The doctrine of change, the doctrine of repentance, brings about the purposes of God and reason for our existence.
Second morning, I am going back and reviewing the references at the beginning concerning prosperity:
10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Psalm 62:10-12
11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
Here is another one:
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
2 Chronicles 26:5
And one more:
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psalm 1:1-3
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
And then a warning not to forget is found in the subsequent verse’s footnotes:
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Deuteronomy 8:19-20
20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.
Oh How Great Is the Nothingness of the Children of Men
I read this explanation this morning in verse 7. Verse 6 leads up to it. And it really strikes me as profoundly significant that God, our Creator, would give man instructions, and man would think himself greater than God, ignore his instructions, and go in a different direction. In any other context, a thing created that didn’t fulfill the purpose of its creation would be considered of no value, meaningless, worthless. (Perhaps that is why so frequently we feel this way when we disobey God’s commands.)
But the bigger “Aha!” for me this morning is that if we don’t follow God’s instructions for our design, we are nothing! In any other context, a thing that does not act according to design would be wasted, thrown out, tossed aside as having no purpose, discarded.
Saved, Salvation
I have a problem with the word “salvation” this morning, and that is its association with the thought of a “passive redemption”, which clearly the authors of the scriptures don’t believe in or teach. But salvation is a privilege reserved unto God to grant unto those who exercise faith unto repentance.
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord:
Psalm 37:39
The above is not a passive statement in as much as righteousness is not passive, but requires work to become righteous and to maintain righteousness. For the moment that the righteous man stops working to do good, then is he no longer righteous, but become idle and hence wicked.
Restored Grace for Grace
And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.
Verse 24
This verse of scripture left me puzzling for a few moments. There are a couple of key insights that are revealed in these verses. First, this verse acknowledges a fall. In other words, that our original habitation was one of glory where we dealt with God “in his great fulness” living “grace for grace”. The path that restores us back to our primeval state of grace, fullness, and glory is that of repentance AND good works. All this is a gift from God, and yet strangely, all this requires our very best efforts to achieve it. “Then is his grace sufficient for you!” (Moroni 10:32) And me!
Why is it so hard? Why is repentance and good works required? Because we’re bring a body in tow with our spirits. We left the presence of God as spirits. Our very purpose in mortality is to return back to God with our spirits clothed in tabernacles of flesh. According to the degree that our spirits could master these tabernacles of flesh, this is the glory to which we are restored, the fullness of which bring us back into the presence of God and His Son. These are not prizes or trophies to be won. NO! It is much more. These are purposes to be achieved, and preparations to be secured. For what? The next chapter has a far greater weight in Glory than could every be conceived in this mortal realm of things.
So in the meanwhile, we are left to limited confines of this mortal existence. Its purposes are to share what we have, and to acquire as much light and knowledge as we can afford to retain.
Helamán 12 (en español)
Los propósitos de Dios se logran cuando los hombres se arrepienten y hacen las buenas obras.
La Vida Sempiterna
¿Cuáles son las escritpuras que testifican o enseñan sobre la vida sempiterna?
No hay mucho que habla de que es la vida eterna. Doctrina y Covenios 132:19,20,24,55 explica con más detalles. Juan 17:3 es el otro lugar.
Condenación Sempiterna
¿Y de la condenación sempiterna? Tal vez lo estudiaré más adelante.