9 Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you;
10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it.
11 But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return.
12 For their works do follow them, for it is because of their works that they are hewn down; therefore remember the things that I have told you.
13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.
(Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 27:9 - 15)
The Lord’s church is built upon His gospel . As members of His church, we need to act in His name. That’s a great responsibility. Obviously, we are not the only church claiming divine guidance. How I act, what I say and do, should reflect my beliefs in my Savior.
Religion has a tendency to breed intolerance in many, i.e. you need to believe exactly as I do, or your going to burn in hell forever. Many churches seem to spend as much time spewing hatred against those that differ from them, as they do in building up their followers. One of my favorite phrases, which I think actually has Buddhist roots is, “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” I take that phrase to mean that I don’t need to make you look bad in order to make me look good. I’m not trying to say that I’m better than anyone, and I don’t need to have others praising me for what a good person I am. Trust me, I’m around myself all day. I know how far I need to progress to become the person I want to be.
If my actions/works are in line with Heavenly Father’s will, then I will find peace and joy in my life. Conversely, if they aren’t, I might think that I’ve found happiness for a short while, but ultimately, there is no happiness there.
No comments:
Post a Comment