Justin on CFM
I was looking at the Come Follow Me prompt, "I can find joy during times of trial and suffering".
May I share with you some of my thoughts with regards to being joyful despite suffering?
Upon reading President Nelson's talk, "Joy and Spiritual Survival", I would also like to ponder on the words of Lehi found in 2 Nephi 2:25:
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy".
I was led to think deeply on what this verse might mean and how it could apply to all of us.
Then, I was led to read further on in 2 Nephi 2:
"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.
28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;
29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.
30 I have spoken these few words unto you all, my sons, in the last days of my probation; and I have chosen the good part, according to the words of the prophet. And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."
Adam's fall opens up the gateway for men to have the ability to know good and evil, and to choose good or evil. More importantly, Adam's fall allowed men to be tried, to be tested, and to be tempted, to see if we will follow Christ like we said we would in the pre-mortal life. Above all, it is to help us to become more like God.
Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement opens up the strait and narrow path that leads to life eternal. Without Adam's fall, there could no Atonement be made for sin was not even in mankind's dictionary in the Garden of Eden. If Jesus had not atoned for the sins of the world, we would all be subjected to eternal death, with no way back home. Clearly, this isn't Heavenly Father's plan for us. We came to Earth, not meant for eternal death. We came to Earth with the promise of eternal life and to be more like our Father in Heaven, so long as we remained faithful to Him.
It is a cause for celebration that Adam fell, for through it we might have joy. This joy is not a joy because of our sufferings, though we ought to be joyful when we suffer for Christ. This joy is the kind of joy that we feel when we have a certainty of that hope of a glorious resurrection, to be numbered among the Lord's chosen, and of the certainty that we are on the path that gets us back home.
Now, I ask, is all of this a result of us earning them by our own faith and our own works? Nay, it is not. King Benjamin makes it pretty clear when he said the following:
"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
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23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?" (Mosiah 2:21, 23-24).
Now, we know that resurrection, salvation and exaltation is a result of the grace that was freely given to all those who repent and are faithful to the Savior Jesus Christ through His infinite Atonement.
Some may ask, "Yes, it is grace that opens the covenant path to salvation and even exaltation, but don't we earn our spot in the Celestial Kingdom by our faith and our works as we progress on the covenant path?"
Nay, the scriptures tells you otherwise. Please read the following words of the Redeemer Jesus Christ:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10).
So, we learn that our faith and our works are merely us doing our duty, not us earning our way back home. I have to make this clear because many saints still think that we earn our way to the Celestial Kingdom. We don't. If we do, aren't we just like the scribes and Pharisees, steeped in the letter of the law, insisting that salvation is earned by complete obedience to the law of Moses, whom Jesus and His apostles have rebuked?
Now, how does all of the above relate to finding joy during times of trial and suffering?
I will tell you how. When we have that mindset that we are earning our way to the Celestial Kingdom, we rely on ourselves. When we rely on our own strength, and because of that, the journey ahead would seem to be difficult, so much so that we will feel exasperated, tired, and eventually, we apostatize. However, when we have the mindset that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, always abounding in good works, we would recognize how inferior we are, how lacking we are, how imperfect and flawed we are, and then we would come before our God, and pray for divine strength, guidance, tools, or whatever we need. We wouldn't demand for it, we would plead for it because we know that by ourselves, we are weak and can't accomplish anything of eternal value, but with the enabling power of the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ more commonly known as grace, we would be endowed with power from on high to overcome our obstacles and whatever hurdles or roadblocks that tries to impede our spiritual progression and worldly success, even accomplishing and overcoming the impossible, all in accordance to His will, time, and pleasure.
The joy comes when we know that we worship an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God that lives, that He is actively engaged in our lives, that He keeps His promises and fulfill the covenants He has made with us, that He hears our prayers and answers them, and that He will provide for us the means to endure through all of our troubles and afflictions through His grace which is made available through the infinite Atonement of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Now, how can we rejoice even in suffering?
My child, we can only experience joy in suffering if we had hope in us, hope for a glorious resurrection, hope in the promise of eternal life and exaltation, hope to one day behold the face of God and live, hope in the washing white and purification of our garments through the atoning blood of Christ, and hope that by holding fast unto the rod of iron, we would be able to make it to the Tree of Life and partake of it's fruit.
It is only through such hope can we rejoice even in our sufferings, because we know that our sufferings are but a moment, and we would have a sure certainty that we would receive the promise of eternal life. We can never have such hope if we believe we are earning our spot in the Celestial Kingdom. If we feel any kind of hope, it must needs be a false hope, a worldly hope, a hope that would only last a season, and not the hope that fills up our hearts and minds, that only comes through a complete reliance on the grace of God.
How then do we have that kind of hope that courses through our very being?
I'm going to share something with you that may sound very foreign to you, because I don't think it is talked about much in the Church, but nevertheless, extremely important for us to obtain the kind of hope that I have explained. You may ponder about it, or you may choose to believe it's nonsense, either way, it's up to how you would utilize your free gift of agency.
May I ask a question?
What are we saved from?
Sin. Sin is what we are saved from.
Do you know how grevious sin is? Do you know the sinfulness of sin? Do you know how much God abhorreth sin? Do you know the seriousness of the impact of sin to our lives, that it has a ability to corrupt one's soul, destroy one's life, and consume a person from the inside out?
Remember the account of Alma's conversion? Have a close look at Alma 36:21:
"Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."
Therefore, as a wise man has taught me regarding this verse, "if there is no pain of sin, then there is no joy in forgiveness. The one is as intense as the other. Little pain, little joy".
King Benjamin gave an exhortation to members of the Church that I hope you are familiar with:
"And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true" (Mosiah 4:11-12).
King Benjamin' sermon is something that all of us need for familiarize ourselves with in order to prepare for the latter days. How I wish I can go on and share more and unpack Mosiah 4, but for brevity's sake, I would not, lest I bore you with the lengthiness of my sharing today.
From just the two verses I have quoted from Mosiah 4, there are two things I would like to focus on:
"even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures"
"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God"
What does this tell you?
It tells us that among all things required, it is important to recognize our nothingness and God's greatness towards us, and by doing so, we would always rejoice and be filled with the love of God.
How then do we recognize God's greatness towards us and our nothingness?
We need to recognize how serious sin is, in the eyes of God, as mentioned earlier. Only when we realize the seriousness and filthiness of sin, then can we see that as sinful and fleshy men and women, we can't save ourselves and if we can't save ourselves, our souls and hearts must have been gripped with fear when the realization dawned upon us that we are doomed to eternal damnation, away from the presence of God forever. However, our Heavenly Father is merciful, gracious, and loves us deeply, by which He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins despite how painful it must have been for Him to see Jesus bleed from every pore, scourged, humiliated, and nailed to the cross to suffer a slow and excruciating death. All of these done so that we might have an eternal future, to reunite with our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Holy Ghost, and with our families. Thus, we would "humble [ourselves] even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel". Therefore, this is how we may rejoice always, even in our sufferings.
I think what I've written would suffice for now, but feel free to let me know your thoughts. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.