1/23/24 – Full/Fulness
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him
was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not. That (Christ) was the true Light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and
his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He
that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his
fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-5, 9-17)
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the
world, and they that dwell therein. (Ps. 24:1) …
the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. (Ps. 33:5) The
earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: … (Ps. 119:64) For
the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all
things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. (D&C
104:17)
… for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, … (Isa.
11:9) …
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (John
16:24) …
he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the
word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know
them in full. (Alma 12:10) And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Eph. 4:11-13)
And no one can assist in this work except he shall be
humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in
all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care. (D&C
12:8) That
he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to
know of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled
with the fulness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19) Thou
wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right
hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Ps. 16:11)
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;
even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your
joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have
loved you. (John 15:10-12) And no man receiveth a
fulness unless he keepeth his (the Lord’s) commandments. He that keepeth his
commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and
knoweth all things. (D&C 93:27-28)
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in
words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart,
and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is
extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts. (Jacob
6:5)
… let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him (the Lord) continually
for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you. (Alma
34:27)
We learn that the earth was prepared by the Lord and
is full of His goodness and mercy as well as all things needed by man, and that
there is more than enough for all. I love that we have the opportunity to be “agents
unto ourselves” to see how we will treat what the Lord has created for us. It
reminds me of families I saw growing up that would jump on couches and beds and
treat them fairly poorly, needing to replace them frequently; compared to those
families that taught their children how to respect and care for possessions,
allowing them to last much longer. When I worked with Habitat for Humanity, one
of the key precepts was the requirement for those receiving a home to spend a
certain amount of time working with the volunteers in building the home. The
idea was to give them a sense of investment which would hopefully give them a
greater sense of ownership and responsibility in the upkeep of their home. How
am I showing my love towards the Lord’s earth in my daily actions?
We also learn that knowledge brings joy – specifically
knowledge of a spiritual nature. If we stay humble, meaning teachable, we will
be allowed to comprehend more knowledge, eventually being allowed to comprehend
all knowledge and thus become like God. And with the knowledge that we gain, we
are commissioned to share it with others so that they may have the same joy. We
don’t need to be scared to do this and feel we are inadequate, for the Lord won’t
leave us alone in this directive. He will endow us with the words He wants if
we will put our faith in Him and open our mouths.
We learn that by keeping the Lord’s commandments, we
will have a fullness of joy. His three greatest commandments are to love God,
and then to love other’s as you love yourself. Too often the third commandment
is overlooked here: 1) love God, 2) love others, 3) love yourself. Frequently
we find ourselves being cruel to ourselves. Our internal thoughts and words are
ones we would never utter out loud to someone else, yet we bandy them about our
heads like we deserve to be diminished. Christ never condemned, but showed only
love even to the sinners – especially to the sinners. We need to show that same
love and kindness to others, but also to ourselves. We are not perfect, and
never will be in this life; but we are journeying toward the better and we need
to stay motivated to continue to walk the path towards better. That won’t
happen when we are berating and belittling ourselves. Don’t be your worst enemy!
I’ve always felt that you treat a person as they could be, and more often than
not, they will reach to become that person. Do the same for yourself.
Which leads us to the final lesson learned today.
Though we make mistakes, we can repent and change. We can call upon the Lord
for forgiveness and strength to overcome. The Lord’s greatest pleasure is in
forgiveness and giving His children what they need to succeed. We never have to
carry the burden of sin, mistakes, sorrow, pain, worry, and anything else that
weighs us down, alone. He has given us His Son, Jesus Christ, who specifically pleaded,
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is
light.” (Matt. 11:28-30) We can yoke ourselves to the Savior and share the
burden with One perfectly able to understand and supremely strong enough to
carry us through. I know this to be true. I have felt His power in my life when
I could no longer stand on my own and have cried out for help and mercy. He
will be there for you; of this I promise!
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