Like Father, Like Son
an ah-hah moment from 2:30 a.m. last night
an ah-hah moment from 2:30 a.m. last night
The Savior said, 'The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.'
John 5:19
One of the last recorded acts of the Savior's life occurred while on the cross when He petitioned the Father on His enemy's behalf,
'Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.'
Luke 23:34
If both of these statements are true, then the Savior learned to forgive from His Father's example. John's account elaborates on this point:
'For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth'
John 5:20
So who/what is God's enemy and how does He forgive?
In the scriptures we read that,
'the natural man is an enemy to God'
Mosiah 3:19
What then is 'natural man'?
Alma tells his son Corianton in 41:11 that natural man is
'in a carnal state...in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity...without God, contrary to the nature of God [and to] the nature of happiness.'
Part of us, all of us--that portion that is fallen, full of sin and weakness stands in direct and total opposition to who our Heavenly Father is. That is why we cannot abide His presence in our 'natural' state. Why as Alma said:
'...we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us and to hide us from his presence.'
Alma 12:14
OUCH!
Yet, our heavenly Father loves us, and delights in giving us, His children good gifts. The most important of which was the life of His ONLY begotten Son, who was offered up as ransom for our fallen and sinful state, that the demands of justice might be appeased, making Him both a just and merciful God. He provided us an advocate--a lawyer to defend us, a witness to testify on our behalf.
Any fool knows that nothing in this life is free--so what are the attorney's fees in this, the trial of our life. From His own words, the risen Lord commands,
'repent...confess your sins. Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.'
D&C 19:20,23
So simple, yet so hard for us mortals. I have hung onto what as my brother-in-law has aptly called my 'favorite sins' for a long time. Those things that are readily justified or too difficult in my mind to forsake--all of us carry them around like a monkey on our back.
I have plead with God to remove them from me at times. I see this experience I am going through currently providing the perfect climate for these changes I have longed for, but been too weak to make happen.
He knows me so well.
I cannot fathom a love so great that you would sacrifice your only child for it. I can't understand it fully, but I can appreciate it.
Just one more thing to be grateful for...
4 comments:
5am in the morning?? i feel for you, i have been sick and in bed for going on my second day. i was done with staying in bed by about noon yesterday. you go girl!!
One thing that I will never be able to fully fathom is the atonement. But I will forever be grateful for it. It's just one more thing that amazes me about the gospel. I feel like in the last few years I have started to catch a glimpse of what the atonement is really all about, but as I stated above, I will never be able to fully understand it. At least not in this life. It was so good to hear from you yesterday. Made my day, in fact! Thanks for your sweet words. Love you!!
I find I'm as addicted to your blog as I am to a good novel! I can't wait to read it every day. Hang in there! What week are you at?
Hey! You are at about 27 and a half? Or 26 and a half? Can you believe the difference in 22 weeks to 27 weeks!? You pretty much have already beaten the odds! I love your comments everyday. Maybe the reason you are going through this trail is just to be able to uplift all of us who read your blog with your testimony. (Have I said this already or just thought it?)
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