Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read that an angel rebuked Israel for not serving the Lord and not throwing down the altars of the people as they'd been commanded to do. So because of this, instead of the Lord driving out the people from before them as He would have done, the people would remain to be thorns in their sides and a snare unto them. Judges 2:1-3 "And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you."

In the Book of Mormon I read some verses dealing with the subject of forgiveness. They are a comfort to those of us who think we've sinned so many times we can't possibly be forgiven so we may as well give up--they tell us that as many times as we'll repent, the Lord will forgive us. But they also warn us that we need to be willing to forgive other people their trespasses against us. If we're unwilling to forgive others, we ourselves will come under condemnation. Mosiah 26: 30-31 "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me. And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation."

Some verses with a thought booklet talk about the change that comes into our lives as we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior--we put off the old person we once were, the corrupt person full of deceiptful lusts, and become a new person full of righteousness and holiness, a person that God created us to be! Do we reflect, in the person that we are, that we truly have the Lord in our lives? Can a person see by our actions that we are a true follower of Christ? Can they see His image in our counterances? Eph. 4: 22-24 "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the bold man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in brighteousness and true holiness."