Purified

Sometimes I don't feel like I can live up to whats expected of me. Not that I lack faith in myself, and not that I don't think I can do all that the Lord has asked of me, sometimes I just don't feel that my meager efforts will be enough to accomplish the huge task that is placed before me. Whether that huge task is graduating college, finding a job to provide for the family, or something as huge as obtaining eternal life, all of us in one way or another have felt the feeling of inadequacy. To be honestly, I don't know if the feeling is really such a bad thing though. Recently, it has actually proven to be of great worth to me. The more I realize how great the work is that I am expected to accomplish, the more I realize that I cannot do it alone. Bruce C. Hafen said some comforting words to those of us who have a hard time measuring up. He said,

 

"If you have problems in your life, don’t assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life’s purpose. As we draw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger.  If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away." (Bruce C. Hafen, "The Atonement: All for All)

And that, for me at least, has been a good thing. Through struggle, I have realized that valuable lesson, that I am being refined, and slowly drawing ever closer to God. During these times of struggle, I have had to rely completely on Christ to make up for those things that I don't do perfectly. You see, Christ knows me. He knows that I really can't do everything by myself, and that I am not perfect. That's ok though, because He is. He doesn't expect me to be perfect, but he does expect me to try perfectly. He wants me to always strive to be the best I can, and when I do, He promises to make up the difference. As long as I am doing all I can, He promises He will do all He can, and no matter what that will make it. Moroni lays it out pretty simply.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be ^dpurified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:48) 

May we all do everything that lie in our power to be true followers of Christ. Pray for it, strive for it, and work at it. Make promises, or covenants with Him that will put you both under agreement to support each other. Trust me, we definitely get the better part of the bargain when we take His name upon us. He knows we wont be perfect, but if we do our best, the promise is we will become pure, as He is pure. Christ is perfect, and although I am not, he will accept me as-is, and make up the difference.

He Knows You.

"Nothing will surprise us more than when we get to heaven and see the Father and realize how well we know Him and how familiar His face is to us." — Pres. Ezra Taft Benson

That quote has been resonating in my head for the last week. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. The implications are powerful! He knows us well, and wants us to live with Him. Will we regret anything from this life when we pass? Will we see Him, remember His face, feel His love, and be ashamed and sorry? Are we doing all we can to show how much we love Him?

I wish I could show people just how much their Father in Heaven loves them. His love is manifest to me as I do the small and simple things that He asks and keep His commandments. In return, He sends the Holy Ghost to gently nudge me in the right direction and give me comforting assurances that what I am doing is correct, and that He approves. From these feelings, we can know that we are engaged in what we need to be to be able to return to live again with Him. I have come to cherish and value these feelings.

Anyone who is searching for their Heavenly Father will find Him. He is not as far distant as we sometimes suppose. Indeed, Christ himself tells us that if we look for Him, we will find Him.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7

That promise is absolute. There is no, "maybe Ill find him," or "maybe He will answer me." He promises very plainly that He will manifest himself unto us. I know that is true. I know that he loves each and every one of us, and as we follow His son, Jesus Christ, and have faith, repent, and are baptized, we can be granted a spot alongside Him for eternity. Nephi says,

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

2 Nephi 31:20

I am so thankful for that promise.

Change is the Only Constant!

Change is an essential part of life. It has been said that the only constant in life is change. What a wonderful and beautiful idea that is. Truly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is centered completely around change. Through it, Heavenly Father takes raw materials and shapes them to become what He wants for them. Someone recently gave me a C.S. Lewis quote that changed the way I looked at myself.

C.S. Lewis is the man!

 “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

That's powerful! C.S. Lewis understood well what change through Jesus Christ is all about. He understands that as we leave our old selves behind, God will change us, and shape us into what He wants us to be. As children of God, our eventual goal is to become just like Him. There is a beautiful analogy made in the Bible, it says...

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a ^aglass the ^bglory of the Lord, are changed into the same ^cimage from ^dglory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18

I love the imagery of Paul! What a great gift, to give our will to the Lord, so that one day, we can stand in front of the mirror and see his image staring back. In fact the prophet Alma says this is a great way to tell if we are true disciples, followers of Him, when he says,

Christ being baptized

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye ^aspiritually been ^bborn of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty ^cchange in your hearts?" Alma 5:14

As a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you to come unto Christ and be born of God, and experience this mighty change of heart spoken of by Alma. When we are reborn through Christ, or baptized, we become a new person. We promise to always repent, or change, to become more like Christ. I have personally witnessed that when you do, your countenance will change, and you will see yourself in a whole new light. You will begin to understand exactly who you are.