Always Rejoice

The Book of Mormon is full of recipes.

The recipe for repentance, the recipe for revelation,
the recipe for conversion to Jesus Christ.

Each recipe is vital to our success in becoming who we are meant to become.

Today however, I want to focus on a certain recipe found in Mosiah 4 that teaches us how we can "ALWAYS REJOICE". That sounds pretty great, but seems impossible. In my experience, if we fail to achieve a promise given in the Book of Mormon it is because we have stopped following the recipe.

This particular recipe requires some prep work (found in Mosiah 4:9-10).

It is simple to say, difficult to do:

1) Believe in God, that he exists and created all things, has all wisdom and all power.

2) Recognize that we can't understand everything that He understands.

3) Repent and forsake, or leave behind, your sins. Humbly ask God to forgive you.

Quite the prep work, wouldn't you agree? I think at some point in our lives most of us have done a version of this prep work. We were blessed with a realization of our own nothingness before God and plead for forgiveness of our sins and weaknesses. If our pleading was sincere, we felt the love of God and His spirit of peace fill our souls. If it has been a while, the prep work probably needs to be repeated.

Once the prep work is done the recipe to always rejoice is pretty simple. It is found in the middle of verse 11:

"(1)Remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and (2)humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, (3) calling on the name of the Lord daily, and (4) standing steadfastly in the faith."

Then comes the promise in verse 12: "If ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins."

I defy anyone to sincerely act upon this recipe and not see the promise fulfilled.

The Book of Mormon is true.

Charity Never Faileth

So I've been thinking a lot after my lesson on sunday about "no contention" and our personal "prosper in the land". I want to talk a little more about what Heavenly Father expects of us as far as our feelings toward other people go.

When I say "no contention", that doesn't mean we just go with the flow. Sometimes we have to stand up for what we know to be right. Think of Captain Moroni (the heart throb of the Book of Mormon, Alma 48). He said that there are certain things worth defending: Family, Fellow Men, Personal Rights, Country, and Religion. He was willing to "fight" for what was right.

Wait a minute... I thought we weren't supposed to fight!? There is a difference between fighting for righteousness and the spirit of contention. The spirit of contention is of the devil. Hate is of the devil. So how do you fight for good without hating the sinner?

Look up Alma 48:20-24. Key phrases to look for - "they were compelled RELUCTANTLY to contend with their brethren" and "they were sorry to take up arms againd the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood." Moroni would have preferred to baptize every Lamanite and call him his brother than to go to war against them. But the Lamanites had their agency. They could not be forced to choose the right. And when their choices started affecting Moroni's people, Moroni had no choice but to stand up for what he believed. He never hated the Lamanites.

Man that would be hard! To stand up to someone who has negatively affected you without feeling bitter towards them! So what's the secret ingredient to make it possible? Charity. The pure love of Christ. Loving even the people we must take a stand against. Therin lies the only true peace we will find in this world. (See Moroni 7:45-48)

4th Nephi

Wow, so I've been reading 4th Nephi and the thing that really caught my attention this time was the turning point in the story. Here's this society that has been visited by Jesus Christ himself. He came and taught them the gospel and established His church, complete with 12 apostles and ongoing revelation. They were living in this nearly perfect society where there was no contention (What? They had marriages and families and organized religion with no contention???), the blind and lame were healed, and the 3 Diciples who were actually ordained by Jesus Christ himself ministered among them. For the first time in the Book of Mormon, the gospel is actually lived by everyone and the people are happy. Sounds like a fairy tale right? It would be, if it weren't for one big problem...

Mormon first describes their downfall saying they became excedingly rich. But they had been rich for years due to their integrity and industry. So how did their riches become toxic? It seems to me that the changing ingredient is selfishness. Mormon writes that their riches lead them to wearing expensive clothes to elevate themselves above others and "building up churches unto themselves".

You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like they said, "I don't like this particular aspect of the church, I think I'll make my own church where that is not included." Hmmmm. Does that sound familiar to anyone? I'll be a Mormon, except for this one principle. I'm a Mormon, but some old guy in Salt Lake is not going to tell me how to dress or when to date... I'm a Mormon, but I'm not going to be a home teacher, Im far too busy... I'm a Mormon, but who needs to listen to conference anyway? They always talk about the same things...

I always thought riches were the downfall of the Book of Mormon's golden years. But I believe that it was because Satan succeeded in getting the people to focus inward instead of outward. Their priority became themselves instead of God and their neighbors. Don't get me wrong, we are supposed to love ourselves. But the great commandment says, Love GOD, then love your NEIGHBOR, then YOURSELF. That order of priority is the only way to truly live the gospel.