Faith
Obedience: The Hallmark of Faith, Ensign, August 2013; “Obedience to the laws and commandments of God has been and ever will be necessary for those searching to become recipients of the Savior’s promised blessings.” – F. Michael Watson
Romans 10:9-10; “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
The Holman Bible Dictionary defines faith as a relationship of love that is built on trust and dependence. It went on to say it’s the “acceptance of Christ’s lordship” and a “removal of all religious allegiances”.
While faith includes a conviction that Jesus is who He said He is (God) and a belief in the history of Israel, the core meaning of faith is found in our scripture today from Romans. As Ron Carlson once told me Romans 10:9 is truly the heart of Christianity.
Throughout the various eras of history this side of the cross man has included more and more doctrines to the definition of faith, but those things are a shadow and vapor of what faith really is.
This elder from the Mormon Church hasn’t told the truth about the meaning of faith. Unfortunately for Mormons their only focus is how much work they must do so they can achieve their true salvation in the Celestial Kingdom and become gods.
As Christians we know there’s only One God and no other – Isaiah 43:10-11. We also know there’s no such thing as “gospel ordinances”. This is a manmade term founded in the mind of Joseph Smith.
Mr. Watson went on to say “by studying and obeying the truths found in the laws and ordinances of the gospel, we learn of and receive the gospel’s promised blessings”.
It looks as if he missed the memo in Galatians 2:13-14; “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”
The blessings you can have are for now and they’re openly ready to be enjoyed by accepting that Jesus did all the work for us! While there will be blessings in heaven for us that are incomprehensible to our finite minds here, God hasn’t made it so our lives are miserable here on earth. We can relax and have peace.
At this era in my personal life I’m going through yet another difficult time with my MS; my eyesight is fading fast. Now there’s no amount of works I could do in this world to make it go away. However, I can place my faith in the Lord that He’ll bring it back under control! I know from past experiences the Lord can protect it and make it go back to my near perfect vision I was enjoying up until a month ago.
We can work ourselves to death till the cows come home, but none of those works define our commitment and steadfastness to having faith in our Lord. They’re merely a manifestation of what we have faith in.
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