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Unit 11: Day 3 - Mosiah 4


I remember my back in my college days, I took an institute class that had a lesson on this very chapter.  It poses an very interesting conundrum.  King Benjamin taught that in order to retain the remission of our sin, we must believe in God and in His greatness, and then we must do a certain things as listed in Mosiah 4:26, 28 and 30.  He actually gets into quite a bit of details (i.e. impart your substances, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick and administer to them, etc).  But here is the catch-22, as we are doing all these things in trying to retain a remission of our sins, King Benjamin turns the argument right back at us saying "aren't we all beggars"? With regards to our sins?  So if that's the case then should there be any reason why you ought NOT to impart your substances to those in need?  For our home centered Church last Sunday, we sang as a family "Because I Have Been Given Much" as our opening hymn.  The Spirit touch my heart of the many blessings that the Lord has provided for me, both temporally and spiritually.  The follow up question I have to myself is how am I providing the same to those around me that may not be so lucky?  How can I temporally and spiritually help and serve those around me?  In Mosiah 4, King Benjamin is challenging you the same question. 

Mosiah 4:30  . . . another iconic scripture mastery.  This brings me back to a very great lesson my mission president had taught us when I was serving as a full-time missionary.  As I may have mentioned in my previous blog post or lesson, one of the greatest lesson I've learned from my mission is the cunningness and influence of Satan.  Just as we can witness this powerful influence in those we teach, as missionaries ourselves, we too are not immuned to those influences.  Notice King Benjamin warned us to watch ourselves in three areas: thoughts, words, and deeds.  Consider them as progressive steps.  In order for a commission of sin (deed), before that are words, and before that are thoughts.  As my mission president has so wisely pointed out, by the time you say something inappropriate, you are two-thirds way to sin.  If you must stop sins, stop it at the thought level.  That lesson stuck with me to this day.  So the next time you think that uttering something inappropriate is harmless, I wish you to think about what King Benjamin and my mission president had so wisely taught. 

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