"And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save."
2 Nephi 31:19
The word "wholly" is interesting here, and what I think it means is that we need to go all-in on trusting the Lord. Faith in the Lord leads us to baptism... to that committment, but it isn't just a one-time committment. It is about becoming a different person, and that committment is now part of us, always.
I also think that wholly means that we get the complete package with Christ. We really need nothing else. Of course we want other things, but we need God, full stop. Everything else is gravy... additional blessings, all provided by God because he loves us. Which is awesome... but if we are basing our faith on other things then we get in trouble when that other thing goes away. God is the only thing that we can have that "whole" faith in. It's the same idea as Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. It isn't always necessary to give up everything else, but it is always good to remember that all of it is secondary to God... otherwise it could get in the way of us giving ourselves wholly to the Lord, and putting him first.
Today, let's remember that dedication to God means us conforming to his will and following his commandments, not the other way areound. We need to commit wholly to him, and work on changing ourselves to fit God's way, because that is the strait and narrow path that leads to everything good, and pure, and holy, and that is where we can find perfect love and perfect joy. It's always our choice whether to commit, but let's understand from the outset that dedication to God isn't temporary or casual. It's everything... it's becoming a new person, living a new life. Symbolic rebirth. And it matters much, much more than anything else we will ever do.
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