"What Ye Have Seen Me Do."

24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.

25 And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation.

(3 Nephi 18:24-25)

 

The third book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon (A Testament of Jesus Christ) is the account in which Christ comes to the Americas as a resurrected being. He directs the people on how to run His church. He teaches them and blesses them as He did with the people in Jerusalem. One of His teachings just so happens to be about "light". Imagine that. Once again He tells people to "hold up [their] light that it may shine unto the world." Instructing as He did in Jerusalem that we need to be beacons of hope that the world can turn to.

 

In addition He tells us what exactly the "light" is. Through my past blog posts I have referred to it as our gospel knowledge or our testimonies. Christ states that "[He is] the light which ye shall hold up". When we gain a knowledge of Christ's ministry and all that He has done for us, we also read within that that we should be like He is. Is it safe to say that when we have started on our path of understanding His plan we need to also start to exemplify that? He has "commanded that [we] should come unto [Him]". As we come to know and love the life of our Brother and Savior we will have that increase desire to share with others that happiness we have obtained. The feeling of being whole.

 

For those who wish to own a copy of the Book of Mormon for yourself, which I know will add to that light which you have, you can order a free copy at http://www.mormon.org/ or read/ listen to an online copy at http://www.lds.org/ . for additional questions or feedback please feel free to add me on http://www.facebook.com/ with a message attached with your questions and comments. I would love to chat with you!

Lights & Candlesticks

33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

(Luke 11:33-36)


Our knowledge of the gospel should bot be tucked away in a "secret place" or under a "bushel" but should be set on a condfident testimony ("candlestick") What is a testimony? It is a spiritual witness from the Holy Ghost of God's love for you and our Savior's Atonement (to give at least two examples). As you learn and recieve personal witness of Heavenly Father's plan and the fulness of His gospel you add to that testimony.

When a testimony ("candlestick") is in the works a "candle" is lit and placed on top. From this, attention is drawn to your beliefs because of your "light" or in other words - your example (shawing your beliefs through your actions.)

In verse 34 we see that when we focus on God and doing His will we are "full of light". The opposite effect happens when we slip into worldly/evil desires, we become "full of darkness". If that is true and light reflects our outward actions, the same could be said if our souls are filled with darkness. We won't do God's will and we fall into sin, we in a literal sense withdraw from God.

Let us all search to do our Father In Heaven's will. By doing the small acts of service, exercising faith, praying, scripture study, church attendance, and grawing closer as a family I know that we will be able to have "no part dark" within us. It will require time & much effort, also trial and error (we ARE human), but we can be "Children of Light"! We will not only become what we were sent here to become, but also help others realize it as well! We can change the world for the better, we CAN be in harmony!

(For more/similar references to this specific topic of "Lights & Candlesticks" see Matthew 5:14-16 & Mark 4:21)

Like A Thief In The Night!

   

As I dove into my personal study this morning I came across an interesting title that is given to us. I had never heard this title before and if i had I sure wasn't paying attention like i am now. The title came from the Doctrine of Covenants (106) as a revelation given to Joseph Smith:

4 And again, verily I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night—

  5 Therefore, gird up your loins, that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief. 

 

Interesting analogy that was used in this revelation. I thought it clever how it was said Christ second coming would be like a thief in the night. We all know that thieves need to be very sneaky and good at what they do or else they will be caught. From this thought process I wanted to dive deeper into this concept/title of "Children of Light". So I did and it led me to John (12):

 

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

  36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. 

 

 Hm... so if we are surrounded in darkness we can't see the "thief" when he comes. We might be able to see a figure of a person but with that alone we cannot know for sure who that person is. Some may guess and have suspistions of who that person might be, but there is no SURE knowledge. Still, what does children of light even mean? Let's turn to Doctrine and Covenants again (6):

 

 21 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. 

 

Sweet! Christ is the "light", in other words we are "Children of Christ". Now on to the harder part of this subject. I say all this with love though. In order to know when the thief comes we need that light on inside of us. We need to KNOW Christ. When we try our best to understand who He is and all He has done we begin to grasp the image of Christ, that way when He comes He will not pass us by and us not know that He has come. Those who have not tried to know Christ are not only those who have never heard or read of Him, but those who have chosen to stray away from what He has taught. He taught that we should be like Him, knowing that we cannot be perfect in this life and that we mess up He gave us the ultimate gift of repentance. Which is the ability to change ourselves around, anything that is opposite of God's will.

 

Let ourselves be "unspotted from the world". Let us rekindle (if needed) that light of Christ within us, so that we may see Him as He is. To be part of those that will rejoice and sing because we know Him. Let us be Children of Light!