Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon I read a verse that always gives me a little chuckle. Chemish was given the plates and told to write something on them before he passed them on to someone else. So he wrote this verse, which pretty much says nothing! Talk about fulfiling an obligation by doing the absolute minimum. But as funny as this is, we need to look at our own lives and ask ourselves if this is sometimes the way we fulfill our church callings. "Hi, I'm your home teacher. Everybody okay here? Great! See you next month." Well, I can check them off my list. Do we mumble a few rote words that we're really not even listening to and say "amen" before going to bed, instead of saying a heartfelt prayer? Do we show up at our church meetings and daydream or take a snooze instead of trying put our heart into partaking of the sacrament and gaining spiritual insights? Do we really do our best to fulfill what the Lord expects of us or do we just go through the motions so we can claim we did something? Let's not be like Chemish who basically said he was told to write something so here he was writing something. The end. Omni 1:9 "Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end."

In the New Testament we're told that righteous people will do good and will love others. And they'll show that love with their actions. Wicked people will follow the devil and commit sin. They will hate their brothers and even kill them. It's as easy to tell the wicked from the righteous as it is to see those who hate and commit sin vs. those who love others and try to do good for them. 1 John 3:7-18 "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew h Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

Some scriptures with a thought booklet go right along with this thought, telling us that the two most important commandments are to love the Lord and to love our fellowmen. Love is what it's all about! Mark 12:28-34 "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question."
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