1/19/24 – Awaken
Awake, awake, put on strength, … (Isa.
51:9)
Awake, awake; put on thy strength, … put on thy beautiful garments; … (Isa.
52:1)
Awake to righteousness … (1 Cor. 15:34)
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love
is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awaken out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk
honestly, as in the day … But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, … (Rom.
13:10-14) Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, … now are ye light in the Lord:
walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. …
whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore … Awake thou that sleepest,
and arise … and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk
circumspectly … as wise, Redeeming the time … Wherefore be ye … understanding
what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:1-2, 8-10, 13-17)
For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God,
and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his
long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has
been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come
to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping
his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, … I
say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which
was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were
since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of
the world. And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none
other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions
whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you. Believe
in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and
in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in
earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can
comprehend. And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake
them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he
would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do
them. (Mosiah
4:5-10)
… I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and
lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil… , nor the unclean thing.
And awake, and arise from the dust, … yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, …
and strengthen thy stakes (defenses) and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou
mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he
hath made unto thee, … may be fulfilled. Yea, come unto Christ, and be
perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny
yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and
strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be
perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can
in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are
perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by
the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the
covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy,
without spot. (Moroni 10:30-33)
Insights: I
was afraid that this subject would be a little sparse as I only had 10 passages
set aside to study, but I was greatly mistaken. I love seeing the repetition between
prophets across the centuries. Awake means to shake yourself out of the
blindness, the inactivity, that so easily besets us as humans. We naturally
want to take the easiest route, the path of least resistance to cause us the least
amount of pain and effort. But what kind of progression is there when we don’t
push ourselves? No muscle was ever increased by doing nothing, only through the
effort of tearing it and letting it heal stronger and then repeating the
process, are increases made.
We are to awake or become active, strengthening
ourselves through this activity. But we also need to put on our beautiful
garments, or make ourselves attractive to entice others to follow suit. No one
wants to look at or follow someone who is slothful. We don’t have to be dressed
in the latest fashions, but our countenance should be clean and orderly and,
probably most importantly, happy. Returning to the muscle metaphor: endorphins,
or happy hormones, are released when we are working our bodies in positive
ways. These same endorphins can be felt when we are working on keeping the
commandments of the Lord and bringing others to His Gospel (our spiritual
muscles) – especially as we are sharing His good word. There is no joy alone;
only as we bring others to the same love, and light, and happiness of the
knowledge of Christ, do we find joy.
We do this by loving others. It’s that simple. Just
love. We don’t need to judge or push. We love people where they are and allow
them the opportunity to see our example and decide to make any changes needed
on their own because they are loved by us. They see our happiness and want it
for themselves. We had an experience two years ago in our family where one of
our children killed himself. He had gone through more trials than one so young
should and he didn’t see any way to stop the pain. Miraculously, we were given
a second chance with this precious boy and paramedics were able to bring him
back after working on him for what felt like hours. (This is a whole story in
and of itself that will need to wait for another time.) He had used drugs and
alcohol to dull the pain and eventually as the means to kill himself and we
knew he would need to go to a rehab facility to learn how to detox and cultivate
better coping strategies. But we couldn’t force him to go. It wouldn’t work or
be effective long-term. Just because we knew it was the right thing, would not
have been the right thing if he wasn’t wanting to go for himself. So too, we
cannot force someone to change their actions or inactions just because we know
it’s best. They have to see what we have and desire it themselves before they
will be willing to make any changes that will last longer than a New Year’s
Resolution. They may not even understand what it is they see in you and desire,
but if you are honestly loving them, they will come to you seeking your light.
What a wonderful day it will be when one you love
desires to join you in your happiness. May you have the opportunity to love
someone to Christ!
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