God Is Our Father

Matthew 5:48   Matthew 6:9   Acts 17:29   Romans 8:16   Ephesians 4:6   Hebrews 12:9

Matt 5:48 ^aBe ye therefore ^bperfect, even as your ^cFather which is in heaven is ^dperfect.

We are commanded to become perfect, like our Father.  That makes sense.  It is the nature of children to grow up to become like their parents.  And yet, what a daunting request.  How are we expected to do it?  I think of how parents teach their children.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he ^achasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

I read the word chasten to mean correct.  Verse 9 bears that out.

9 Furthermore we have had ^afathers of our flesh which ^bcorrected us, and we gave them ^creverence: shall we not much rather be in ^dsubjection unto the ^eFather of ^fspirits, and live?

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; ^aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we ^bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the ^asufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the ^bglory which shall be revealed ^cin us.

The correction comes through suffering, or rather trials in this life.  The trials of life, and how we endure them, are the refiner's fire, purging us of the imperfections that keep us from being like God.  The challenge during suffering is to be humble and always learning, always becoming.  

I love how that final verse puts everything into perspective.  This life is but a moment, and suffering a smaller portion of that.  Our sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, in the person God is leading us to become.

A Mom and a Missionary

Mosiah 18:18-20   Doctrine and Covenants 43:15-16   Doctrine and Covenants 52:9   Alma 17:2-3; 10-12   Doctrine and Covenants 84:85

When I was a missionary, I was so impressed with the missionary lessons that I vowed to teach them to my future children.  After I had kids, I discovered that they responded better to simpler lessons.  Nonetheless, I taught my children all the principles contained in there.  In fact, I taught them over and over again, reinforcing the plain and precious truths of the gospel.  Oh, I was so confident that I had done enough for their nascent testimonies, that I had created little stalwarts who would never waver in the gospel.  I had done all I could, right?  Truly, I was like the mothers of Helaman's stripling warriors.  I felt safe, and perhaps a tad bit smug.

And then my children became teenagers.  And they were thrown into a nasty dervish of a world.  I hear about the things they face, and I cringe.  My children's testimonies haven't been the safe harbor I had hoped it would be.  They struggle.  They falter sometimes.  They push away, and sometimes they openly rebel.  They kick against the pricks and find out for themselves, by their own experience, that it hurts.

And so I'm a missionary again.  I'm back to teaching the plain and precious truths of the gospel: faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ; repentance; renewing our baptismal covenants through the sacrament; following the gift of the Holy Ghost.  It's a lot harder than when they were just little.  These are bright kids with deep thinking minds.  This time, it's not enough just to know the gospel.  I have to find a way to challenge them to live the gospel, to help them take one step, to take one bite of this precious fruit, to try the experiment, and then to take the next step.

I like the comparison to the sons of Mosiah.  My kids can be every bit as daunting as the Lamanites.  I take comfort in the Lord's words to them in Alma 17:10-12:
"And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted.  And they were comforted.
"And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."