The Sermon on Repentance

This last week I had one of my most favorite lectures thus far in this New Testament. He took the Sermon on the Mount and completely just blew my mind. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus begins his discourse with a list of people that are "Blessed" (V.3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10). As do most people, it is really easy to just look at that list and think that those are just different groups of people Christ understands, and appreciates and that there isn't a deeper connection other than that.
He first state "Blessed are the poor in spirit..." (v. 3) It is easy to presume that he is referring to people that lack confidence, or arrogance. Christ is there to lift those people up or is there to teach them. If we do take it as it is, it can also read "poor in the Spirit..." Looking at it that way may be initially confusing because that seems contrary to the way Christ wants us- he wants us to be rich in the Spirit. Instead we should view it as being aware of our lack of Spirit. There has been times in all of our lives when we have felt spiritually stagnant. We feel like we've hit a brick wall and aren't "feeling it." That is a time when we will feel bad for all the ways we fall short and our shortcomings because extremely obvious to us. That might a time when we would consider mourning (v. 4). Once we do see all of this, the hope is that we turn to God for help. We pray to him and come to him with meekness (v. 5). If you turn to that chapter you can start to see how I am connecting the verses together in such a way that Christ is not talking about groups of people, but of a process. That process that is coming forth is repentance. I personally feel that the biggest difference between people that don't progress and do progress is becoming meek. Often they feel the guilt for the mistakes but they don't turn to God to overcome them. This humility will cause one to hunger and thirst after righteousness (v. 6). I think that is the action behind the meekness. I also noticed that it mentioned both hunger and thirst. This reminded me of the eating of the bread and drinking of the water during the sacrament. It can be compared to how the atonement can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst. As God is merciful to us throughout this process, it is important to be merciful (v. 7) to others. When we do all these things, God will begin to purify our hearts (v. 8). That purifying will grant us peace. When we have found that peace, we are responsible to help others find that peace in their life (v. 9) This is the essence of missionary work. As is always the case, those who try and share truth will have many enemies and will be persecuted for it (v. 10). As Christ taught this sermon, it was much more than just explaining that these groups of people were blessed. He was teaching us the steps of full and complete repentance. Those to live this and continually apply this steps will in inherit the kingdom of heave (v. 3, 10).

To Find Christ

Due to a challenge issued this week by my professor I decided I would study Matthew chapter 2- the story of the Wise men coming to see Jesus. As I studied I was to compare how the Wise men would find Christ compared to how King Herod would try. When I read, I compared the Wise men's story to how I might spiritually find Christ.

When the wise men entered Jerusalem they started asking (mat. 2:2) "Where is he that is King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." The word it used was "saying" prior to this question. I only point this out because it did not say "asked." The first thing we do in our journey in finding Christ is to ask. It is not simply asking once but asking many times. So when it used the word "saying" I feel they were asking everyone they saw. God helps those who keep trying find Christ. 

I noticed at the end of their question, they note for what purpose they are trying to find Christ; it was to worship him. This purpose contrasts with that of King Herod's. When he heard of Christ (Mat. 2:3), he was "troubled." This showed that he did not have room for Christ because he felt threatened rather than at peace. Already he was shutting out the grand story of Christ. When he went to find out more (Mat. 2:4), he did not ask- instead he "demanded"his priests and scribes to tell him. One can not make demands when trying to find Christ. 

When King Herod talked to the Wise men, he lied to them about his intentions. In verse 8 he tells them that he wanted them to tell him where Christ was so he could "worship him also."  Really, he wanted to kill Christ when he attempted to in verse 16. God will not answers prayers that are a lie. If one says he would like to "find Christ," his heart has to be pure.

 I also note that King Herod did not go out himself to discover, but rather tried to take a shortcut by just having someone else tell him. We can can not share a testimony. In order to gain a testimony we have to go out ourselves to search and find it. Like wise, Herod's efforts of finding Christ through someone else's efforts would not work. 

The next part I noted was when the Wise men finally met Christ, they came with a gift for him (Mat. 2:11). I think one of the most important parts of my journey of finding Christ is I should come with a gift. I should ask myself what I can do for my Savior, who sacrificed it all in my behalf. That gift is an the act of becoming consecrated. He asks me to give myself to him. The best part about giving gifts to Christ is I am not giving up anything that is worth keeping. 

That is the beauty of Christ's atonement. Any sacrifice I make is an investment. I gain more than I can give.

Alone, man is nothing, but through God, is everything but nothing

In the beginning chapters of the book of Moses, God explains to Moses who he is. He tells Moses of the creations and everything he has ownership over. He explains his great power and his endless ability. This may sound like God bragging but when God tells Moses "behold, thou art my son..." (Moses 1:4) I realized it was God teaching Moses who he was. I just imagine a king and this boy riding around the kingdom. The King shows him the amazing castle, the armies, the marketplaces, the dining halls, the servants, the people, the riches, the tapestries and so on. The boy stands there in amazement as he sees every thing that the king owns. At the end of the carriage ride, the king tells the boy that some day it will all be his, and his to take care of. The boy realizes that he is so privileged but also realizes how great of a responsibility he has. Moses must have felt the same way.
Moses continues to have this conversation with God. God shows him the creation of the world and of many other things. After showing all this to Moses, he withdraws himself from Moses. At that moment  Moses collapses. He then responds "... now for this cause, I now know man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed (Moses 1:10)."
I did not entirely understand this statement until one explained to me that Moses is not saying man is worthless. What he means is that on our own there is absolutely nothing we can do that is any good. God is good, and he is His child. Only through God can Moses be made great. Thus this statement is a sign of humility rather than hopelessness. That is exactly God wants us to feel. He does not want us to feel worthless, he wants us to understand that we must turn to Him and rely on Him. It is only through God can we truly show humility.

What child is this?

One of the beauties of attending Brigham Young University is I get to study the Word of God for a class. This semester I decided to take a New Testament class and I do not regret it one bit. It simply amazes me that there is much more to the scriptures than meets the eye. Moroni 10:32 says "yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him..." I have heard this scripture since I was in primary but it wasn't until a year or two a go that I could comprehend the meaning behind that statement. I now see the savior as someone reaching down with his arm to help lift me out of my current way of life into a life that is beautiful. He will continue to do this for us as we progress towards the goal of perfection. Viewing Christ as this perfected God that desires us to come him can be very intimidating but when we view him as how he entered this world, we get a better idea of who he is and how he wants us to be. Luke 2:7 tells us that he was born in a manger. The circumstances of his birth were not sanitary at all. The animals would stink and they probably didn't keep where they lived very clean either. It really shows that Christ is the God for all of us as he entered this world as a baby in a smelly animal house. In Matthew 19:14 Christ tells the people to let the children come yo him because "such is the kingdom of heaven." The reason children are so special to Christ is because they have qualities that come naturally to little children that many of us can lose in our adult years. One of them is they are approachable. It is a rarity to hear someone being intimidated by a little baby. This is how Christ wants us to view him. He is supposed to approachable from anyone in any walk of life. When my professor told me to view Christ as he was in the manger, and think of the phrase "come unto Christ," my attitude changed on approaching him. That insight really stood out to me as I thought of how that is a beautiful way to think of it. It is also a quality in Christ that we should try to emulate. This is so we can help anyone feel comfortable about approaching us. This will give us more opportunity to serve and help those that are struggling as they approach us with those things that they need help with.