimes hard.  We can get confused about what thoughts and inspiration is coming from our own brains, and what is being given to us by God.  It takes faith, prayer, and some action and experimentation.  Since we know that the Spirit only leads us to do good though, we're safe to start out by going with any thoughts or promptings that encourage us to do good.  If it was our own spontaneous thought, great... it's never going to be a bad thing to take the time to do something good.  And as we act on good thoughts and promptings, the Lord has more opportunities to guide us and teach us to recognize his voice.

Today, let's work on tuning in to God's wisdom and truth, and on following the Spirit.  Those are good preparation not only for abiding the day of his coming, but any day, including right now. :)

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