Scripture Thought
1 Nephi 7:20-21
These two verses are very interesting. I have given them a great deal of thought. Laman and Lemuel are suddenly willing to change. Why? What brought on the change? Were they really feeling the spirit of Nephi's testimony? Were they opening their hearts to the Lord? I don't know, it is hard to say. I wonder about this all the time. They always seem to commit verbally, make some small modifications, and then within a short period of time, they are back to the same old same old. Why?
I start to wonder about their intentions in wanting to change. Was it fear? Did they see that the rest of the group was touched? Or was it that they realized that Ishmael was not going back and so with out him there really wasn't anything in Jerusalem worth going back for?
How many of us are the same way? We make verbal commitments, we make minor changes, but then stop. Why do we stop? Why do we fall back into our old ways? Is it that we really have not had the complete change of heart?
The more I think about it, I think that is what it is. As we read the next verse, we see more into the complete process of repentance or change. We have to be willing to submit to the change completely, no matter how hard it is. Forgiving is part of that. Nephi, even after being bound and left for dead in the wilderness, accepted the Lord's will and forgave his brothers. He bore his testimony to them about the true love of God. Then he demonstrated it.
Change is not just steps 1 and 2, we have to fall them all the way through. Sometimes we have to repeat them over and over again in our lives, just at different levels. We must commit our wills to the Lord's will.
Then another challenge will appear and we must change again. We repeat it until we are completely changed. The Lord does not expect us to change all at once, but little by little.
I think another important part of repentance, is forgiving ourselves of our weaknesses and learning from them. We must re-commit ourselves continually, hourly, daily, weekly...etc. The change is not only on Sundays. It is a life long process.
Think about it.
These two verses are very interesting. I have given them a great deal of thought. Laman and Lemuel are suddenly willing to change. Why? What brought on the change? Were they really feeling the spirit of Nephi's testimony? Were they opening their hearts to the Lord? I don't know, it is hard to say. I wonder about this all the time. They always seem to commit verbally, make some small modifications, and then within a short period of time, they are back to the same old same old. Why?
I start to wonder about their intentions in wanting to change. Was it fear? Did they see that the rest of the group was touched? Or was it that they realized that Ishmael was not going back and so with out him there really wasn't anything in Jerusalem worth going back for?
How many of us are the same way? We make verbal commitments, we make minor changes, but then stop. Why do we stop? Why do we fall back into our old ways? Is it that we really have not had the complete change of heart?
The more I think about it, I think that is what it is. As we read the next verse, we see more into the complete process of repentance or change. We have to be willing to submit to the change completely, no matter how hard it is. Forgiving is part of that. Nephi, even after being bound and left for dead in the wilderness, accepted the Lord's will and forgave his brothers. He bore his testimony to them about the true love of God. Then he demonstrated it.
Change is not just steps 1 and 2, we have to fall them all the way through. Sometimes we have to repeat them over and over again in our lives, just at different levels. We must commit our wills to the Lord's will.
Then another challenge will appear and we must change again. We repeat it until we are completely changed. The Lord does not expect us to change all at once, but little by little.
I think another important part of repentance, is forgiving ourselves of our weaknesses and learning from them. We must re-commit ourselves continually, hourly, daily, weekly...etc. The change is not only on Sundays. It is a life long process.
Think about it.
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