SPIRITUAL DYSLEXIA
In the last few decades a curious learning disability has been defined and given the title dyslexia. It has been found that individuals suffering its effects often perceive letter and word sequence in reverse. Even the plainest and simplest of statements can become frustrating puzzles to these otherwise bright people. Children so afflicted will often exhibit dysfunctional, self-defeating behaviors symptomatic of this underlying frustration and inability to understand.
I propose that many Latter-day Saints are spiritually dyslexic. The symptoms of this "dis-order" (literally) and the "dis-ease" it causes vary among us in outward severity and yet spring from the same genesis: this tendency to reverse the order of the written and spoken word of God. Thus we "have eyes to see, and see not . . . ears to hear and hear not" (Ezekiel 12:2).
Stricken with this disorder of perception, we, like ancient Israel, find the gospel neither easy nor simple (1 Nephi 17:41). Instead, we are frustrated and bewildered, wandering in a modern wilderness of stress, anxiety, discouragement and depression. Only occasionally do we glimpse the promised land of joy and peace that is potentially ours. Like those ancient (adult) children of Israel, we too cling to a dyslexic solution. Reversing the order of these words, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6), we act as if they teach us that the "letter," the outward activity, "giveth life." We desperately try to alleviate our disease by escalating and intensifying our performances and seeking to improve our appearances.
In Moroni 10:32 is yet another example of a mystery of godliness veiled, not in God's delivery, but in our dyslexic perception. Though it plainly states "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him," before it continues with the otherwise impossible charge to "deny yourselves of all ungodliness," most Latter-day Saints perceive and believe thusly: "Deny yourselves of all ungodliness and [then] come unto Christ." Having read it in that order, we launch off on a campaign of self-improvement, sincerely striving, knuckles white, to deny ourselves of all ungodliness. With set jaw and a countenance that would scare a child (and often does), we set about to "clean house," ourselves, meanwhile ignoring the gentle knock of Him who is like "a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap" (3 Nephi 24:2).
HEARING KING BENJAMIN’S PLEA AND (THEN) HIS PROMISES
Read in the correct order, we find that Mosiah 4:6-16 contains one of the purest and most powerful summaries in all sacred writ of how putting ourselves in proper relationship to our Savior can bring results that we could never hope to accomplish by our own unaided will power. Meanwhile, I propose that to misread and inadvertently reverse the order of what King Benjamin teaches in this chapter is as spiritually devastating as comprehending it correctly is exalting. To focus on the circumstances described in vs. 12-16—trying to make them happen before giving our whole heart to the relationship with God summarized in vs 6-11 is the spiritual equivalent of reversing the very process of exaltation. It is to put the cart before the horse, the destination before the journey, the gift before the Giver.
MANDATE OR PROMISE?
For example, how many of you, like me, have sat in a lesson on parenting and had someone rehearse the words of Mosiah 4:14 out of context? "And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another . . ."
Then, with those infamous words (that become more infamous the more kids you have) still ringing in your ears, you drive home with a van full of children who can't make it out of the parking lot before World War III erupts. As each discordant sound falls on your ears, this seemingly impossible mandate falls on your head like a pile driver- driving your sense of pleasing God ever further from you and you ever further from Him. You feel confused, befuddled, discouraged, or you feel frustrated, angry, determined to force this unrighteous behavior to cease. In confusion we are left to wonder, "Why would God give us such an impossible mandate and then call His gospel the `good news'?" Honestly, we find better news on television or in the Sunday newspaper. No wonder we spend the rest of the Sabbath day studying them instead of any more scriptures.
It is my testimony that the gospel, if read in the correct order, is always good news! To all my fellow beleaguered and bewildered parents I bring glad tidings of great joy. I'm about to share with you how God, having healed my spiritual dyslexia, gave me not only eyes to see, but also ears to ear and a heart to understand (Mosiah 2:9). With this understanding both God and King Benjamin were transformed from stern task-masters to my greatest benefactors and friends.
When read in context, Mosiah 4:14 is not a mandate or a command; it is actually a promise!! No wonder it seems impossible by our finite, mortal understanding! God's promises usually are: manna from heaven, life after death, garments washed white in blood.
ALL THINGS FALL INTO PLACE
I would like to propose that King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 4:12-16 are promised results that will begin to happen automatically if we are willing to put all our effort into establishing and developing the relationship outlined in vs 6-11. How can I make such a bold statement? I am in good company. Recently, President Benson repeated the same message to us: "When we put God first in our lives, all other things fall into their proper place, or drop out of our lives" (President Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1988, italics added).
Notice the words "fall into their proper place." Feel the easiness and simpleness of the way. The gospel, when approached in the right order, can be successfully lived, and with such a lack of struggle as to seem like it's happening automatically. (Notice I didn't say effortlessly.) To live correct principles takes great effort on our part, most certainly--the effort of overcoming pride and self-will; the effort of seeking to know and then trust God's will for us above our own.
"FOR WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST"
Before we review the summary King Benjamin is going to give us of what our correct attitude and relationship with God needs to be in Mosiah 4:6-11, upon which he promises such amazing changes in our hearts and in our lives, lives in vs. 12-16, let’s remember the context of this scene. In Mosiah 2 and Mosiah 3 this aged prophet-king has been giving his beloved people his final counsel and blessing, admonishing them in no uncertain terms to remember their own “nothingness” without God. He all but begs them to remember that no matter how hard they try to earn God’s blessings and favor, it will never be enough—that it is impossible to ever be “worthy” in the sense of meriting or deserving what God gives them, because it can’t be done. The truth is we will always love God, as the Apostle John put it, “because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19.) His kindness to us will eternally out-weigh and out-strip our effort to “measure up.” And it is in this degree of awakening to their own need for specifically for a Savior (even though they are already the equivalent of active, believing, practicing members of “the Church” in their day) that has brought these people into the very depths of humility.
So at the beginning of Mosiah 4 we find King Benjamin looking out over a great number of people bowed down to the earth in overwhelming reverence for God. King Benjamin's previous words have found their place in ready and willing hearts. In godly sorrow and from the depths of sincere humility, the people honestly face and admit their weaknesses and failings. Convinced of their own hopeless and helpless state without Him, they come to a place of genuine surrender to their need for God. As with one voice, they cry out unto the name and personage of the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, that His atoning blood be applied to them. (v.2) And immediately they receive a remission of their sins and are overwhelmed in a sense of peace--even His own peace. And all this because "of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ," that He could deliver them. (v.3)
Seeing this mighty change from self and sin-centeredness to God-centeredness, King Benjamin begins to rehearse to them again the conditions upon which they can retain what they have now obtained. His is the classic example of the perfect teacher--He tells his students what he's going to teach them, teaches them, and then, seeing they are taught, repeats his message again. Beginning in verse 6 we will rehearse with him what has not only brought on this mighty change, but also what will retain for them what they've so recently been given.
SALVATION COMES TO HIM WHO TRUSTS THE LORD
1. "Salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord" (v. 6). (Recognize and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, specifically.)
Jehovah of the Old Testament, Christ of the New Testament and "the Lord" of the Book of Mormon are the same individual (Helaman 14:12, 3 Nephi 15:5). Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Benjamin, and later Alma, the brother of Jared, Mormon and Moroni - all these men, even like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James and John had a "working, walking," intimately personal relationship with Him, even the Lord Jesus Christ. While they kept the supremacy of the Father always in perspective, they even addressed many of their prayers to Christ, especially the ones of the heart, uttered in the inner mind or spirit. (Enos 1:2, 4, and 10; Mosiah 2:19; Alma 36:18.)
Each discovered in turn (even as we must) that the Son is the member of the Godhead sent by the Father to represent Him in full authority and power, as the "mediator of the new covenant" (D&C 107:18-19), and that it is the Son whose words are conveyed to us by the Holy Ghost (Moses 5:9) and will lead us along in ALL things whatsoever we should do (2 Nephi 32:3).
For us to work with the Son, to talk to Him, visualize Him, walk with Him, love Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength, delights the Father (Colossians 1:19). He knows full well that the Beloved Son will attribute all glory, honor and power to the Father (Matthew 6:13). There is no jealousy between them. They are, along with the Holy Spirit that administers for both of them, even as one (John 10:30). They think as one, work as one, and rejoice as one when we become "born of God" (Mosiah 27:28) and become one with Christ (D&C 50:43).
2. "Salvation, through the atonement . . . for all mankind" (v. 7). (Accept and apply the atonement of Jesus Christ to all mankind, [including myself].)
To retain guilt for my own sins past the point of contriteness and confession or to retain resentment (much less anger or bitterness) towards another for his sins is to be in an even greater state of "sin" (separateness from God) than the original transgression. Why? Because to harbor either guilt or resentment is to reject the very atonement of Christ, one way or the other. It is to make His gift, His offering, for nothing.
The Lamb of God offers us the gift of cleansing (John 1:29), the gift of "at-one-ment" with Himself and the Father who sent Him. This is the gift of "good cheer" (D&C 78:18), joy (Alma 22:15), and "peace that surpasseth understanding" (John 14:27). Yet we go about as if there were no atonement made. Filled with fear and anxiety, guilt and shame, we act as if there is a power that is greater to make wrong than Christ is able to make right, meanwhile totally ignoring the assurances of the scriptures that He retains "all power, even to the destroying of Satan" (D&C 19:3). Truly, as it has been so plainly said, "For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?" (D&C 88:33).
3. "There is none other salvation save this" (v. 8). (Acknowledge that ALL salvation [improvement] from any source in coming [though anonymously] from Jesus Christ.)
Christ is the light "that giveth light to every man that cometh into the world" (D&C 84:46). A lecture on any subject, if it be good and uplifting, faith and hope producing, is coming from Jesus Christ, who is the origin of all truth (D&C 84:45), no matter what source the speaker gives for his material. The fact is that Christ is willing to work anonymously for now. He is calm and secure, knowing that ultimately, not by compulsion, but by enlightened choice "unto [him] every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:23). Someday He will stand revealed as the saving force, the original source of everyone's journey towards salvation, whether they began to realize that saving power through Buddha, Mohammed, or the "Great Spirit" (Alma 18:28).
4. "Believe that he is" (v. 9). (Believe that Jesus Christ is a currently living entity, available to each of us personally this very day and hour, through both the Light of Christ, and the Holy Ghost.)
We must get over the "holding pattern" mentality that Christ was amongst us in the meridian of time or will yet be in His second coming. We must come unto Him even now so that He might come unto each of us personally, or we will not "remain" when he comes to the world generally (Ehat and Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 4). He must become a living reality to us today.
While the past is to be learned from, and the future to be hoped for, we have only this day to live, and "sufficient unto the day is [not only] the evil [the need, the challenge] thereof" (Matthew 6:34), but also the strength, which we can renew each morning in and through Christ. Even like manna, His companionship must be sought each new day. It cannot be saved from the past nor stored for the future. We must learn to trust Him whose way is the way of manna and not of worry. After all, Christ Himself declared His own position in time and power by His very name "I AM" (D&C 29:1).
5. "That he created all things" (v. 9). (Believe that Christ created all things and that He is the instrument of the Father manifest in all creation.)
The power embodied in Him is the power which created the sun, moon, stars and earth (D&C 88:7).He is the power by which worlds without number were created (Moses 1:35). Not only is He the creator of all that is "out there," but also all that is "in here" (our own physical bodies [Jacob 2:21]), and He is the very power by which we each move and think and have our being (Mosiah 2:21, D&C 88:48).
6. "Believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth" (v. 9). (Believe that we can counsel with Christ in all our doings--that no subject is too trivial or too intimate.)
Christ is the spirit and author of all truth, no matter where, or in what field. How wise we would be to take Him as our guide no matter what our need for knowledge. We are told that He knows "the end from the beginning" (Abraham 2:8). We must also realize He knows the middle--where we are right now. We must remember that He is not only "Alpha and Omega" (D&C 61:1), but He is the "way" (John 14:6) between the two.
It is He to whom we should direct all our thoughts (Alma 37:36), the unworthy as much, if not more, than the worthy. He is the one who can direct our anger, unravel our frustration, and still our fears, if we will only come unto Him. How foolish we are to turn away from God in those very moments we need Him most.
7. Believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" (v. 9). (ALWAYS remember to give credit to God, not yourself, for your success in any area.)
The degree of self-mastery prophets achieve is not a reflection of any extraordinary ability of their own to comprehend anything, but of the power of the Master to whom they surrender in all things (2 Nephi 4:19-20). We will not achieve true self-mastery until we are willing to turn our "selves" over to the Master.
If we would always remember, even as they, that it is His grace that is "sufficient for [us]" (Moroni 10:32) and not our own "unprofitable" efforts (Mosiah 2:21), then "in nowise [could we] deny the power of God" (Moroni 10:32).
8. "Repent of your sins . . . and humble yourselves before God" (v. 10). (Realize that humility and repentance are the key principles in Christ's plan, not perfection and pride.)
This humility and repentance must be "fine-tooth comb" thorough. Only when we "come down in the depths of humility," realizing that we are "fools" (2 Nephi 9:42) compared to God, will we be willing to do the degree of soul searching that breaks and lays open our hearts (2 Nephi 2:7). And if the heart is not opened and cleansed, no amount of perfection on the outside will mask it before God (1 Sam. 16:7). This degree of soul searching and soul surrendering will make "prophets" of us all (Numbers 11:29). Having once accomplished it, the gifts of the Spirit will pour into our lives, until we have finally realized the greatest gift of all--His own promise of our place with Him (Ehat and Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 4).
9. "Ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you" (v. 10). (Seek Christ's personal administration of His atoning sacrifice and grace in your own life.)
I have come to realize that somewhere in the process of repenting unto a complete remission of sins we must ask Christ specifically to apply His atonement in our behalf (Alma 36:18). It is, after all, His sacrifice, His price, His blood. It is His gift. It is His wings that would gather us (3 Nephi 10:5), His arms that would encircle us (D&C 6:20-21).
The truth is that He employs no servant there at the final gate of that straight and narrow way (2 Nephi 9:41), for it is the channel of rebirth (Alma 5:7), and He is both the delivering physician and the Father of those so born. When a person comes to a place of remission of sins it will be administered to him personally, by the Lord Himself (Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, p. 5). His peace is unmistakable, His comfort undeniable. His presence and power, His voice and eventually, in His own time, His face will be ours (D&C 88:68).
Enos experienced this moment, when after an extensive effort at prayer motivated by an intense hunger to know the truth for himself, he heard a voice come into his mind saying "Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed" (Enos 1:5).
Alma, the younger left us an even more plain account of coming to this One-to-one consciousness of Christ's own personal administration in the 36th chapter of Alma:
18. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, [the atonement of one Jesus Christ (v. 17)], I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
10. "Always retain in remembrance . . . your own nothingness and his goodness" (v. 11). (Continue to practice remembering the goodness of GOD, and our own nothingness comparatively.)
Even after Nephi had become a great prophet, he retained in remembrance his own "wretchedness" (2 Nephi 4:17), giving God credit for his support (v. 20). He acknowledged plainly that it was "the robes of [the Lord's] righteousness" (v. 33) and not any power or worthiness of his own that made him a free man. Though it flies in the face of all modern humanistic philosophy, let us consider what we like Moses, "had never before supposed"--that "man is nothing," without the glory of God (Moses 1:10).
It will never be who we are, but rather whose we are that makes the difference.
11. "Calling on the name of the Lord daily" (v. 11).
Not only should we call on the Lord daily but even continually (Alma 13:28). Through his servant Alma, Christ has invited us to "counsel with [Him] in all [our] doings" (Alma 37:37). President Ezra Taft Benson bore second witness to the all-encompassing application of that entreaty when he wrote:
The constant and most recurring question in our minds, touching every thought and deed of our lives, should be, "Lord, what will thou have me to do?" (First Presidency Message, Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 2.)
While Christ Himself would counsel us to go before our Father in Heaven in prayers of praise, honor, and appreciation, the Father would, in turn, direct us to hear His Beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased (Joseph Smith--History 1:17). In our need, puzzlement, sinning and suffering He is, through the administration of the Holy Spirit, the source of our guidance. There is nothing in which we cannot turn to Him.
Every day will bring relapses into "sin," into thoughts, words or actions that distance us from God and others.If we are to retain what we have obtained, we must keep our relationship with Him explicitly honest and continue to seek His atoning intercession with the Father (Hebrews 7:25).
I have found that if I neglect my relationship with Him, within two days I am anhungered and athirst, and within three I have started to slip back into that spiritual wilderness (Alma 37:42, 45) from which only He can deliver me (Mosiah 23:23).
12. "Standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come" (v. 11). (King Benjamin's immediate promises, as well as future glorious events.)
While it is perfectly true that one of the things "which is to come" and in which we must stand steadfast is the glorious second coming of the Lord, I believe that this admonition can also be applied to the promises which Benjamin is about to rehearse to us.
“I SAY UNTO YOU THAT IF YE DO [THESE THINGS] YE SHALL . . .
As we open our hearts to how total our humility before the Father and reliance on the Savior must be, we can be absolutely certain that we will see our own hearts begin to change and that that mighty change will begin to manifest itself outwardly, albeit gradually. In other words we will begin to experience some of the miraculous results listed in verses 12-16. Admittedly, these promises won’t be fulfilled as if by magic. Admittedly, they will take time to materialize, but we have a prophet’s promise that they will come to pass—not as we try to make them happen, but as we turn to God and acknowledge that it is through His wisdom and His grace (power) that “we” will be able to live as vs. 12-16 describes. We will have to be satisfied with consistency, not constancy. Standing steadfast in hope for ourselves and faith in Christ, we must be patient with the process and be willing to keep practicing these true principles of relationship with God. It is good to remember that darkness retreats gradually as the dawn approaches.
Next month, we will explore and rejoice in the promises King Benjamin extends and how they may manifest themselves in our lives.
SPIRITUAL DYSLEXIA
In the last few decades a curious learning disability has been defined and given the title dyslexia. It has been found that individuals suffering its effects often perceive letter and word sequence in reverse. Even the plainest and simplest of statements can become frustrating puzzles to these otherwise bright people. Children so afflicted will often exhibit dysfunctional, self-defeating behaviors symptomatic of this underlying frustration and inability to understand.
I propose that many Latter-day Saints are spiritually dyslexic. The symptoms of this "dis-order" (literally) and the "dis-ease" it causes vary among us in outward severity and yet spring from the same genesis: this tendency to reverse the order of the written and spoken word of God. Thus we "have eyes to see, and see not . . . ears to hear and hear not" (Ezekiel 12:2).
Stricken with this disorder of perception, we, like ancient Israel, find the gospel neither easy nor simple (1 Nephi 17:41). Instead, we are frustrated and bewildered, wandering in a modern wilderness of stress, anxiety, discouragement and depression. Only occasionally do we glimpse the promised land of joy and peace that is potentially ours. Like those ancient (adult) children of Israel, we too cling to a dyslexic solution. Reversing the order of these words, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6), we act as if they teach us that the "letter," the outward activity, "giveth life." We desperately try to alleviate our disease by escalating and intensifying our performances and seeking to improve our appearances.
In Moroni 10:32 is yet another example of a mystery of godliness veiled, not in God's delivery, but in our dyslexic perception. Though it plainly states "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him," before it continues with the otherwise impossible charge to "deny yourselves of all ungodliness," most Latter-day Saints perceive and believe thusly: "Deny yourselves of all ungodliness and [then] come unto Christ." Having read it in that order, we launch off on a campaign of self-improvement, sincerely striving, knuckles white, to deny ourselves of all ungodliness. With set jaw and a countenance that would scare a child (and often does), we set about to "clean house," ourselves, meanwhile ignoring the gentle knock of Him who is like "a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap" (3 Nephi 24:2).
HEARING KING BENJAMIN’S PLEA AND (THEN) HIS PROMISES
Read in the correct order, we find that Mosiah 4:6-16 contains one of the purest and most powerful summaries in all sacred writ of how putting ourselves in proper relationship to our Savior can bring results that we could never hope to accomplish by our own unaided will power. Meanwhile, I propose that to misread and inadvertently reverse the order of what King Benjamin teaches in this chapter is as spiritually devastating as comprehending it correctly is exalting. To focus on the circumstances described in vs. 12-16—trying to make them happen before giving our whole heart to the relationship with God summarized in vs 6-11 is the spiritual equivalent of reversing the very process of exaltation. It is to put the cart before the horse, the destination before the journey, the gift before the Giver.
MANDATE OR PROMISE?
For example, how many of you, like me, have sat in a lesson on parenting and had someone rehearse the words of Mosiah 4:14 out of context? "And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another . . ."
Then, with those infamous words (that become more infamous the more kids you have) still ringing in your ears, you drive home with a van full of children who can't make it out of the parking lot before World War III erupts. As each discordant sound falls on your ears, this seemingly impossible mandate falls on your head like a pile driver- driving your sense of pleasing God ever further from you and you ever further from Him. You feel confused, befuddled, discouraged, or you feel frustrated, angry, determined to force this unrighteous behavior to cease. In confusion we are left to wonder, "Why would God give us such an impossible mandate and then call His gospel the `good news'?" Honestly, we find better news on television or in the Sunday newspaper. No wonder we spend the rest of the Sabbath day studying them instead of any more scriptures.
It is my testimony that the gospel, if read in the correct order, is always good news! To all my fellow beleaguered and bewildered parents I bring glad tidings of great joy. I'm about to share with you how God, having healed my spiritual dyslexia, gave me not only eyes to see, but also ears to ear and a heart to understand (Mosiah 2:9). With this understanding both God and King Benjamin were transformed from stern task-masters to my greatest benefactors and friends.
When read in context, Mosiah 4:14 is not a mandate or a command; it is actually a promise!! No wonder it seems impossible by our finite, mortal understanding! God's promises usually are: manna from heaven, life after death, garments washed white in blood.
ALL THINGS FALL INTO PLACE
I would like to propose that King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 4:12-16 are promised results that will begin to happen automatically if we are willing to put all our effort into establishing and developing the relationship outlined in vs 6-11. How can I make such a bold statement? I am in good company. Recently, President Benson repeated the same message to us: "When we put God first in our lives, all other things fall into their proper place, or drop out of our lives" (President Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1988, italics added).
Notice the words "fall into their proper place." Feel the easiness and simpleness of the way. The gospel, when approached in the right order, can be successfully lived, and with such a lack of struggle as to seem like it's happening automatically. (Notice I didn't say effortlessly.) To live correct principles takes great effort on our part, most certainly--the effort of overcoming pride and self-will; the effort of seeking to know and then trust God's will for us above our own.
"FOR WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST"
Before we review the summary King Benjamin is going to give us of what our correct attitude and relationship with God needs to be in Mosiah 4:6-11, upon which he promises such amazing changes in our hearts and in our lives, lives in vs. 12-16, let’s remember the context of this scene. In Mosiah 2 and Mosiah 3 this aged prophet-king has been giving his beloved people his final counsel and blessing, admonishing them in no uncertain terms to remember their own “nothingness” without God. He all but begs them to remember that no matter how hard they try to earn God’s blessings and favor, it will never be enough—that it is impossible to ever be “worthy” in the sense of meriting or deserving what God gives them, because it can’t be done. The truth is we will always love God, as the Apostle John put it, “because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19.) His kindness to us will eternally out-weigh and out-strip our effort to “measure up.” And it is in this degree of awakening to their own need for specifically for a Savior (even though they are already the equivalent of active, believing, practicing members of “the Church” in their day) that has brought these people into the very depths of humility.
So at the beginning of Mosiah 4 we find King Benjamin looking out over a great number of people bowed down to the earth in overwhelming reverence for God. King Benjamin's previous words have found their place in ready and willing hearts. In godly sorrow and from the depths of sincere humility, the people honestly face and admit their weaknesses and failings. Convinced of their own hopeless and helpless state without Him, they come to a place of genuine surrender to their need for God. As with one voice, they cry out unto the name and personage of the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, that His atoning blood be applied to them. (v.2) And immediately they receive a remission of their sins and are overwhelmed in a sense of peace--even His own peace. And all this because "of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ," that He could deliver them. (v.3)
Seeing this mighty change from self and sin-centeredness to God-centeredness, King Benjamin begins to rehearse to them again the conditions upon which they can retain what they have now obtained. His is the classic example of the perfect teacher--He tells his students what he's going to teach them, teaches them, and then, seeing they are taught, repeats his message again. Beginning in verse 6 we will rehearse with him what has not only brought on this mighty change, but also what will retain for them what they've so recently been given.
SALVATION COMES TO HIM WHO TRUSTS THE LORD
1. "Salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord" (v. 6). (Recognize and trust the Lord Jesus Christ, specifically.)
Jehovah of the Old Testament, Christ of the New Testament and "the Lord" of the Book of Mormon are the same individual (Helaman 14:12, 3 Nephi 15:5). Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Benjamin, and later Alma, the brother of Jared, Mormon and Moroni - all these men, even like Adam, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James and John had a "working, walking," intimately personal relationship with Him, even the Lord Jesus Christ. While they kept the supremacy of the Father always in perspective, they even addressed many of their prayers to Christ, especially the ones of the heart, uttered in the inner mind or spirit. (Enos 1:2, 4, and 10; Mosiah 2:19; Alma 36:18.)
Each discovered in turn (even as we must) that the Son is the member of the Godhead sent by the Father to represent Him in full authority and power, as the "mediator of the new covenant" (D&C 107:18-19), and that it is the Son whose words are conveyed to us by the Holy Ghost (Moses 5:9) and will lead us along in ALL things whatsoever we should do (2 Nephi 32:3).
For us to work with the Son, to talk to Him, visualize Him, walk with Him, love Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength, delights the Father (Colossians 1:19). He knows full well that the Beloved Son will attribute all glory, honor and power to the Father (Matthew 6:13). There is no jealousy between them. They are, along with the Holy Spirit that administers for both of them, even as one (John 10:30). They think as one, work as one, and rejoice as one when we become "born of God" (Mosiah 27:28) and become one with Christ (D&C 50:43).
2. "Salvation, through the atonement . . . for all mankind" (v. 7). (Accept and apply the atonement of Jesus Christ to all mankind, [including myself].)
To retain guilt for my own sins past the point of contriteness and confession or to retain resentment (much less anger or bitterness) towards another for his sins is to be in an even greater state of "sin" (separateness from God) than the original transgression. Why? Because to harbor either guilt or resentment is to reject the very atonement of Christ, one way or the other. It is to make His gift, His offering, for nothing.
The Lamb of God offers us the gift of cleansing (John 1:29), the gift of "at-one-ment" with Himself and the Father who sent Him. This is the gift of "good cheer" (D&C 78:18), joy (Alma 22:15), and "peace that surpasseth understanding" (John 14:27). Yet we go about as if there were no atonement made. Filled with fear and anxiety, guilt and shame, we act as if there is a power that is greater to make wrong than Christ is able to make right, meanwhile totally ignoring the assurances of the scriptures that He retains "all power, even to the destroying of Satan" (D&C 19:3). Truly, as it has been so plainly said, "For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?" (D&C 88:33).
3. "There is none other salvation save this" (v. 8). (Acknowledge that ALL salvation [improvement] from any source in coming [though anonymously] from Jesus Christ.)
Christ is the light "that giveth light to every man that cometh into the world" (D&C 84:46). A lecture on any subject, if it be good and uplifting, faith and hope producing, is coming from Jesus Christ, who is the origin of all truth (D&C 84:45), no matter what source the speaker gives for his material. The fact is that Christ is willing to work anonymously for now. He is calm and secure, knowing that ultimately, not by compulsion, but by enlightened choice "unto [him] every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear" (Isaiah 45:23). Someday He will stand revealed as the saving force, the original source of everyone's journey towards salvation, whether they began to realize that saving power through Buddha, Mohammed, or the "Great Spirit" (Alma 18:28).
4. "Believe that he is" (v. 9). (Believe that Jesus Christ is a currently living entity, available to each of us personally this very day and hour, through both the Light of Christ, and the Holy Ghost.)
We must get over the "holding pattern" mentality that Christ was amongst us in the meridian of time or will yet be in His second coming. We must come unto Him even now so that He might come unto each of us personally, or we will not "remain" when he comes to the world generally (Ehat and Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 4). He must become a living reality to us today.
While the past is to be learned from, and the future to be hoped for, we have only this day to live, and "sufficient unto the day is [not only] the evil [the need, the challenge] thereof" (Matthew 6:34), but also the strength, which we can renew each morning in and through Christ. Even like manna, His companionship must be sought each new day. It cannot be saved from the past nor stored for the future. We must learn to trust Him whose way is the way of manna and not of worry. After all, Christ Himself declared His own position in time and power by His very name "I AM" (D&C 29:1).
5. "That he created all things" (v. 9). (Believe that Christ created all things and that He is the instrument of the Father manifest in all creation.)
The power embodied in Him is the power which created the sun, moon, stars and earth (D&C 88:7).He is the power by which worlds without number were created (Moses 1:35). Not only is He the creator of all that is "out there," but also all that is "in here" (our own physical bodies [Jacob 2:21]), and He is the very power by which we each move and think and have our being (Mosiah 2:21, D&C 88:48).
6. "Believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth" (v. 9). (Believe that we can counsel with Christ in all our doings--that no subject is too trivial or too intimate.)
Christ is the spirit and author of all truth, no matter where, or in what field. How wise we would be to take Him as our guide no matter what our need for knowledge. We are told that He knows "the end from the beginning" (Abraham 2:8). We must also realize He knows the middle--where we are right now. We must remember that He is not only "Alpha and Omega" (D&C 61:1), but He is the "way" (John 14:6) between the two.
It is He to whom we should direct all our thoughts (Alma 37:36), the unworthy as much, if not more, than the worthy. He is the one who can direct our anger, unravel our frustration, and still our fears, if we will only come unto Him. How foolish we are to turn away from God in those very moments we need Him most.
7. Believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend" (v. 9). (ALWAYS remember to give credit to God, not yourself, for your success in any area.)
The degree of self-mastery prophets achieve is not a reflection of any extraordinary ability of their own to comprehend anything, but of the power of the Master to whom they surrender in all things (2 Nephi 4:19-20). We will not achieve true self-mastery until we are willing to turn our "selves" over to the Master.
If we would always remember, even as they, that it is His grace that is "sufficient for [us]" (Moroni 10:32) and not our own "unprofitable" efforts (Mosiah 2:21), then "in nowise [could we] deny the power of God" (Moroni 10:32).
8. "Repent of your sins . . . and humble yourselves before God" (v. 10). (Realize that humility and repentance are the key principles in Christ's plan, not perfection and pride.)
This humility and repentance must be "fine-tooth comb" thorough. Only when we "come down in the depths of humility," realizing that we are "fools" (2 Nephi 9:42) compared to God, will we be willing to do the degree of soul searching that breaks and lays open our hearts (2 Nephi 2:7). And if the heart is not opened and cleansed, no amount of perfection on the outside will mask it before God (1 Sam. 16:7). This degree of soul searching and soul surrendering will make "prophets" of us all (Numbers 11:29). Having once accomplished it, the gifts of the Spirit will pour into our lives, until we have finally realized the greatest gift of all--His own promise of our place with Him (Ehat and Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 4).
9. "Ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you" (v. 10). (Seek Christ's personal administration of His atoning sacrifice and grace in your own life.)
I have come to realize that somewhere in the process of repenting unto a complete remission of sins we must ask Christ specifically to apply His atonement in our behalf (Alma 36:18). It is, after all, His sacrifice, His price, His blood. It is His gift. It is His wings that would gather us (3 Nephi 10:5), His arms that would encircle us (D&C 6:20-21).
The truth is that He employs no servant there at the final gate of that straight and narrow way (2 Nephi 9:41), for it is the channel of rebirth (Alma 5:7), and He is both the delivering physician and the Father of those so born. When a person comes to a place of remission of sins it will be administered to him personally, by the Lord Himself (Ehat and Cook, Words of Joseph Smith, p. 5). His peace is unmistakable, His comfort undeniable. His presence and power, His voice and eventually, in His own time, His face will be ours (D&C 88:68).
Enos experienced this moment, when after an extensive effort at prayer motivated by an intense hunger to know the truth for himself, he heard a voice come into his mind saying "Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed" (Enos 1:5).
Alma, the younger left us an even more plain account of coming to this One-to-one consciousness of Christ's own personal administration in the 36th chapter of Alma:
18. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, [the atonement of one Jesus Christ (v. 17)], I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
10. "Always retain in remembrance . . . your own nothingness and his goodness" (v. 11). (Continue to practice remembering the goodness of GOD, and our own nothingness comparatively.)
Even after Nephi had become a great prophet, he retained in remembrance his own "wretchedness" (2 Nephi 4:17), giving God credit for his support (v. 20). He acknowledged plainly that it was "the robes of [the Lord's] righteousness" (v. 33) and not any power or worthiness of his own that made him a free man. Though it flies in the face of all modern humanistic philosophy, let us consider what we like Moses, "had never before supposed"--that "man is nothing," without the glory of God (Moses 1:10).
It will never be who we are, but rather whose we are that makes the difference.
11. "Calling on the name of the Lord daily" (v. 11).
Not only should we call on the Lord daily but even continually (Alma 13:28). Through his servant Alma, Christ has invited us to "counsel with [Him] in all [our] doings" (Alma 37:37). President Ezra Taft Benson bore second witness to the all-encompassing application of that entreaty when he wrote:
The constant and most recurring question in our minds, touching every thought and deed of our lives, should be, "Lord, what will thou have me to do?" (First Presidency Message, Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 2.)
While Christ Himself would counsel us to go before our Father in Heaven in prayers of praise, honor, and appreciation, the Father would, in turn, direct us to hear His Beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased (Joseph Smith--History 1:17). In our need, puzzlement, sinning and suffering He is, through the administration of the Holy Spirit, the source of our guidance. There is nothing in which we cannot turn to Him.
Every day will bring relapses into "sin," into thoughts, words or actions that distance us from God and others.If we are to retain what we have obtained, we must keep our relationship with Him explicitly honest and continue to seek His atoning intercession with the Father (Hebrews 7:25).
I have found that if I neglect my relationship with Him, within two days I am anhungered and athirst, and within three I have started to slip back into that spiritual wilderness (Alma 37:42, 45) from which only He can deliver me (Mosiah 23:23).
12. "Standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come" (v. 11). (King Benjamin's immediate promises, as well as future glorious events.)
While it is perfectly true that one of the things "which is to come" and in which we must stand steadfast is the glorious second coming of the Lord, I believe that this admonition can also be applied to the promises which Benjamin is about to rehearse to us.
“I SAY UNTO YOU THAT IF YE DO [THESE THINGS] YE SHALL . . .
As we open our hearts to how total our humility before the Father and reliance on the Savior must be, we can be absolutely certain that we will see our own hearts begin to change and that that mighty change will begin to manifest itself outwardly, albeit gradually. In other words we will begin to experience some of the miraculous results listed in verses 12-16. Admittedly, these promises won’t be fulfilled as if by magic. Admittedly, they will take time to materialize, but we have a prophet’s promise that they will come to pass—not as we try to make them happen, but as we turn to God and acknowledge that it is through His wisdom and His grace (power) that “we” will be able to live as vs. 12-16 describes. We will have to be satisfied with consistency, not constancy. Standing steadfast in hope for ourselves and faith in Christ, we must be patient with the process and be willing to keep practicing these true principles of relationship with God. It is good to remember that darkness retreats gradually as the dawn approaches.
Next month, we will explore and rejoice in the promises King Benjamin extends and how they may manifest themselves in our lives.
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SPIRITUAL DYSLEXIA
In the last few decades a curious learning disability has been defined and given the title dyslexia. It has been found that individuals suffering its effects often perceive letter and word sequence in reverse. Even the plainest and simplest of statements can become frustrating puzzles to these otherwise bright people. Children so afflicted will often exhibit dysfunctional, self-defeating behaviors symptomatic of this underlying frustration and inability to understand.
I propose that many Latter-day Saints are spiritually dyslexic. The symptoms of this "dis-order" (literally) and the "dis-ease" it causes vary among us in outward severity and yet spring from the same genesis: this tendency to reverse the order of the written and spoken word of God. Thus we "have eyes to see, and see not . . . ears to hear and hear not" (Ezekiel 12:2).
Stricken with this disorder of perception, we, like ancient Israel, find the gospel neither easy nor simple (1 Nephi 17:41). Instead, we are frustrated and bewildered, wandering in a modern wilderness of stress, anxiety, discouragement and depression. Only occasionally do we glimpse the promised land of joy and peace that is potentially ours. Like those ancient (adult) children of Israel, we too cling to a dyslexic solution. Reversing the order of these words, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6), we act as if they teach us that the "letter," the outward activity, "giveth life." We desperately try to alleviate our disease by escalating and intensifying our performances and seeking to improve our appearances.
In Moroni 10:32 is yet another example of a mystery of godliness veiled, not in God's delivery, but in our dyslexic perception. Though it plainly states "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him," before it continues with the otherwise impossible charge to "deny yourselves of all ungodliness," most Latter-day Saints perceive and believe thusly: "Deny yourselves of all ungodliness and [then] come unto Christ." Having read it in that order, we launch off on a campaign of self-improvement, sincerely striving, knuckles white, to deny ourselves of all ungodliness. With set jaw and a countenance that would scare a child (and often does), we set about to "clean house," ourselves, meanwhile ignoring the gentle knock of Him who is like "a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap" (3 Nephi 24:2).
HEARING KING BENJAMIN’S PLEA AND (THEN) HIS PROMISES
Read in the correct order, we find that Mosiah 4:6-16 contains one of the purest and most powerful summaries in all sacred writ of how putting ourselves in proper relationship to our Savior can bring results that we could never hope to accomplish by our own unaided will power. Meanwhile, I propose that to misread and inadvertently reverse the order of what King Benjamin teaches in this chapter is as spiritually devastating as comprehending it correctly is exalting. To focus on the circumstances described in vs. 12-16—trying to make them happen before giving our whole heart to the relationship with God summarized in vs 6-11 is the spiritual equivalent of reversing the very process of exaltation. It is to put the cart before the horse, the destination before the journey, the gift before the Giver.
MANDATE OR PROMISE?
For example, how many of you, like me, have sat in a lesson on parenting and had someone rehearse the words of Mosiah 4:14 out of context? "And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another . . ."
Then, with those infamous words (that become more infamous the more kids you have) still ringing in your ears, you drive home with a van full of children who can't make it out of the parking lot before World War III erupts. As each discordant sound falls on your ears, this seemingly impossible mandate falls on your head like a pile driver- driving your sense of pleasing God ever further from you and you ever further from Him. You feel confused, befuddled, discouraged, or you feel frustrated, angry, determined to force this unrighteous behavior to cease. In confusion we are left to wonder, "Why would God give us such an impossible mandate and then call His gospel the `good news'?" Honestly, we find better news on television or in the Sunday newspaper. No wonder we spend the rest of the Sabbath day studying them instead of any more scriptures.
It is my testimony that the gospel, if read in the correct order, is always good news! To all my fellow beleaguered and bewildered parents I bring glad tidings of great joy. I'm about to share with you how God, having healed my spiritual dyslexia, gave me not only eyes to see, but also ears to ear and a heart to understand (Mosiah 2:9). With this understanding both God and King Benjamin were transformed from stern task-masters to my greatest benefactors and friends.
When read in context, Mosiah 4:14 is not a mandate or a command; it is actually a promise!! No wonder it seems impossible by our finite, mortal understanding! God's promises usually are: manna from heaven, life after death, garments washed white in blood.
ALL THINGS FALL INTO PLACE
I would like to propose that King Benjamin’s words in Mosiah 4:12-16 are promised results that will begin to happen automatically if we are willing to put all our effort into establishing and developing the relationship outlined in vs 6-11. How can I make such a bold statement? I am in good company. Recently, President Benson repeated the same message to us: "When we put God first in our lives, all other things fall into their proper place, or drop out of our lives" (President Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1988, italics added).
Notice the words "fall into their proper place." Feel the easiness and simpleness of the way. The gospel, when approached in the right order, can be successfully lived, and with such a lack of struggle as to seem like it's happening automatically. (Notice I didn't say effortlessly.) To live correct principles takes great effort on our part, most certainly--the effort of overcoming pride and self-will; the effort of seeking to know and then trust God's will for us above our own.
"FOR WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST"
Before we review the summary King Benjamin is going to give us of what our correct attitude and relationship with God needs to be in Mosiah 4:6-11, upon which he promises such amazing changes in our hearts and in our lives, lives in vs. 12-16, let’s remember the context of this scene. In Mosiah 2 and Mosiah 3 this aged prophet-king has been giving his beloved people his final counsel and blessing, admonishing them in no uncertain terms to remember their own “nothingness” without God. He all but begs them to remember that no matter how hard they try to earn God’s blessings and favor, it will never be enough—that it is impossible to ever be “worthy” in the sense of meriting or deserving what God gives them, because it can’t be done. The truth is we will always love God, as the Apostle John put it, “because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19.) His kindness to us will eternally out-weigh and out-strip our effort to “measure up.” And it is in this degree of awakening to their own need for specifically for a Savior (even though they are already the equivalent of active, believing, practicing members of “the Church” in their day) that has brought these people into the very depths of humility.
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