Faith With a Brightness of Hope

Moroni 7

There are so many nuggets I could choose to chew on this morning – and so little time!

These last few chapters in Moroni are full of good stuff.  Moroni tells us how to judge.  Yes folks, we are supposed to judge.  This is one that caused me so much grief as I was embracing the gospel.  Those people in my life who were anti-Mormon, said we are not to judge; that it is the Lord’s place to judge.  Well, Moroni certainly clears this up in verses 14-17.  If something draws us closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, then it is of God (v16).  It something causes us to deny the existence of Christ or Heavenly Father then it is of the devil.  Simple rule. 

I mention this because there are a lot of things in this world we need to be judging daily, i.e. our entertainment, where we spend our time, those we choose to associate with, and the list goes on.  We live in a world with more choices than ever before in the history of man, I dare say.  Entertainment is probably the biggest one out there.  My daughter has a voice like a songbird.  She is beautiful to look at as well.  There aren’t a lot of places for her to exercise her talents except in bars.  Oh, these are good bars.  You don’t have to drink.  It grieves me that she doesn’t see the slippery slope here.  I can go into these places and not partake of the evil that is there.  The music can be acceptable.  In fact, the one time I went to support her in a karaoke contest, I did nothing wrong.  However, I knew quite plainly by the Spirit that I was in enemy territory.   I made the choice that I would not be going back – even to support a sweet daughter.

Is this prudish?  Perhaps.  However, we must use this ruler if we are to remain on safe ground.  I doubt seriously if I would be weakened to the point of doing anything disagreeable to the Lord.  However, my very presence there bears testimony that I think it’s not all that bad and sets a bad example.  It just might be that someone who is not quite so resolved to stay away from the edge would use my example to justify his or her actions.  I take seriously my responsibility to set a good example – for my own children and for any who know me.

The other really huge nugget is faith.  Actually, it took me two days to read this chapter.  It is through faith that we lay hold upon every good thing (v25).   What is faith?  Faith is the vehicle that takes us back to our Heavenly Father.  I will never forget the first prayer I uttered after nine years of darkness.  It was more of a plea than a prayer.  But I was exhausted from the life I was living.  It was a miserable existence and I wanted change.  “Oh, Heavenly Father, whatever it is my parents are praying for, I’m ready to do what I need to do to get there.”  That was the most powerful prayer of my life up to that point!  I don’t know that it was necessarily filled with faith, but rather a glimmer of hope that just maybe there was someone listening.  Well, there was.  There is never a day of my life since that I have not thought of this miracle in my own life.  Have miracles ceased?  Not even!  It is by faith that miracles are wrought (v37) and I’m living proof. 

My marching order for today is to press forward in faith, believing.