My study today revolved around me looking through the
scriptures for passages with the phrase or something close to it “Come unto
Christ.” I found several beautiful scriptures (see below) that make me excited
for this journey and even more excited to encourage others in this same
journey. Here is a summary of what I learned:
1.
1. REST. Do you sometimes feel like you need a break
from life? I think we all do at times. For me, life has been particularly
stressful in the money area lately (yeah, I think a lot of you can relate to me
on that.) But in my study I learned that as I focus on coming to the Savior, He
makes a beautiful promise: rest. I believe that as I try to focus on him,
rather than the trials, I will be able to feel more peaceful because my focus
is shifted. Like Peter on the water, when my focus is on Christ, I can move
forward.
2. 2.FULFILLMENT: Christ himself has promised that if
we come unto Him we shall hunger no more. What things do you go after that
leave you empty feeling in the end? For me one thing is beauty. No matter what
I do I can never look good enough. Sometimes it’s entertainment. I’m a little
addicted to the internet and sometimes I find myself looking up the most random
and ridiculous things. And the internet never makes me fulfilled, I just seemed
to get sucked in to wanting to waste more and more time on it. But if my focus
is on coming to Christ, then I WILL be fulfilled. I won’t need to try to fill
my life with other trivial things, because I will be fulfilled with Him, and
then be more able to reach out and help others who hunger, physically,
emotionally, or spiritually.
3. 3. EVERYONE IS INVITED! This was my favorite part
of my study today. You can read the scriptures below (they are so good). I
think in our world we label ourselves and others too often. We argue and fight
about who’s right and who’s wrong. Even on my mission I’m guilty at looking at
people and thinking “She would NOT be someone interested in learning about
Christ.” But that is definitely not a Christ-like attitude. Why? Because in the
scriptures I ready I learned that Christ has invited EVERYONE TO COME UNTO HIM.
EVERYONE. And I think that really means everyone. It means the person who
already things he’s perfect, or the person who thinks she has screwed up one
too many times. It means people who believe in millions of Gods, or people who
don’t believe in God at all. It means republicans and liberals. It means males,
females, and people who don’t know what they are. It means rich and poor. It
means politicians and IRS people. It means church goers and bar goers. It means
EVERYONE. I love this. Because when we realize that Christ “denieth none that
come unto Him,” I think that means we need to put aside the labels and reach
out and share this invitation with everyone. We are all invited to come unto
Christ. You are too, whoever you are. And I know, I KNOW he will not deny you
and He will let you “partake of His Goodness” if you come unto Him.
Questions to think about:
- · Why do YOU want to come unto Christ?
- · How does knowing He won’t deny you help you in your journey to come to Him? How can knowing this change the way you view others?
·
Matthew 11:28-Christ’s own words asking us to
come to Him, especially those who feel burdened down, and He can give us rest.
Life doesn’t have to be one big difficult trial. If we come to Him, we can have
rest in Him, regardless of the trials. (Why)
·
Matthew 16:24- Once again, Christ’s own words on
how we can come unto Him. How do we do it? We give up our lives to follow him.
In the JST it explains a bit more on what “taking up his cross” means: “And now
for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all ungodliness and every
worldly lust, and keep my commandments.” To me that means we do our best to
follow his words and distance ourselves from what things in our life are not in
harmony with God and His will. (How)
·
John 6:35-Christ promises when we come to him we
shall never hunger. I feel like a lot of worldly distractions leave me with a
lot of hunger and are never satisfying. Seeking for beauty or focusing on
looking good all the time may feel good for a minute, but leaves me empty after
a while. Even seeking fulfillment in relationships, family or friends, can’t
fill me up permanently because people disappoint, break my heart, don’t listen,
and overall, though these relationships can be very fulfilling it is still not
enough. Only Christ can fill and meet my needs perfectly, so I no longer
hunger. (Why)
·
John 6:44 (JST) – Christ explains that no man
can come to Christ unless we do our Father in Heaven’s will. If we do that, we
can come to Christ. (How)
·
2 Nephi 26:33- This is probably my favorite
verse on this subject. So favorite I need to write part of it here:
“He
inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth
none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and femalel; and
he rememberth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”
I love that verse because it
is an open invitation, to me and you and everyone. We don’t have to be living
some perfect life to come to Him. We don’t have to already be clean and pure
and free from sin to come to Him. We just need the desire to come. And then we
must come. He won’t turn you away! He will not deny you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done, if
you come unto Him, he will not deny you and will allow you to partake of His
goodness. What a beautiful scripture this is to me.
·
2 Nephi 28:32 – Another similar one. No matter
what we do or have done His ”arm is lengthened out all the day long” in mercy.
If we come, He will accept us. I believe that whole heartedly.
·
Moroni 10:32—Another invitation, this time from
the prophet Moroni, inviting us all to come unto Christ and be perfected in
Him. We don’t have to try and cleanse ourselves. We can be clean, whole, and
pure in Him. This is why I want to come to Him. I want to be whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment