Through His Merits, and Mercy, and the Grace
Greetings World Travelers -
What? You have not been traveling the world? It surely feels like I have been all over the place the past two weeks. I commented to my wife yesterday that the last 24+ hours is the longest I have been home since the first of January. I was delinquent last week because of it, but never fear, I am back.
How have you done with the minor adjustments to your routine? Some of you have started new jobs, some of you have returned to prior employment, some have started new classes, and most of us are just trying to get used to change the 8 to a 9 when dating all of our documents. What about your Sunday Schedule? How has the adjustment been there? I have yet to fully experience one. I thought that today would be pretty normal until some crazies cried out for strike action in Germany. That has turned my Sunday Worship for a couple loopy loops, but I did manage to get in to one Sacrament Meeting long enough to renew covenants and then it was off and running again. I returned later to teach a lesson or lead a discussion in Priesthood. We may talk about that later.
Any who, I have been slow in my pondering progression. I have been on the same verses for the past two weeks. We are on lesson 3. Though you may not be surprised, it goes along well with the discussion I have been preparing for this week.
2 Nephi 2:6-8
"Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth."
"Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered."
"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and the grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."
Yeah, there is a whole bunch in these few lines. As I pondered, I can not help but ponder upon a couple words here. "...full of grace and truth...", "...ends of the law...", and then in the last verse, "...through the merits, and mercy, and the grace...".
Where do I start? The Law? There is a law given. We refer to this law as the commandments, the Mosaic Law, the Covenant of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the New and Everlasting Covenant. Some refer to it as a plan. The plan has several names, but they all come back to the same general idea.
Why do we have this law? To help guide us to know the easiest and best way to return to our heavenly home/presence of God the Father.
Because of "The Plan", God the Father knew that we would not be able to make it through this mortal testing without making mistakes. It is "...in and through...the merits, and mercy, and the grace..." of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that "...the ends of the law..." are answered where we fall short. He sacrifice of Himself that we might be made whole.
The challenge we all have and something we talked about today in our discussion is:
How do we know if we are doing enough? I fear that we get caught up too much in this idea. We end up judging ourselves and others, when judgment is not ours, but His.
My understanding of this was made a little clearer today we discussed Elder Rober C. Gay's message from conference about taking upon us the name of Christ. He brought up three points to ponder.
1 - Seeing as God sees. That includes seeing ourselves as God sees. All too often it seems that we draw a very bold line between ourselves and others or even between ourselves and God. When doing so, we tend to focus on the negative or weakest aspects of those we are comparing. Basically, we are judgmental. God does not see us that way. He sees our potential. He sees the good in us. He does not focus on the weakness or the negative, but encourages us to build on the good and do better each day. We should do the same.
2 - Do and serve as God does. After seeing the good, in others and ourselves, we need to build upon it. We need to look for ways to bring out the good in others, serve the good, and shut out the bad. Through such service we rise to the good, the world becomes a better place we become better individuals.
3 - Trust in God. He has a plan. It is "...in and through the Holy Messiah..." that redemption comes. He will help us overcome the weakness, if we are seeing and doing all that we can in good.
I invite you to read and study Elder Gay's talk.
The past two weeks -
Well, it has been a roller coaster of adventure.
Sometime ago, Puddin and Lady Hawkins invited the Queen and I on a trip. As the trip evolved, we learned that we needed a Professor and SnackPack. So late on the evening of the 1st, we started a whirl wind of an adventure. In the course of 5 days, our party visited some 5 states and multiple airports. We found ourselves paying uber amounts of money to queue up for hours at a time. We saw the Atlantic and the Pacific. The temperature varied from the high 80's to the low 20's. Some of us thought it would be fun to spend 24 hours in airports listening to repetitious news casts. But most importantly, we were able to make memories and spend time together.
At the completion of our little adventure, the Queen, Professor, and Puddin returned to work. Lady Hawkins and SnackPack returned to class and work. I spent a good 10 hours hanging out before jumping back on another aero plane and starting another adventure.
Tall Man spent the last two weeks doing final walk throughs and opening a new production. Elh-Bo has been doing her best to stay healthy and hold down the fort.
We hope that all of you have enjoyed the first two weeks of the year, here's to 50 more before it runs out.
What? You have not been traveling the world? It surely feels like I have been all over the place the past two weeks. I commented to my wife yesterday that the last 24+ hours is the longest I have been home since the first of January. I was delinquent last week because of it, but never fear, I am back.
How have you done with the minor adjustments to your routine? Some of you have started new jobs, some of you have returned to prior employment, some have started new classes, and most of us are just trying to get used to change the 8 to a 9 when dating all of our documents. What about your Sunday Schedule? How has the adjustment been there? I have yet to fully experience one. I thought that today would be pretty normal until some crazies cried out for strike action in Germany. That has turned my Sunday Worship for a couple loopy loops, but I did manage to get in to one Sacrament Meeting long enough to renew covenants and then it was off and running again. I returned later to teach a lesson or lead a discussion in Priesthood. We may talk about that later.
Any who, I have been slow in my pondering progression. I have been on the same verses for the past two weeks. We are on lesson 3. Though you may not be surprised, it goes along well with the discussion I have been preparing for this week.
2 Nephi 2:6-8
"Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth."
"Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered."
"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and the grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."
Yeah, there is a whole bunch in these few lines. As I pondered, I can not help but ponder upon a couple words here. "...full of grace and truth...", "...ends of the law...", and then in the last verse, "...through the merits, and mercy, and the grace...".
Where do I start? The Law? There is a law given. We refer to this law as the commandments, the Mosaic Law, the Covenant of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the New and Everlasting Covenant. Some refer to it as a plan. The plan has several names, but they all come back to the same general idea.
Why do we have this law? To help guide us to know the easiest and best way to return to our heavenly home/presence of God the Father.
Because of "The Plan", God the Father knew that we would not be able to make it through this mortal testing without making mistakes. It is "...in and through...the merits, and mercy, and the grace..." of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that "...the ends of the law..." are answered where we fall short. He sacrifice of Himself that we might be made whole.
The challenge we all have and something we talked about today in our discussion is:
How do we know if we are doing enough? I fear that we get caught up too much in this idea. We end up judging ourselves and others, when judgment is not ours, but His.
My understanding of this was made a little clearer today we discussed Elder Rober C. Gay's message from conference about taking upon us the name of Christ. He brought up three points to ponder.
1 - Seeing as God sees. That includes seeing ourselves as God sees. All too often it seems that we draw a very bold line between ourselves and others or even between ourselves and God. When doing so, we tend to focus on the negative or weakest aspects of those we are comparing. Basically, we are judgmental. God does not see us that way. He sees our potential. He sees the good in us. He does not focus on the weakness or the negative, but encourages us to build on the good and do better each day. We should do the same.
2 - Do and serve as God does. After seeing the good, in others and ourselves, we need to build upon it. We need to look for ways to bring out the good in others, serve the good, and shut out the bad. Through such service we rise to the good, the world becomes a better place we become better individuals.
3 - Trust in God. He has a plan. It is "...in and through the Holy Messiah..." that redemption comes. He will help us overcome the weakness, if we are seeing and doing all that we can in good.
I invite you to read and study Elder Gay's talk.
The past two weeks -
Well, it has been a roller coaster of adventure.
Sometime ago, Puddin and Lady Hawkins invited the Queen and I on a trip. As the trip evolved, we learned that we needed a Professor and SnackPack. So late on the evening of the 1st, we started a whirl wind of an adventure. In the course of 5 days, our party visited some 5 states and multiple airports. We found ourselves paying uber amounts of money to queue up for hours at a time. We saw the Atlantic and the Pacific. The temperature varied from the high 80's to the low 20's. Some of us thought it would be fun to spend 24 hours in airports listening to repetitious news casts. But most importantly, we were able to make memories and spend time together.
At the completion of our little adventure, the Queen, Professor, and Puddin returned to work. Lady Hawkins and SnackPack returned to class and work. I spent a good 10 hours hanging out before jumping back on another aero plane and starting another adventure.
Tall Man spent the last two weeks doing final walk throughs and opening a new production. Elh-Bo has been doing her best to stay healthy and hold down the fort.
We hope that all of you have enjoyed the first two weeks of the year, here's to 50 more before it runs out.
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