Mormon Musings

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Can we, even in the depths of   disease, tell Him anything at  all about suffering? In ways we   cannot comprehend, our sickne sses  and infirmities were borne   by Him even before they were b orne  by us. The very weight of   our combined sins caused Him t o  descend below all. We have ne ver  been, nor will we be, in de pths  such as He has known. Thu s  His Atonement made perfect Hi s  empathy and His mercy and His   capacity to succor us, for whi ch  we can be everlastingly gra teful  as He tutors us in our tr ials.  There was no ram in the t hicket  at Calvary to spare Him ,  this Friend of Abraham and Is aac.  Neal A. Maxwell (Even As I Am, pp.  116- 17.)

Nobody becomes perfect in this life…Becoming perfect in Christ is a process.  We begin by keeping the commandments today, and we keep more of them tomorrow…We can become perfect in some minor things…if we chart a course of becoming perfect, and, step by step and phase by phase, are perfecting our souls by overcoming the world, then it is absolutely guaranteed—there is no question whatsoever about it—we shall gain eternal life…If we chart a course and follow it to the best of our ability in this life, then when we go out of this life we’ll continue in exactly the same course…The Prophet Joseph Smith told us that there are many things that people have to do, even after the grave, to work out their salvation. Bruce R. McConkie

Being sinless Himself, Jesus  could not have suffered for per sonal  sin nor known what such   a gony  is—unless He took upon Hi m  our sins, not only to redeem  us and to save us, but also in  order that He might know how " according  to the flesh . . . to   succor his people according to   their infirmities." (Alma 7: 12.)  Neal A. Maxwell (All These Things Shall Gi ve  Thee Experience, p.  35.)

Life has its share of some fear and some failure. Sometimes things fall short, don’t quite measure up. Sometimes in both personal and public life, we are seemingly left without strength to go on. Sometimes people fail us, or economies and circumstance fail us, and life with its hardship and heartache can leave us feeling very alone. But when such difficult moments come to us, I testify that there is one thing which will never, ever fail us. One thing alone will stand the test of all time, of all tribulation, all trouble, and all transgression. One thing only never faileth—and that is the pure love of Christ. “I remember,” Moroni cries to the Savior of the world, “that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world. … “Now I know,” he writes, “that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity.” ( Ether 12:33–34 .) Having watched a dispensation die and an entire civilization destroy itself, Moroni quotes hi

Christ  said, “I am the true vine, and … ye are the branches.”   2   “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”   3 “Abide in me” is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James  Bible , but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permaneced en mi.”  Like the English verb “abide,”  permanecer  means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay  forever. ” That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generation

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Cover Us A BYU student once came to me and asked if we could talk. I said, “Of course. How can I help you?” She said, “I just don’t get grace.” I responded, “What is it that you don’t understand?” She said, “I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best.” She then went on to tell me all the things she  should  be doing because she’s a Mormon that she wasn’t doing. She continued, “I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?” She then went on to tell me all the things that she  shouldn’t  be doing because she’s a Mormon, but she was doing them anyway. Finally I said, “Jesus doesn’t make  up  the difference. Jesus makes  all  the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.” Seeing that she was still confused, I took a piece of

...save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the purpose of complete forgiveness.   That is the promise of the atonement of Christ.   How all can be repaired, we do not know.   It may not be accomplished in this life.  We know from visions and visitations that the servants of the Lord continue the work of redemption beyond the veil.   This knowledge should be as comforting to the innocent as it is to the guilty. I am thinking of parents who suffer unbearably for wayward children and are losing hope. Boyd K. Packer, Conference Report, October 1995

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose...What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28,31,35, 37-39 "... I will not forget thee, O house of Israel.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49: 15-16; 1 Nephi 21:15-16 "... I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not

"Wherefore,  redemption  cometh in and through the Holy Messiah ; for he is full of grace  and truth.  Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.  Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it up again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise. Wherefore he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe on him shall be saved.   And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore they stand in the pr

"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching in His understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail; But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint… Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:  I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness…For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." Isaiah 40: 28-31; 41: 10, 13

"It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. . . . Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. . . . If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."  Gordon B. Hinckley, quoted in Latter-day Counsel, “Excerpts from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, October 2000, 73; see also “Put Your Trust in God,” Ensign, February 2006, 63