Do Your Own Laundry

Yesterday, we had a meeting with the other missionaries in my district. One of the sisters was giving a discussion and shared this scripture from the Book of Mormon:

 "I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

 I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects to the devil?

  I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins." (Alma 5:19-21)

I thought that was interesting what Alma had said, "there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white". I guess that makes doing your laundry even more important! Notice though how clean Alma tells us we have to make our garments. He says, "until they are cleansed from all stain." Seems like we're going to need to put some extra effort into our laundry...

Luckily, Alma also tells us what kind of laundry detergent we need to use to get out those tough stains. "Through the blood of him (Jesus Christ)...who should come to redeem his people from their sins."

So, there you have it! The only true way to do your spiritual laundry. There's only one condition though...I'm not washing your clothes...your mom won't be doing...and God's already given you the stain remover. I think this is a job only you can do.

Besides, it should make anyone a little uncomfortable if someone was going through their laundry. I know it would weird me out.

Let's do a quick review in simple terms of what you should hopefully learn and apply from this post...

Repentence isn't complete with just accepting the fact that Christ made it possible to be forgiven of our sins. We have to use Christ's Atonement to wash away our sins.

A fine example of applying some of Christ's
stain remover and scrubbing it out.

Also, using just clean water, or your works and goodness, won't remove our stains. Again, Christ's Atoning sacrifice which provides us His grace and mercy must be used.

This...is a slogan of truth!

I hope this was an enlightening and simple blog post for those striving to understand their personal relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Feel free to comment and share with your friends.

A few great blogs to read on learning more about Christ's Atonement:
http://stripplingwarrior.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-can-i-relate-atonement-to-myself.html

http://astrolldownherbstreet.blogspot.com/

Feelings Through Scripture

Earlier this morning I was studying in The Book of Mormon in the Book of Mosiah and I had a sudden realization of the power of scripture. What our own reactions, thoughts, and feelings can be when reading these stories. Here are a set of verses sharing an account of King Mosiah reading the story of Zeniff and his people as well as Alma and his people.

Mosiah chapter 25:
 1 And now king Mosiah caused that all the people should be gathered together.

 4 And now all the people of Nephi were assembled together, and also all the people of Zarahemla, and they were gathered together in two bodies.

 5 And it came to pass that Mosiah did read, and caused to be read, the records of Zeniff to his people; yea, he read the records of the people of Zeniff, from the time they ^aleft the land of Zarahemla until they ^breturned again.

 6 And he also read the account of Alma and his brethren, and all their afflictions, from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time they returned again.

 7 And now, when Mosiah had made an end of reading the records, his people who tarried in the land were struck with wonder and amazement.

 8 For they knew not what to think; for when they beheld those that had been delivered ^aout of bondage they were filled with exceedingly great joy.

 9 And again, when they thought of their brethren who had been ^aslain by the Lamanites they were filled with sorrow, and even shed many tears of sorrow.

10 And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of ^abondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.

After reading these scriptures I realized just how we should feel from learning about these people. I realized that just moments before I was reading those same stories and I didn't have that sense of feeling. I couldn't help but wonder what made me lose that. It wasn't because I didn't appreciate the scriptures or what I was reading, but it was because I didn't make what I was reading connect with my own life. I seemed to have forgotten that these people really did live, that these things really did happen, and the whole reason I knew this was because of the witness of the Holy Spirit.

It wasn't until after I let the Holy Ghost remind me of truth and make these people my own spiritual brothers and sisters that I began to feel the joy, the sorrow, and the gratitude God wanted me to feel from reading the scriptures.

I invite any that read this to search, study, ponder, and pray over the scriptures (The Bible, The Book of Mormon, etc.). It is not only a source of knowledge, but something that can change our souls to what God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to be.

The Temple: No Greater Sacrifice

This video shares a powerful message from President Thomas S. Monson on the great sacrifices made to go to the temple. When families are so important to The Lord that he dedicates his temples to sealing families for time and all eternity you know that any sacrifice made for that purpose is worth the cost.

To learn more about families being sealed together follow this link:
http://mormon.org/church/


To watch this and other church related videos you can go to this site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jY8xH_vhc&feature=player_embedded

To watch the video and other messages from the church you can go to this site:
http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng