Scripture Thought 10/11/09
1 Nephi 4:3
I always find this verse interesting. Nephi reminds his brothers that they already know this truth? Do they? What do they know? They have lived in the same house as Nephi. Their parents have taught them the same things. When they go to worship, they are all there together. It makes sense to think that they would all know the same thing. Yet, it appears that they do not.
How many people do we know that have gone to the same church we have all of their lives, but don't know what we know? Or on the flip side, how many people do we know that have been in the same ward, primary, Sunday School, or priesthood classes as we have, yet they seem to know more than we do? Is knowing what it is all about? Are we just supposed to know the stories, be able to recite the answers as they are written in the manual and then go home?
I am always amazed. Laman and Lemuel have just been visited by an angel. When I think about this, I think of it as a life changing moment. It changed Saul's life. It changed Jacob's life. It changes Alma the Younger's life. It changed Joseph Smith's life. Wouldn't it change every ones'?
So what is it? It is not knowing, it is not being visited by angels. There is more too it. One has to receive the witness that is offered. One has to accept what is being presented and make it part of their lives. I can go back and watch conference over and over again, but if I am not really listening, receiving, and trying to apply what I have learned to my life, it is all for naught.
Laman and Lemuel were just a long for the ride. Are you?
Or are you like Nephi, he has been through the same experience and is now willing to step back into the furnace. He realizes that it is going to take more than a simple request, a bucket load of treasure, or more to get the plates. It is going to require the hand of the Lord. It may require that Laban be destroyed, he just does not know how, who, or when. He puts his faith in the Lord and was willing to do, accept, or receive the outcome, no matter what was required.
Apply it.
I always find this verse interesting. Nephi reminds his brothers that they already know this truth? Do they? What do they know? They have lived in the same house as Nephi. Their parents have taught them the same things. When they go to worship, they are all there together. It makes sense to think that they would all know the same thing. Yet, it appears that they do not.
How many people do we know that have gone to the same church we have all of their lives, but don't know what we know? Or on the flip side, how many people do we know that have been in the same ward, primary, Sunday School, or priesthood classes as we have, yet they seem to know more than we do? Is knowing what it is all about? Are we just supposed to know the stories, be able to recite the answers as they are written in the manual and then go home?
I am always amazed. Laman and Lemuel have just been visited by an angel. When I think about this, I think of it as a life changing moment. It changed Saul's life. It changed Jacob's life. It changes Alma the Younger's life. It changed Joseph Smith's life. Wouldn't it change every ones'?
So what is it? It is not knowing, it is not being visited by angels. There is more too it. One has to receive the witness that is offered. One has to accept what is being presented and make it part of their lives. I can go back and watch conference over and over again, but if I am not really listening, receiving, and trying to apply what I have learned to my life, it is all for naught.
Laman and Lemuel were just a long for the ride. Are you?
Or are you like Nephi, he has been through the same experience and is now willing to step back into the furnace. He realizes that it is going to take more than a simple request, a bucket load of treasure, or more to get the plates. It is going to require the hand of the Lord. It may require that Laban be destroyed, he just does not know how, who, or when. He puts his faith in the Lord and was willing to do, accept, or receive the outcome, no matter what was required.
Apply it.
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