Eternal Debt

The following quote comes from Elder Joseph B Wirthlin in a talk called “Earthly Debts, Heavenly Debts”

“How can we ever pay the debt that we owe to the Savior? He paid a debt He did not owe, to free us from a debt we cannot pay. Because of Him we will live forever. Because of His infinite atonement, our sins can be swept away allowing us to experience the greatest of all the gifts of God, eternal life. Can such a gift have a price? Can we ever make compensation for such a gift? The Book of Mormon prophet King Benjamin taught if you should tender all the thanks and praise which you whole soul has power to posses and serve with with all your whole souls yet you would be unprofitable servants.”

This hit me very hard. For over a year now, I have been working diligently to clean up my credit from a lot of bad mistakes and defaulted promises on my part in an effort to secure a loan to buy a house. Careful calculations needed to be made and budgets needed to be set in order to make this work. No more unwise choices concerning our finances. No more buying on credit never to pay it back. It was time that I wised up and handled my responsibilities.

The same is said for the debt I owe to my Savior Jesus Christ. I am well aware that He paid my debt to Heavenly Father through the atonement, I personally feel that I am now in debt to Him in the best way possible. I feel that when I am doing what is right and pure, I’m am chipping away at this debt. By becoming a better disciple of Christ I am making sure that Him paying my debt was and is not in vain. I know that I can never payback even a small percentage of what Christ has paid for me, but I do it in an effort to show my appreciation for the blessing He has been in my life.

Feast and Famine

What do you think of when you read feast and famine? Farming, crops, employment, finances?

When I write about feast and famine today, I’m not speaking of physical nourishment, or agriculture. I am however speaking about the soul as it relates to reading our scriptures.

We are told that we should “feast on the words of Christ”. When I think of feasting I immediately think of myself at a buffet making the owner think about taking the sign down. Likewise, we should be taking the lessons and stories inside the scriptures into our spiritual bellies.

I have seen so many blessings by reading the scriptures. First of all, reading the scriptures is what help in my conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Being able to read from the Book of Mormon and compare it to what I know of the Holy Bible was a great experience. Knowing that the Savior came to the Americas to further spread His gospel is nothing short of a miracle. The scriptures have helped me find purpose in my life. Because of this I know that I once lived with Heavenly Father. I know that I have a purpose in this life. I know that If I live a good life and hold true to God’s commandment then I will be able to return to Him. These truths give me joy and I’m thankful for the gospel.

Unfortunately though, when talking about feasting, there is also the famine. The famine is when there is no food, or sustenance. There are times when I don’t get the spiritual nourishment that I need. This comes as a result of not reading my scriptures as often as I should. Similar to when I don’t get the opportunity to take sacrament, I feel like there is a void. I know that if we don’t eat then our bodies will begin to shut down because we need that nourishment. The same is true for our spiritual bodies. We need to make sure that it gets the spiritual food it needs in order to stay healthy. If not, our spirit will starve.

I what to leave you with my testimony that I know the gospel is true and that this is the true church of Christ on the earth today. I hope that you will study the scriptures often and be blessed for it.