Preparing for the Savior’s Second Coming

In Mark 13 Jesus uses the words “take heed” and “watch” many times. You can find them in verses 5, 9, 23, 33, 35, and 37. To me, this is the Savior’s way of saying “pay attention, this is important”. So what was the important message he was giving to his apostles and to us in this chapter? There are at least three main points that I was able to find. These three points are guides to help us prepare to meet the Lord: 

First, he warns us to not be deceived. We must look to the authorized priesthood holders in our Church to guide and instruct us. We must stay close to the prophet and apostles and take the time to hear and read and study their words that they give to us in our lesson manuals, the Ensign, and in General Conference. If we stick close to the mainstream of the church it will be more difficult for us to be deceived and led away. 

Second, the Savior teaches us that it’s not going to be easy. He mentioned physical beatings but in our day it is more often emotional beatings and social pressures that we must overcome. Regardless, Jesus gives us comfort in knowing that if we stand by his side and defend his teachings he will also stand by us and help us through. 


Finally, the Lord teaches us that we do not know when he will come again but that we have been given stewardship and authority to watch over his kingdom until his return. He trusts us to do his work and to bring in his lost sheep. He warns us that he does not want to return to find us sleeping or shirking our duties. We need to do our part to help strengthen and grow his kingdom.

So how else can we prepare for his second coming? Here are a few scriptures that help guide us:

• Doctrine and Covenants 87:8 – We are told to stand in holy places. This can be our homes, our churches, our temples, and even our own minds.
• Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:32 – There will be an “abomination of desolation” concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.
• Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:37 – Again we are warned to not be deceived by false teachings. We can avoid this by treasuring up his words, or in other words reading and studying the scriptures and words of our modern prophets.
• Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:46–50 – Just as a man who knows the hour that a thief might break into his house will be prepared and ready so must we be awake and ready for the coming of the Lord.
• Doctrine and Covenants 33:17 – Be faithful to the covenants and commandments, pray always, and be ever ready for his return. This scripture makes a reference to the 10 virgins and how we should not procrastinate the day of our repentance.
• Doctrine and Covenants 45:56–57 – This scripture also makes a reference to the 10 virgins and how we should not procrastinate the day of our repentance. We are cautioned to receive the truth, take the Holy Spirit for our guide, and be not deceived.

I know that if we are faithful to the commandments and the covenants that we have made that we will be prepared for the day that the savior comes again. Within those covenants and commandments can be found all of the guide points and maps we would ever need to return to our Father in Heaven and be saved.

The Rest of the Lord

In Hebrews 3:8 – 4:16 the apostle Paul writes to the Hebrews about entering into the rest of the Lord. He wrote about the children of Israel who were with Moses in the wilderness. They lost their faith and provoked the Lord’s anger because of the sins they were committing. The Lord declared, through Moses, that they would not enter into his rest because of their apostasy and stiffneckedness. They hardened their hearts and fell prey to the deceitfulness of sin. Because their hearts were far from God they were cursed to never enter into the rest of the Lord.

Moses was trying to plainly teach them about the higher order of the priesthood. Without the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood man cannot “see the face of God, even the Father, and live” (D&C 84:22). Moses wanted the children of Israel to have the fullness of the gospel including all of the saving blessings of the temple but the people were not ready to receive it. In Doctrine and Covenants 84:24 it is further explained they the people “hardened their hearts” and “could not endure his presence”. This helps define more clearly what it means to enter into the rest of the Lord. It is simply entering into his presence, either in this life or the next, and covenanting with him with faith.

Paul repeatedly warned against hardening our hearts and turning away from the Lord so we would not have to incur this same punishment. He preached about having faith and listening to the Lords voice. We can listen to the Lord today by reading our scriptures, attending church, and preparing for, watching, and studying the talks from General Conference.

In Hebrews 4 we are taught that we must forsake our sins and devote ourselves to God. He goes on to teach about the power of the word of God and how it can pierce our very souls. When allow the word to take root in our hearts we will be more inclined to keep the commandments so that someday we can enter in the rest of the Lord.

In Matthew 7:21-23 the Lord tells us that there will be many who expect to be welcomed into his kingdom because of the good works they have done. However, they will be sadly surprised when the Lord turns his back on them because of their secret evil acts. In John 7:17 Jesus teaches that we must be doers of the word and not just talk about it. James 1:22 further clarifies that if we only hear the word and do not act on it we are only deceiving ourselves. The Lord knows our thoughts and actions. It takes both good thoughts and obedient actions to be worthy to enter into the rest of the Lord.

When you think of your own life are your actions in line with the doctrines you have been taught? Is there room for improvement? I know there always is in my life. I challenge you to not only be hearers of the word but doers also so that you too can enter into the rest of the Lord which he has prepared for you.

The Widow's Mites

In Mark 12:28–30 the Lord gives his greatest sermon. He teaches us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all they heart and soul and mind and strength. He then goes on to say that the second greatest commandment is to love others as we love ourselves. Upon these two great commandments hang every other commandment of God. We can see an excellent example of this in the story of the widow’s mites.

Jesus was watching the people “cast money into the treasury”. He noted that the wealthy people cast in a lot of their money. Then he saw a poor widow come forth and toss in two mites. A mite is a Roman coin of the lowest value. I would compare this to someone tossing in two pennies. The Savior was very impressed with the sacrifice of this widow and pointed out this humble act to his disciples. The reason being that the wealthy people were only giving of their abundance. They were keeping most of their wealth for themselves. However the widow gave all that she had. This made her sacrifice so much greater because this spoke of her great love for the Lord. She was obeying the first commandment by giving her entire worldly wealth to the Lord. It is also important to note that she did this willingly and with a humble heart.

Finding Solutions in the Scriptures to Life’s Challenges

We're all faced with problems in this life. The trick is to learn to find solutions in the scriptures to help you through the troubling times.

PROBLEM:
People sometimes argue and complain over petty matters in church meetings or throughout the week (see Philippians 2:1–8, 14–15)

ANSWER:
Church should feel like a safe place where you can escape from the petty conflicts of the world. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Sometimes members will argue and complain over petty matters in church meetings or throughout the week. Gossip, judging, and offensive things can be said that can do untold damage to the feelings of others. As members of Christ’s church shouldn’t we be above the pettiness of the world? We should, of course, but sometimes we slip.

While Paul was imprisoned in Rome he heard of the petty conflicts happening among members and wrote a letter to the Philippians to help resolve the issue and guide the saints. Some of the counsel Paul gave included instruction to seek to be like-minded, to have love for each other, to be of one accord and mind. He cautioned them to let nothing be done out of strife or vainglory.

He taught that it was important to try to put yourself in the shoes of the other person and to try to understand why they did what they did or said what they said. He wanted the saints to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to not murmur against each other, and to stop fighting. But mostly he wanted them to feel love for each other in the same way that Jesus Christ loves each one of us. This love comes from being humble and obedient to the commandments.

He promised that if they would do these things they would be blameless before God. He said as they separated themselves from the worldly bickering they would be a light in the world.

PROBLEM:
Many youth feel that their parents’ testimony is sufficient for them. Since they have good parents, they rely on them for all their spiritual strength (see Philippians 2:12–15 and institute student manual commentary for Philippians 2:12, “Work out Your Own Salvation with Fear and Trembling” [pp. 361–62]).

ANSWER:
First, I think it's important to clarify what "fear and trembling" mean. This does not mean that the Lord expects us to be afraid or worried. Instead, he meant that we should serve the Lord with awe and reverence. There is a big difference here! So what does this have to do with leaning on the testimony or spiritual strength of others? Let's look at what Paul had to say: "work out your own salvation".

So does that mean we are on our own? Of course not! If so then we would not have any reason to lean upon the atonement for our salvation. However, the Lord does expect us to do the very best that we can so that our acts will allow the Lord to work within us and help build and strengthen us. He cannot do this if we are not learning, growing, and allowing our own testimonies and spiritual strength to be growing within ourselves as well.

PROBLEM:
An investigator is considering joining the Church, but his family will no longer associate with him if he does (see Philippians 3:7–16; 4:13).

ANSWER:
The Lord loves us and he knows that we love our families and friends. Sometimes new converts risk losing those relationships if they join the church. That is so very unfortunate! My heart aches for those who have been in this situation and I know that the Lord feels much pain over it as well. However, we are counseled by Paul to forget "those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" (vs13). Sometimes our conversion creates a fork in the road and we have to choose to leave behind some things that were once precious to us - even loved ones. Nevertheless, choosing the Lord is always the right thing to do and we will be blessed for it. We can continue to pray for those we have left behind and hope that someday their hearts will be softened. This may seem like a difficult, almost impossible thing to do, however if we choose the Lord first He will bless us and strengthen us. With Christ we can do all things just as Paul declared.

PROBLEM:
How is this writing assignment an example of the principle taught in 2 Nephi 32:3?

ANSWER:
In 2 Nephi 32:3 we read "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." The principle found in this verse is simply that if we ready the scriptures and truly study them and learn them then they will tell us what we should do in all situations.

In this blog post I have given you just a sampling of how you can find the answers to life's questions from the scriptures. However, if you're not studying them and constantly learning from them then it might be difficult for you to know where to turn. A lot of the challenges we face today have been experienced by others and recorded in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Bible. I know that as we study and become more familiar with the scriptures we will find the answers to all of the problems we are faced with in this life.

How did you and what did you do to complete the assignment?
I prayerfully read the scripture blocks and assigned reading in the manual then wrote this blog post.

Why did you decide to do the assignment you did?
I didn't give it much thought. There were two assignments to choose from so I just picked the first one.

What do you think is the best thing about your assignment, and how do you think it could it be improved?
I really like how I was able to answer the questions directly from the scriptures and manual. They are not my opinion. It could possibly be improved by sharing some examples.

Romans 6 and Baptism - from an LDS perspective

Before we are baptized we must first understand why we are baptized. First and foremost it is so that we can take upon us the sacred name of Jesus Christ. We covenant with the Lord that we will enter into the law of obedience and thus covenant to be of His kingdom. In order to do this we must repent of our sins and forsake them. If we are baptized when we are a young child, around the age of 8, our sins are fairly minimal. This is why we renew the covenant we made at baptism each week by partaking of the sacrament. Each week we recommit ourselves to the law of obedience. We do this by repenting and forsaking our sins.

There is an important event in Christ’s life that symbolized baptism; this being his death and resurrection. Just as we go down into the water and rise up out of the water, so does the body go down into the ground in burial after death only to rise again on the morning of the resurrection.

When we consider this symbolic act it is clear to see why sprinkling a little water on our heads does not meet the true symbolic act of baptism. Jesus gave us the example when he was baptized by John the Baptist. We know that he went straightway into the water and rose out of it again. We read in Mark 1:10 about Jesus “straightway coming up out of the water”. It is by the example of Jesus Christ that we know the correct way to preform baptisms. Just as you would not sprinkle a little dirt on the dead to bury them so should we not sprinkle a little water on someone to baptize them.

After baptism we receive a “newness of life”. We are free from the bonds of sin and are pure and clean. We can maintain this newness by attending sacrament meeting and renewing our baptismal covenant when we partake of the sacrament. We can repent of our sins and forsake them. It is during this sacred ordinance each week that we can regain that newness of life and strive harder to live as Christ would have us live.

In Mosiah 3:19 we are taught that “the natural man is an enemy to God”. We can overcome the natural man by “yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit”. When we do this we become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon (us)”. Ideally, the natural man within each of us would die at baptism. However, this is the not case which is why partaking of the sacrament each week is so vital to our spiritual survival.

It is through our sins that we become slaves to the natural man and to Satan. If we are to truly be free we must overcome those carnal temptations and always try to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. 

An easy example of this is addiction. We can be addicted to harmful substances that will dull our spirit. We know what these are. Things like food, caffeine, tobacco, drugs, pornography, video games, internet, certain people, electronic devices, too much sleep, and even too much exercise can all lead us down a path that pulls us further from the spirit. These things will lead us to a spiritual death. These addictions, and I have not listed them all by any stretch of the imagination, eventually causes us to “surrender later freedom to choose” (“Addiction or Freedom,” Ensign Nov. 1988) However there is always hope. Always. This hope is found in the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.

Because Christ died for us we are able to repent of our sins and find our way back to Him. It is because he loves us so very much that He wants us to be free from our sins and live a life of peace and joy. He sacrificed His life for us. Without this ultimate sacrifice there would be no way for us to return to our Father in Heaven. I am so thankful for the atonement so that I can be free of my own addictions and harmful behavior and choices that drive away the spirit. I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.