I’ve
gotten lax in documenting my thoughts as I’ve been reading the scriptures. I do this for myself as much as for anyone
who wants to take the trouble to read what goes through my head.
Jesus
institutes the sacrament among the Nephites.
What does this mean to me? For
one, it tells me this is the same Jesus who instituted the sacrament to the
disciples in Jerusalem before his crucifixion.
We are told the same things he told His disciples, i.e. “. . . do in remembrance
of my body”. What is the promise that is
made to us when we remember the
sacrifice of the Savior – His body?
Well, we’re told in v.7 that it is a testimony to our Heavenly Father
that we do remember Him. Also, if we do remember, we shall have His
Spirit to be with us. I looked up the
word “shall” in the dictionary. Using
“shall” indicates that in the future we will have His Spirit. I don’t know that in today’s vernacular of
speech the two are distinctively different.
Nonetheless, partaking of the sacrament is a covenant that allows us to
have the Spirit to be with us.
It
is interesting to note the difference between the two, i.e. bread and
water. When they partake of the bread,
Jesus tells them “. . .ye shall have my Spirit to be with you”. It appears that after having partaken of the
water, they did have the Spirit with
them – “And it came to pass that they did so, and did drink of it and were filled; . . .” v9. Of what were they filled? The Spirit!
Inasmuch
as it is the Sabbath and I will be partaking of the sacrament in a few hours, I
want to focus more intently on this as I do so today. Am I filled with the Spirit? How am I changed? What do I think about as I do so? Do I leave the sacrament table with a deeper
commitment to remember my Savior? In me,
what does that look like? In answer to
the last question, it is doing as the Savior did, i.e. serving those around
me. From The Living Christ, the list is:
- “Healing the sick,
- causing the blind to see,
- raising the dead.
- He taught the truths of eternity,
- the reality of our premortal existence,
- the purpose of our life on earth, and
- the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.
- He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His atoning sacrifice.”
Okay,
well, I’m not going to be raising the dead necessarily unless that is something
I do as I participate in temple ordinances.
But I can heal the sick by visiting and letting those in need know I
care about them. I can cause the blind
to see as I share my testimony of the Savior, His love for us, and His desire
to have us live worthy of returning to our Heavenly Father and there be blessed
with all that He has. Mostly, I must do
this through example. I try ever so hard
to have contact with at least one other person each day. I try to lift another. I pray for the Spirit to guide me to someone
who needs help. It helps me tremendously
to include in this effort a report at the end of the day in my “Thankful
Journal” where I record how I have been touched by the life of another –
hopefully in my efforts to lighten their load.
Frequently, it is the other way around.
And the real prize is bringing others unto Christ by teaching gospel
principles – the ones Christ taught when he was on the earth, aka Missionary
Work. In teaching others, we bring them
to the sacrament table where they too make sacred covenants. We have gone full circle.
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