Christ is the Light to humanity

Christ is the light to humanity. In that light man sees his way clearly; when it is rejected, the soul of man stumbles in darkness. No person, no group, no nation can achieve true success without following Him who said:

"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." -John 8: 12

It is a sad thing when individuals and nations extinguish that light--when Christ and His gospel are supplanted by the law of the jungle and the strength of the sword. The chief tragedy in the world at the present time is its disbelief in God's goodness and it's lack of faith in the teachings and doctrines of the gospel.

-Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay

Taking the bad with the good: Not all of God's promises are for happiness and prosperity.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." -Romans 8: 14 - 18

I think that often as Christians, we (generally speaking) look at one of the promises here and overlook another not-so-pleasant to ponder promise. There is the absolutely amazing promise of adoption into the Family of God. Praise the Lord for His mercy and love to allow us such a blessing that we don't deserve. But what about the promise of suffering? How often do we look at our trials and moan "Why am I going through this? Why is this happening to meeeeee?" when the answer is right in front of us. BECAUSE we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, because we are in His family, we share in His sufferings... and afterwards we will share in the glory. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with asking God why. Heck, Jesus asked why when He was on the cross. "Why hast thou forsaken me?" and He knew the plan all along. But how often do we "cling to the promises" and "Claim the blessings" and yet gripe and moan when the sufferings that go along with the blessings and promises come too? I'm just as guilty of this as anybody so I'm preaching to myself really... may I someday grow strong enough in my faith to be able to look beyond the temporal things in life and see the eternal perspective, to trust Him that even the things I suffer can be worked together for good and to bring glory to His name.

Until we meet again

I was thinking today about death, the afterlife, resurrection, and being reunited with loved ones. I was reading "Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith" and came across this quote from Joseph Smith.

"What have we to console us in relation to the dead? We have reason to have the greatest hope and consolation for our dead of any people on the earth; for we have seen them walk worthily in our midst and seen them sink asleep in the arms of Jesus..."

What a good reminder to look to the scripture that says:

"13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the LORD's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the LORD, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the LORD himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And so we will be with the LORD forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words." -1 Thes. 4: 13-18

God is not a vending machine

"It is true that the answers to our prayers may not always come as direct and at the time, nor in the manner, we anticipate; but they do come, and at a time and in a manner best for the interests of him who offers the supplications." -David O. McKay

This goes along nicely with what I have in the past opined and written about how faith and prayers are not the quarters we deposit and buttons we push on the vending machine of God to obtain the prize or soda we want.

I was talking to Mom this morning about faith. The topic came up because we were discussing Miss Vicki's recent diagnosis of being in the latter stages of Multiple Myeloma and how everyone is "srtanding in faith for her healing in heaven and on earth!!!". Now, don't get me wrong, I have faith that God can heal her, that's not the issue. The issue I've seen in a lot of people is this. When someone gets sick or injured, everyone stands in faith tha God will heal them. Praying in Jesus' name, laying on of hands, annointing with oil, casting out demons, the whole works, saying "I don't accept that negative word or sickness, I claim healing!!!", etc. Then, if that person dies, everyone's faith is shaken and people say "What did we do wrong? Did we not believe enough? Is my faith weak?". Here's the deal. People live, people die. Faith isn't just something that you can use to manipulate God. True faith isn't just saying "I know and believe God WILL heal her!!!". Faith is knowing that God CAN heal her, and may or may not choose to, and still believing that He's God and He's in control no matter what happens, even if things don't work out the way we want them to, and that He can use circumstances for His good even if they aren't the outcome we wanted. It's almost like people use faith to try to manipulate things to the way they want them to work. Let God be God. Let Him be in control. It's almost like true faith is a surrender of our will and our desires to His will, letting go the control we're trying to cling so tightly to and letting Him have the reigns.

God =/= vending machine. Faith and prayers =/= quarters.

How can people do such awful things?

I ask myself sometimes how people can do such awful things to one another. Joseph Smith summed it up nicely:

"All persons are entitled to their agency, for God has so ordained it. He has constituted mankind moral agents, and given them power to choose good or evil; to seek after that which is good, by pursuing the pathway of holiness in this life, which brings peace of mind, and joy in the Holy Ghost here, and a fulness of joy and happiness at His right hand hereafter; or to pursue an evil course, going on in sin and rebellion against God, thereby bringing condemnation to their souls in this world, and an eternal loss in the world to come."