Happy Birthday to me!

Mosiah 5

I love this chapter. I remember it as the birthday chapter, for King Benjamin tells us how we can be born again and become children of Christ. It's a small chapter, but a powerful one.

Words that carry a lot of weight in this chapter:

• Willing – we do this because of our own desires.
• Obedient – we embrace the commandments because we want to.
• All things – in all things the Lord has asked of us.
• All our days – Every day without exception
• This day – It can happen in a day. King Benjamin's people had just heard his sermon and they were reborn.
• Hearts changed – This rebirth is a change of heart
• Faith on his name – It is through Christ that we can hope for a better day.
• Free – It frees us from torment that is ongoing otherwise.
• Name of Christ – We are then call Christians!
• Written always on your hearts – When it is written on the heart, it is there for keeps.
• Serve – The way to know if it is real is if we go about helping others to feel this same experience.
• Thoughts and intents – We are constantly thinking of the Savior and how we can serve him.
• Steadfast – It is constant; it is everyday
• Immovable – The opinions and actions of others, the circumstances that surround us will not change this change of heart.
• Good works – We will be about doing good always.
• Everlasting salvation – in doing these things, we will have faith in an everlasting salvation. Think on it. To be on the right hand of God and claim the same inheritance the Savior has. This is huge.
• Eternal life – We will live in this manner for eternity!

Well, the list turned out to be longer than I thought. But it tells in a nutshell how we are to become children of Christ. It happened with these people in a day “this day”. Their hearts were changed. Why? Because they heard the words of Christ and they were changed forever. Can it happen today. Yes! And it does. This chapter would be a good chapter for Mitt Romney to refer to when he's accused of not being Christian.

So what must be done to be considered a child of Christ? We must have faith in him, that he has the power to make us whole again. When we get to that point, we will be free (v8). Free from what? From experience I must say it is the torment that you are wasting your time here on earth. Freedom knowing you are pleasing Heavenly Father through serving him, constantly thinking about him, being steadfast in your commitment to help others. Immovable in your testimony. Doing good works. What does this freedom allow you to have? A conviction that you will have everlasting salvation and eternal life. This is faith and must be nurtured continually. It is easily lost as we see in the lives of many every day.

So how does one retain a remembrance of the Savior every day? I would hope it starts in the morning with a prayer to be an instrument in the Lord's hands that we might find someone whose life we can influence for good. This doesn't have to be huge. Just contact with another person with a cheerful attitude can be sufficient. I would hope it means not stopping there, but recording that experience and thinking on it sometime during the day. It is, as Elder Bednar has explained, a tender mercy.” This helps me remember that I'm on an errand to help save lives that others too might experience this rebirth which is a real thing. I will never forget my own experience. It is etched forever on the fleshy tables of my heart. It is a tender experience that I enjoy talking about. It is real.