Ye are made free!

Mosiah 5

Ye are made free.

King Benjamin has finished his discourses and asks the people what they think?  The exchange is quite epic in its capacity to teach us what we need to do to be free.  Free from what? 

The people have said they are willing and desire to be obedient to the teachings they have just received.  What does this do to them?  It puts them in a position to be blessed.  The commandments are for our safekeeping.  If you don’t believe it, look at the lives of those who live righteously and compare their lives to those who live according to the natural man.  I am currently seeing mayhem in loved ones who once had peace and serenity in their lives.  It happens one step at a time and usually begins by succumbing to the enticing of the natural man. 

I have a sticky note in this chapter that I used when I gave a talk in conference last fall:  “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? (Mosiah 5:13)  How in the world can we ever expect to live with our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, if we have not served them, thus knowing them?  What does that service look like?  Doing our duty in our callings.  Even if our calling is Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching, we are solid in that service.  That is the cost.  What is the promise?  We will belong to the Savior and have everlasting salvation (v15).  Maybe that promise is too far distant.  What is the immediate benefit?  We will have confidence in the love of our Heavenly Father.   When we make right choices, our lives are blessed.  It probably won’t look like a lottery win or a bigger paycheck from our daily labors; but we will be unencumbered by the woes of the world – those problems that break the backs and the will to do what is right.  It is freedom from these kinds of troubles that free us to find joy in this life and eternity.

I’ve had a lot of interruptions in writing, but I know this is a truth.  Breaking bad habits and turning our life over to our Savior is not an easy thing to do, but He will help us.  We will feel of that help and give Him credit, thus increasing in that love – both directions.  It’s a natural thing and one for which I am so eternally grateful.