Jacob 3:2 -- On Firm Minds

"O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever."
Jacob 3:2


I was thinking today about this idea of "firm minds" which is also mentioned in Moroni 7:30, where it says that angels show themselves "unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness."

That made me think of the verse that says "let him ask in faith, nothing wavering" (James 1:6) and the one that says "then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God" (D&C 121:45), because those seem like they are talking about the same thing, at least in general.  If we have firm minds, then we aren't wavering... we have confidence in God, and confidence that we're doing the right things and that standing with God would be awesome and pleasant... not scary and tortuous. :)

So how do we make it from wavering to firm?  I think it's that idea of the "sure foundation" "whereon if men build they cannot fall" ... also referred to as "the rock of our Redeemer" (Helaman 5:12) and the "anchor to the souls of men" (Ether 12:4).

There are a lot of concepts wrapped up in all of these ideas, but what I think it comes down to is that we really need to find out for ourselves what is real and what isn't, and then stick with it solidly, not forever returning to the beginning with renewed doubts like an endless game of chutes and ladders where we lose all of our progress because we keep falling away. :)

Today, let's work with God to find out what we need to find out, and then stick with it.  Let's work on being more consistently good in our lives, and more consistent in general. :)  Let's work on trusting God and resisting the tug of doubt, and wavering.