Hi everyone! This has been a crazy past couple of days. I got home Sunday afternoon after an 8 hour flight from Tahiti to San Francisco, a 6 hour layover, and then an 18 minute flight (xD) to Sacramento. I then got officially released as a missionary per the directive from the First Presidency Tuesday night. It has been a bittersweet experience. I miss serving the people of Tahiti, I miss the languages, I miss the culture. It's weird not to wear the badge. But it's also nice to be home during this crazy time and to be able to spend so much time with my family.
While I was on quarantine for 17 days, I had a lot of free time on my hands, so I read a lot and then decided to write some things that I'd learned because I knew that they would benefit everyone who would read them.
Thank you all for your love and support during this time and I hope you're all doing as well as possible haha.
Doctrine & Covenants 45:31-35
"And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die. And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another. And now, when I the Lord had spoken these words unto my disciples, they were troubled. And I said unto them: Be not troubled, for, when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled."
Mormon 5:23
"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?"
We are truly in the hands of God.
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Bonjour tout le monde! I just wanted to share some things that have really touched me that I've learned while being on quarantine. I hope you're all doing okay--my prayers have been with you.
I've been reading a lot in a book my family sent me called Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson, and I've listened to a lot of talks as well (quarantine gives you a lot of free time haha), including one called "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. I've learned a lot about what it means to really have faith in Jesus Christ (not only to believe IN Him, but also to BELIEVE Him, to trust Him) and what it means to be "saved by grace" as well. It has given me a lot of comfort and has increased my faith a lot, and I wanted to share it with you all.
I've never quite understood the meaning of "grace." I knew it had to do with the mercy of God, but I never exactly knew how it applied to me. I'm sure I still don't fully understand it, but I've learned some insights that have really changed the way I see things.
First off, we as Latter-day Saints absolutely believe in being "saved," and not only that, but being "saved by grace." Since none of us are perfect, it is impossible for us to "earn" our way into heaven because we could never fulfill the demands of justice that require perfect obedience to all the commandments all the time without a single mistake. No one but the Christ could fit into this category. But because Christ is perfect and merciful, He has satisfied the demands of justice. He suffered for all of our sins and took upon Himself all of our guilt so that we could have a chance. As He is our Savior, He has quite literally saved us. As Brad Wilcox explained, this situation is like a mother paying a piano teacher to teach her child to play the piano. The mother has paid the price--but why? Does she want the child to give her the money back (to attempt to "repay" her)? No. She just wants the child to practice and to become better than before because she loves him and sees how much it will benefit him. Is perfection expected from the beginning? No. Is it even expected months or even years into the process? No. The mother simply wants her child to utilize the gift and opportunity that she has given him to practice diligently and improve each day. Christ has no intention of us trying to repay Him--even if that were possible, that is not what He wants. He wants us to utilize the wonderful gift of the Atonement that He has given us and continue to practice and improve each day. He has no intention of us being perfect right now, and He is not disappointed that we aren't. He loves us and just wants us to keep trying. In this way, we are not only saved by grace, but we are also changed by grace--we have become something more. All He asks of us is to (1) have FAITH in Him and in His Atonement, that He can really do what He says He can do, (2) REPENT (to ask forgiveness of God, and to have the desire and to earnestly seek to change to become more like Him each day), (3) be BAPTIZED by His authorized servant (and then partake of the sacrament to renew and make covenants with God each week), and (4) receive the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST to guide us and help us to keep His commandments and to align our lives with His every day until the end--to (5) "ENDURE TO THE END." If we follow this pattern throughout our lives and earnestly seek to do the best we can, we take upon ourselves the name of Christ and make covenants with Him, thus becoming a single unit with Him, partaking of His perfection, allowing us to enter spotless into the Kingdom of God. Our sins truly become as white as snow through Him who is mighty to save. This is what is called the "gospel", or good news, of Jesus Christ.
Stephen E. Robinson compares making covenants with God to two companies. The first (us) has a lot of liabilities, maybe even more than its assets. It is not financially stable. The second (Christ) has infinite assets. The second company proposes a merger to the first company to create a corporation (making covenants/creating a covenant relationship). What then happens to the first company? Is it still in financial ruin? No. It acquires the assets of the second and is in the black--it is financially stable, not through its own achievement, but through the power and ability of the second company. The only thing the first company needs to do is to not dissolve its affiliation with the second company (not break the covenants we have made) and it will always be stable. In like manner, when we take upon ourselves the name of Christ and make sacred covenants with him at baptism and in the temple, our weaknesses and faults are literally absorbed by His Atonement, which is infinite and covers all of our "liabilities", no matter how many there are, and we inherit His "assets" to create one perfect entity. As long as we stick with Him and have our hearts changed by our earnest desire to follow Him and show this through our honest efforts to make and keep sacred covenants with Him, everything is paid and accounted for, and we are justified to enter into the Kingdom of God. We take part in His perfection--as a team, we are "in the black."
These are only a couple of things that I've learned, and I know I didn't explain everything super in depth and there's a ton I left out/don't know yet, but I would recommend going to the sources themselves (the book Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson and the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox) to get a much better and more insightful explanation. But what all of this has helped me to see is that through Christ's grace and mercy and endless love, He has truly satisfied the demands of justice and has become my Mediator and my Redeemer and my Savior, and if I do what He asks me to do and try to become who He wants me to become and align my life to His in the best way I can with the limited knowledge and abilities that I have, I can become something more than I am right now and can be counted worthy to enter into the Kingdom of God. As long as I am with Him, my liabilities are absorbed by His assets and I am worthy and clean right now.
A couple other thoughts that I loved from Brad Wilcox's talk:
Christ does not make up the difference--He makes all the difference. He does not make up the rest after all I can do. He suffered for all of my sins, not just the ones I can't cope with myself. He is there before, during, and after all that I can do. I show Him my gratitude and willingness to utilize His Atonement by doing what I can each day to follow Him and improve.
Many people imagine getting to the Final Judgement, only to find Jesus with a clipboard weighing our good deeds against our bad deeds and deciding if we are good enough to get into heaven while we are begging Him on our hands and knees to let us stay. But it will not work that way. There was a boy who was really struggling spiritually. In fact, he had no desire to have any part in spiritual things. His parents sent him to EFY to try and help him. He didn't even last one day. He called that night and said, "Get me out of here." He could not stand the spiritual environment that he found himself in. If it is not our desire to enter into the Kingdom of God, we will not be begging, saying, "Please let me stay," only to have Jesus tell us that we are not good enough. No, it is more likely that we will be in the presence of God saying, "Get me out of here," and the Savior will be the one saying, "Please stay. Please. Use the Atonement I have given you. I love you. Please stay." If we really have the desire to be in God's presence, we can be through Christ's Atonement and grace. But if that is not our deepest desire, we will not feel comfortable there and will want to leave. God's grace is a gift, but we still have to acknowledge it and take the efforts required to accept it. How would you feel about yourself in this moment if you were standing in the presence of God? Would you want to stay?
Doctrine & Covenants 45:3-5.
"Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him--Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."
Enos 1:27
"And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen."
I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Advocate, and my Mediator. It is by His grace that I can stand worthy right now and after this life in the presence of God. No matter your struggles, your past, your weaknesses--have faith that Christ can heal you. Have faith not only in His identity as the Son of God, but also that He can truly do what He says He can do. He can make you clean. Don't tell Him that He can't. He can. Have faith in His atoning power.
I love you and hope you all understand just how much God and Jesus Christ know and love you.
Elder King
