I was reading a talk by Neil L Anderson yesterday (Thursday-it's now Sunday) called: "A Classroom of Faith, Hope, and Charity." It was a CES devotional from 2014. On the way to my training this morning I was listening to my scriptures; 1 Nephi:20 and even more understanding began to flood my mind. I'm not sure that any of that information came out in my devotional or piecing together of the Lord's pattern was seen as seamlessly as things appear to me now. From my meeting I went straight over to the temple for an 8 am session. It wasn't until I was sitting in the celestial room and decided to open up the scriptures that this theme continued.
I always marvel at how willing the Lord is to instruct us if only we will block out some time for him and devote ourselves to some pondering.
I started off my devotional with a quote from the talk:
"You are a most important part of the stone, cut without hands, rolling forth to fill the whole earth."
This picture of the stone rolling forth cut without hands comes to my mind. Especially after teaching OT last year. I taught this lesson. So what does it mean that we are "part of the stone?" What is the stone doing that's rolling forth? What is that statue?
Here's the definition of the statue. It's important that the stone is cut without hands because the statue is made with hands. Statue- workmanship of man. Stone- workmanship of God. My listening to Nephi this morning help explain this in another way.
1 Hearken and hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness.
2 Nevertheless, they call themselves of the holy city, but they do not stay themselves upon the God of Israel, who is the Lord of Hosts; yea, the Lord of Hosts is his name.
5 And I have even from the beginning declared to thee; before it came to pass I showed them thee; and I showed them for fear lest thou shouldst say—Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye not declare them? And that I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not they were declared unto thee, lest thou shouldst say—Behold I knew them.
10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
The stone rolling forth is going to destroy the different kingdoms in the statue, but those kingdoms are a representation of the people in those kingdoms. The wickedness. The worship of man's knowledge and ways. The "statue" will be destroyed. Even though it's big, mighty, and fierce. I think of big huge Goliath being defeated by David's throwing of a little stone. That can't be mere coincidence. I think there is something to this statue being made out of metals. The Lord is talking about in Nephi about refining us and choosing us in the furnace of affliction. There is a refining of metals and a furnace to shape the metal. We think we are in control of this process and build up our statues- thinking and ways of doing things, when in reality it is the Lord and His work-not ours.
Back to our stone and us being apart of it. While I was sitting in the temple I opened up the Book of Mormon to wherever it wanted to go. It opened to section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Back to our stone and us being apart of it. While I was sitting in the temple I opened up the Book of Mormon to wherever it wanted to go. It opened to section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
1 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;
5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
I felt that section was speaking of how to be part of that stone rolling forth. Having your eye single to the glory of God means not being confused between your abilities and God's. Always doing the will of God. Not deciding to do your own thing. Don't accidentally start building statues. Worshiping false idols. This is not your stone rolling forth. It wasn't created by man.
What is another obligation we have as being part of this stone rolling forth? I just taught a lesson last week in seminary about the famous "judge not lest ye be judged" and what that really means. Judge righteously is always forgotten about in that. We absolutely have an obligation to judge, just not engage in final judgments.
The next scripture I opened to was Ezekiel 3. This specific chapter is regarding a prophet. He has eaten the doctrine (scrolls) of the gospel and it is sweet to him, therefore it's his obligation to share the message and to warn others of the consequences of remaining in sin. Are we prophets? No. Do we have the same obligation? Yes. We are all to be watchmen on the tours. We all have stewardships- people to whom we are accountable for. There are lots of example about our personal duty to warn throughout the scriptures and conference talks. This is just where I happened to open up to. When I taught this lesson in seminary we also went over our personal responsibility. I feel like I always have to qualify things like this because people get their panties in a twist whenever they think someone is telling them they have responsibilities only reserved for prophets.
There is also a very specific role that missionaries have. What is it? Teach repentance. Who's a missionary? Every member a missionary. When you've tasted the fruit, you're supposed to share it. What is the fruit? The gospel. What is the all encompassing message of the gospel? How is the fruit sweet? Through keeping the commandments that the Lord has set forth to ensure our happiness. What's the only way that's possible? Through the atonement. How to we access that? By repentance. But that's judging people! No, that's God's judgements. Not yours. It is knowing that there are absolute truths. No one likes to think or believe that there are absolute truths. We like to live in the grey area. To say live and let live, God will work out the judgement. Well, yes. That's half true. God will work out the judgement, but we absolutely have an obligation to warn when someone is in danger. Here's what the Lord told Ezekiel.
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
But how can we know if we need to say something or not? Man, that's the question of a lifetime. We pray and then do the best we can. The Lord answers that question a couple of verses later:
26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
In the beginning of that chapter he cautions Ezekiel that not everyone will hear him. That it is up to the individual if he will accept the message or not. That is so hard. I know for me, when I feel like I'm following the spirit I expect different and happy results- that is not always what is going to happen. Here's what the Lord said earlier:
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
It is the same for us. We have children, family members, friends that are choosing wrong paths. We pray, we plead, we search for the correct way to help. If you're like me you get caught up in he doing everything right and expecting saving results. The truth is that it is up to the individual you are trying desperately to help if they want the help. The trick is not loosing hope. Not giving up because it looks like your efforts aren't making a difference. We can't see the final judgement. We have no idea. Our responsibility is to keep trying, keep warning and trust that when our mouth needs to be bound it will. I know that it will because my mouth has been bound. We get ourselves confused on what compassion is. We think we should have the motto live and let live. That's again half right. When they've been told they are choosing wrong and still want to you've got to let them live in the choice and still love them and look for opportunities to warn when you can. But it is not compassion to see sharks swimming in the water and not tell your friend because you don't want to ruin their swimming experience. They will be eaten by a shark by your so called compassion. That's not compassion, that's you being scared of them not liking you anymore because you told them something they didn't want to hear. The Savior didn't come to earth to make friends, he came to save souls. Read the NT and you will see just how many "friends" he had. They hung him on a cross!
Where we started with the talk about faith, hope, and charity, is where we will end. It is our duty to figure out how to warn in love. How to learn the doctrine before we can preach it. How to be part of the stone rolling forth to dispel falsehoods, to destroy wickedness, to bring light to the world with the pure truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the atonement. Once we figure out how to do this like the Savior would, our mortal test will be over. As the days grow darker and more wicked it will be more and more difficult to remain faithful, hopeful and full of charity. We have to understand the danger within ourselves if we have any hope of helping anyone else along the path.
The most frustrating thing for me is feeling like I have gained a deeper understanding of something and then failing miserably at putting it down into a cohesive thought that makes any kind of sense or comes close to what I feel like I learned. It took me a couple of days to come back to this because when I started writing it I suddenly realized I was in over my head trying to piece this together. If nothing else I hope that what came through all my attempts to connect is that there is a definite connection and pattern to the Lord. All things have a purpose and all things testify of each other. The gospel is true. God is the orchestrator of all things. All things work together for our understanding and benefit and strengthen us when we see how purposeful the Lord is in all that he does- down to the smallest of details. His works are glorious to behold and for some reason He wants us to be part of it. He wants to share it with us.
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