Come Follow Me: The book of Peter

One can only imagine that Peter's life must have been terrible. First, he's known primarily for denying Christ. Then, he becomes prophet and leader of a church that is temporarily growing, but terribly persecuted. He knows that the converts he brings in, and that all other converts, will be persecuted, many to death. One can only imagine what kind of persecutions those may be, but it's not just words like it is now. Back then, the most evil and despicable physical punishments were fair game. And the government not only allowed it, but participated in it.

He was persecuted that way as well. He knew because Christ had told him that one day he would be carried away against his will and killed brutally. He knew that everything he was trying to build would fail, and that the cause he was dedicating his life for would be taken away by evil men, and used by those same men to cause evil. He could easily have given up, knowing that no matter how hard he worked, no much how much abuse he suffered for the cause, it would all be erased, eliminated, and taken over by the power of the adversary.

I can't imagine how life could be harder.

credit: darrowmillerandfriends.com 

He would die, his followers would die. The Savior of the world, the Creator of the world, whose words he was responsible for spreading, who he had known so personally, must have come to his mind in every moment. How would He see Peter in the afterlife, knowing that the word had died on Peter's watch? And Peter denied him too? Was there any hope?

But Peter knew there was hope. His life wasn't one of despair. Instead, he knew Peace. In Peter 3:14 "..If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are he: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled".

I can see his followers thinking that it's easy to say that when it's not your children who are taken from you and butchered in front of your eyes. The thing is, Peter shared in the terror. We don't know what kind of terror until he was butchered, but certainly he was intensely acquainted with the terror around him.

James 2:20 "For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, who shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God."

Dang. So we're supposed to expect, as followers of Jesus Christ, to not only not be protected from the results of our faults, but not protected by Christ when we didn't do anything wrong? What is the point if Christ won't help you?

The point is that Christ may or may not cause or allow physical issues to occur. He may allow trials of whatever sort, but the physical is not his first priority. I believe it's about our spirits, our souls, our real meaning. I believe that if he can cause or allow us to go through something that may enhance our wisdom, our knowledge, our empathy, or our inner strength, then that's a win. That's His work and His glory.

Peter knew that. He wasn't filled with despair at all. He had all the reason in the world to feel despair, but he chose something else.

1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you...10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen...14 Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus".

Here is a man who knows the peace of Christ. He had learned that what happens outside of you cannot affect your inner peace, unless you let that turmoil in. This is something I'm working on: I understand it but am working hard to make it real for me: Inner peace is personally owned and personally kept. Outside factors are just that: they are outside, and must not be let inside.

May we all gather the peace of Christ that Peter knew. May we let our circumstances make us greater. May we know the Prince of Peace as he did.

Come Follow Me: James

Sometimes it's painful when the Lord wants me to do things differently than I want to do them.

I'm doing this blog because someone who I love and respect told me to read the scriptures, then write about what I find. This of course results in me focusing on what I'm going to write about - that golden egg that can change my life. The thing that makes my life better for having discovered and internalized it.

So today I was reading James 1, and hoped to find something other than what's in James 1:5. I'd find some other gem, and my mind would expand on that, and then I could share something new.

As it turns out - no, and yes.

I found something new, at least to me, but it was still in verse 5. Worse yet, it took me about 10 seconds to find the nugget that inspired me enough to write. Now the problem: I really don't feel like I've done my "duty" to read more. Should I keep reading so I can hunt more, and feel like I've checked the "time spent reading" box? Or should I go with what I've been prompted with? The same little voice that said "here's your nugget" also said something like "if you blow past this nugget, it might be taken away".

This fits with everything I know about getting gifts and guidance. If you get one or the other, and you don't appreciate and expand on the gift, or you don't follow the guidance, it goes away. That, and I suspect that it sets you back on what gets provided to you in the future.

So - James 1:5 it is. Here's the nugget: if you lack wisdom, you've got choices. Heaven knows that it's a difficult world out there, especially for us saints. The gay thing is

Holding to the rod when things get tough

So things are in a bit of turmoil in my ward. We had the ward mission leader visit someone who was leaving the church, and instead of helping the person who he went to visit, he instead chose to leave the church as well. And presumably take his family with him. This is especially painful to me because I know him and his family, and they are beautiful, bright and warm people. I don't know the man that well personally, but he has a good reputation among others whose opinion I respect. He was a leader - how could that happen? How could a person who so many thought had it all together, find a way to give it all up?

And then we get someone else recently who decides to join the wicken religion and be a witch.

All of this happens while the ward has grown large enough to be split into two and a half new wards. Our ward, though huge, is very close. The thought of losing these amazing people is really painful. That split happened yesterday. Each of the wards will go to different buildings, so we won't even see them in the halls. These are people that we love.

So last night, with friends were were talking about holding onto the iron rod, and how easy it is to lose sight. My friend's kids are all well raised, intelligent and extremely insightful. One of them mentioned that he lost a friend to Satan's cause because that kid (I wish I could remember the words he used, but I'll make a stab at it) "turned off the switch, and then said that there was no light". He said that the kid slowed down on his scripture reading because of an operation and recovery, then never picked up the habit again. Next thing he knows, he's proudly exclaiming that the light he turned off wasn't on, and that it wasn't there.

So I'm a slacker too - writing like this is how I motivate myself to read. Often, but not always, I read and then write blogs like this. I used to look forward to reading ever morning, and finding that super juicy and inspirational easter egg in the scriptures. I loved how I could find something in there and have it fill my soul enough to need to write about it. I haven't done that in months, and so I felt the need to grab the rod again.

credit: moroni channell

And - to my small surprise, I open up the scriptures to (wait for it...) Nephi's discussion of the iron rod. I love it when I get little signs like that.

So here's the scenario. As a writer, sometimes I try to pour my heart and soul into something. I exert every brain cell's maximum as I passionately pour my soul and my feelings into a paragraph. I try to make it as powerful as possible so that I can fill the reader's soul with light. And when it's done? I have words. A paragraph.It's still just words, and the vast majority of my intended meaning still didn't make it to the reader.

Nephi did that. In 1 Nephi Chapter 15: 24 and 25, Nephi tried to use those kinds of words. "And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction"

I could write another blog about that word "blindness", but that's for another day.

Then in verse 25 Nephi pours out his soul. I'll let you read that yourself.

We must hearken to the word of God, and hold fast to it. There is also room to discuss what "hearken" and "hold fast" mean. For me, today, it means I need to be better about opening my scriptures and searching them regularly. It means I need to hunt in them, and for me it means I must write about them so I can drive the gems I find more deeply into my brain, heart and soul.

We can all do better, but most notably I can do better. I commit do doing that, and you'll probably be able to see how well I succeed.