Testimony vs. Conversion

While studying the parables of Christ this week in Matthew 13 and Luke 8 & 13, I learned that, although there is normally one intended interpretation of a parable, there may be many lessons and truths that we can learn from each of the parables. The parable I studied the most this week was the parable of the sower. Joseph Smith taught that Christ used the parable of the sower to teach about the gathering of Israel (New Testament Student Manual). As I studied this parable, the Spirit taught me that one of the lessons we can learn from this parable is the difference between having a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It wasn't until recently that I started to understand that there is a difference between having a testimony of Jesus Christ and being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of my first visiting teaching assignments in a family ward was to a less active sister. I remember walking into her home and being a little shocked that most of her living room decorations showcased her knowledge of the restored gospel. I was so confused. Why would she have sayings on her wall like "Christ is the Center of our Home" and yet not seem to care about many of the other things we're asked to do as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Years later I now realize that this sister had a testimony of the gospel, but she had not yet been converted.

Elder Bednar has said: "knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel." (Converted Unto the Lord)

As I thought about this, the parable of the sower had a new lesson for me to see…

The seeds that fell on the rocky soil and the soil with thorns are like people that have heard the gospel, received a testimony of the gospel, but have not properly taken of their testimony so it doesn’t grow deep enough roots to keep it strong. (Matt 8:20-22). Elder Bednar said that "testimony alone is not and will not be enough to protect us in the latter-day storm of darkness and evil in which we are living. Testimony is important and necessary but not sufficient to provide the spiritual strength and protection we need." (Converted Unto the Lord)

The seeds that fell on good ground also heard and received a testimony of the gospel, but they became fruitful because of their conversion to the gospel. They understood the word and gave proper nourishment to the seed so that it could grow roots deep enough to bring forth fruit. (Matt 8:23) Elder Bednar stated that "the powerful combination of both testimony and conversion unto the Lord produce(s) firmness and steadfastness and provide(s) spiritual protection." (Converted Unto the Lord)

How do we grow the deep roots needed to become converted? Elder Bednar offered this analogy: “drip irrigation...is used in many gardens and in agricultural areas throughout the world...With drip irrigation, applications of water are more focused and more frequent than with the other methods. The steady drips of water sink deep into the ground and provide a high moisture level in the soil wherein plants can flourish. In like manner, if you and I are focused and frequent in receiving consistent drops of spiritual nourishment, then gospel roots can sink deep into our soul, can become firmly established and grounded, and can produce extraordinary and delicious fruit...The spiritual pattern of small and simple things bringing forth great things produces firmness and steadfastness, deepening devotion, and more complete conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel.” (By Small and Simple Things are Great Things brought to Pass)

Having a testimony alone won't be enough to keep us strong through life's challenges. In the parable, the scorching sun (Matt 13:6) represents tribulation and persecution (Matt 8:21).  In order to have the scorching sun benefit our seeds of faith, we have to grow deep roots of conversion. We have to nourish that testimony every day with the little things like prayer, scripture study, service, faith and repentance. As we do these small things, our roots will reach deep into the soil where they will find living water that will provide the strength and nourishment they need in order to benefit (and not be damaged) from the rays of the sun.

Holiday=Holy Day

After studying teachings about the sabbath day in Matthew 12, I had some insights about this important day that I previously had not thought about.

First, did you know that the word “holiday” is a compound word stemming from the words “holy” and “day?” After learning about the connection between these two words, I have been looking at my sabbath day observance with a new set of eyes. Think about your favorite holidays and why you love them so much. Is it the food? gathering with family? celebrating special traditions? or the different music and clothing associated with those days? Celebrating holidays can be burdensome and overwhelming for some of us, and that's the exact opposite of how we want the Sabbath Day to feel. But, is there a way that we can replicate some different and meaningful things that make holidays special into our Sunday worship that would elevate our love and anticipation for that weekly Holy Day? I know in our family, having certain “sabbath day rituals” (like attending church, going on family walks, watching family home videos or making homemade donuts) help to set apart our sabbath day as something different and special from other days of the week.

The second insight came with the suggestion of reading Matthew 11:28-Matthew 12:13 while skipping over the Matthew 12 chapter heading. By eliminating the "man-made" chapter break it's easier to see the connection that Jesus is making: one way He can help us find rest for our souls is by keeping the sabbath day holy.

The Bible Dictionary states: "the importance of a sacred day for man to rest from his temporal labors, contemplate the word of the Lord, and assemble for public worship is a major item in a person's spiritual development...The existence of a weekly holy day is a most important safeguard; it leaves a constant reminder to the individual of his need for spiritual sustenance and his duty before God."

I'm grateful for the gift of the sabbath day in my life. Just like we've been blessed to live more fully off of 90% of our income instead of 100%, I have a testimony that we are also blessed to live more fully "using" only 6 out of 7 days of the week for our own needs rather than using every day of the week for ourselves. I know that I can do so much more in six days with the Lord's blessing than I can in seven days without the Lord's blessing. The Lord has His ways of blessing us when we keep His commandments and I have seen those blessings in my life as I've done my best to keep the Sabbath Day holy.

(Thanks to the “Don’t Miss This” and “Follow Him” podcasts for their Come, Follow Me lessons on Matthew 12 that gave me insight into this week’s blogpost)

Can Jesus See My Faith?

While studying some of Christ’s miracles this week, I was intrigued by a phrase in Matthew 9:1 that reads “and Jesus seeing their faith.” (also found in Mark 2:5). This phrase is in reference to the four friends who carried their friend to Jesus to be healed. I was struck by this phrase because normally we refer to faith as something that we can’t see, (“if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” Alma 32:21, italics added), but in these verses it says that Jesus was able to see their faith. So I asked myself, “in these stories of miraculous healings, what attributes did these people have that allowed Jesus to see their faith?"

• How did the four friends show their faith? Through grit. When the traditional way to get to Jesus wasn't going to work, they didn't give up. Instead they tried something different. They knew Jesus could heal their friend and they weren't going to give up when they were so close. How can we follow the example of these four men and show Christ our faith? By persevering even when things get hard. (Mark 2, Matthew 9)

• How did the women with the issue of blood show her faith? Through courage. Because of her health condition she was considered ritually unclean and that means she would have been an outcast in her community for twelve years (New Testament Student Manuel). For her to press through a crowd to reach Jesus would have taken an immense amount of courage. How can we follow her example and show Christ our faith? By having the courage to come to Christ even when it's against the culture of our day. (Mark 5, Matthew 9)

• How did Jairus show his faith? Through worship. Although Jairus is one of the rulers of the local synagogue he seeks out Jesus and kneels before Him to ask Him to heal his daughter. How can we follow Jairus's example and show Christ our faith? By worshipping Him privately and publicly. (Mark 5, Matthew 9)

• How did the blind men show their faith? Through testimony. After Christ touched the eyes of the two blind men so that they could see, they testified and shared their witness to others about how Christ had healed them. How can we follow the example of the two blind men and show Christ our faith? We can bear our testimony to others about how Christ has touched our lives, opened our eyes and healed us from our infirmities. (Matthew 9)

Faith was an attribute that was present in the lives of each of the individuals that experienced the miracles. Pres. Nelson has said "it it our faith that unlocks the power of God in our lives." (Christ is risen; faith in Him will move mountains) If we're looking for ways to increase our faith so that we can unlock the power of God in our lives, these stories provide examples of the attributes we can work on that will help to increase our faith.

Don't let Christ fall asleep on your boat!

The most poignant and powerful principle this week for me came from the story of Christ calming the stormy sea (Matt 8: 23-27). In the podcast “Unshaken Saints”, the host shared a powerful symbolic lesson regarding this story: don’t let Christ “fall asleep” on your boat. Or, in other words, do we forget Jesus when we’re working in our comfort zones (i.e. our careers, callings and relationships)?

As soon as the disciples stepped onto those boats with Jesus, they entered into their comfort zones. Fishing on the Sea of Galilee had been their occupation for as long as they could remember. They knew the sea, they knew boats, they were completely relaxed as they stepped back into their comfort zone of fishing life.

Spiritually speaking, do we do the same thing? When challenged to do something unfamiliar do we rely on Christ more than when we're back doing something more routine? If we do that, what happens when the storms of life come during our "routine living?" Do we run to Christ and wake Him up and accuse Him of not caring about us? Or do we realize it was we that forgot about Him, and treated the situation as if He were asleep?

I've had a recent personal experience with this principle that I feel impressed to share. When Covid 19 hit and our family was immediately swept up in that life storm, most of our simple family routines were tossed overboard. It took some time and effort to reestablish new normal routines, but one that never got totally saved was our nightly couple prayers together. Because of the changes required in each of our stewardships during this time period, exhaustion hit us at different times and we rarely went to bed at the same time and thus rarely had that moment together at night to pray. Our 20 years of solid, "comfort zone" marriage, occasionally felt like it was sinking because it was being battered by the storms of life. For a while I've tried to diagnose the cause of this sinking without success-until I had a spiritual breakthrough these last few weeks...

Lent started last week, and this year I wanted to be more thoughtful about what I could sacrifice that would bring me closer to Christ. After a lot of thought and study I decided that I needed to give up reading on my phone before I go to bed each night, and instead, replace that nightly behavior with a couple prayer . I can testify that by putting our focus back on Christ and bringing Him more intimately back into our marriage relationship, those troubled waters have been rapidly calming.

I didn't understand the connection that was happening until I studied this Come, Follow Me lesson. Our marriage has always been one of my comfort zones, something we've been really good at-but we were good at it because we had included Christ. As soon as we took our eyes off of Him and tried to sail our marriage boat with Him asleep, things got really turbulent for awhile. 

To conclude, I wanted to share a couple of lessons that the Spirit has taught me through this experience…

First: there are some storms in life we can totally avoid if we keep Christ “awake in our boats”

Second: if we’ve gotten too comfortable and have let Christ “fall asleep in our boat” one way to “wake Him up” is through prayer. 

Third lesson: no matter how good (spiritually) we think we are doing, if we ask for and seek out ways we can improve, the Lord will show us how we can be better.

Building a strong spiritual foundation

One of my favorite scriptural analogies is comparing the process of constructing physical buildings to what it takes to Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection...

• Both need blueprints or instructions to be constructed properly.
• Both are built to a standard that will withstand outside forces that would damage them.
• Both need regular upkeep/upgrades to maintain their strength and integrity.
• Both are built to be places of safety and refuge from the storms of life.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ gives us the spiritual blueprints we need to build a strong spiritual foundation. The foundational principles He emphasizes in Matthew 6&7 are…

• Giving service (Matt 6:1-4)
• Prayer (Matt 6:5-13, 7:7-8)
• Humility (Matt 6:8-10)
• Forgiveness (Matt 6: 14-15)
• Fasting (Matt 6:16-18)
• Putting God first in our lives (Matt 6:19-24, 33, 7:21-23)
• Faith and trust in God (Matt 6:25-34)
• Righteous judging (Matt 7:1-5, 15-20)
• Kindness (Matt 7:12)
• Make covenants with God (Matt 7:13-14)
• Obedience (Matt 7:24-27)

It is no coincidence that Jesus gives the example of the foundations of the wise man and the foolish man (Matt 7:24-27) at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, thus emphasizing the importance of using all the principles He just taught in order to build our spiritual foundations upon solid ground.

In the October 2021 General Conference, Pres. Nelson gave a talk entitled The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation. In this talk he used the same analogy as Christ did when he compared the physical structure of the Salt Lake Temple to our own personal spiritual strength.  He states: "it is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures - perhaps measures we have never taken before-to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures." If we feel like our spirit is in need of some strengthening, we can look to Christ's Sermon on the Mount for inspiration regarding where we can improve on our journey to become more like Him. 

Insights from the temptations of Christ

There were so many lessons to learn this week while studying the temptations of Christ in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. I will share just three of my big take-aways.

1. Identity: previous to this study, I had learned that the temptations of Christ could fit into three different categories; appetites, pride and power. What I realized this time while studying is that there was a fourth temptation-that of questioning our divine identity. Twice, while Satan is speaking to Christ, he starts with the phrase "If thou be the Son of God" (Matt 4:3,6). Attacking our identity and tempting us to question who we are is a tactic Satan continues to use against us today. In a recent YSA Devotional Pres. Nelson said "I believe that if  the Lord were speaking to you directly tonight, the first thing He would make sure you understand is your true identity...you are literally spirit children of God...But is that eternal truth imprinted upon your heart? Has this truth rescued you when confronted with temptation?" (Choices for Eternity) Just like Christ, we can also have the strength to resist temptation when we know and embrace the truth of our divine identity.
2. Scriptures: Knowing that Christ was able to combat temptation by quoting scripture is a powerful lesson that we can each internalize. While speaking to seminary and institute teachers, Elder Rasband counseled them to "help students identify a ‘protection scripture,’" one they can call to mind when they are in a perilous situation or need the strength to step away." (Jesus Christ is the Answer). I loved this idea and when I thought about what my "protection scripture" could be, I had one come to mind right away. Do you have a protection scripture? Maybe you have several. But just like Christ, we can use the words of the scriptures to help us overcome temptation.
3. Look Down, Look Up: in several Come, Follow Me podcasts I listened to this week, the hosts pointed out that when you read these scriptures closely you'll notice that Satan is always trying to bring Christ down (i.e. cast thyself down) while the Spirit is lifting Christ to higher ground (JST writes that the Spirit taketh him up). We can liken this to ourselves by realizing that when we are having thoughts and feelings that bring us down we can know that those are coming from Satan. In contrast, feelings that come from the Spirit will be lifting us to higher and holier places. 

I like knowing that when I am feeling the influence of Satan in my life I can turn away from these negative influences by: 1) remembering my divine identity (singing the words "I am a child of God") and 2) repeating my protection scripture to myself. As I've had times of struggle and moments of weakness this week, I would repeat my protection scripture to myself, and I can testify that an immediate sense of hope, light and peace entered my mind and my heart as I repeated those words in my mind. I know that the words of Christ have the power to raise our sights and lift us to higher ground.

Symbols of Baptism

I enjoyed learning more deeply about baptism this week, and especially some of the deeper symbolism that we can learn from baptism. The Bible Dictionary talks about how "baptism symbolizes death, burial and resurrection." The scriptures also compare our physical birth to baptism, which is our spiritual rebirth.

Moses 6:59 teaches that when we are born into this world there is water, blood and spirit present at the birth. When we are born again into the Kingdom of Heaven, water, blood and the Spirit are all present. We come forth out of the water after being fully immersed. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ through His Atonement and we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost which allows us the privilege to have the Spirit of Jesus Christ with us as we live worthy of it.

There are other parallels we can draw between birth and baptism...(Follow Him Podcast)

• When we're born we become part of an earthly family: when we're baptized we are welcomed into God's family.
• When we're born we are given a name: when we are baptized we are asked to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ.
• When we're born, our earthly family makes a commitment to love and take care of us: God makes this same promise to us when we are baptized. 
• Children go and do the same things as their family: when we become part of God's family through baptism, we make a commitment to go and do the things God wants us to do.

Today during sacrament meeting I was introduced to another symbol relating to baptism by immersion. When we are baptized by immersion, our body has to be "all in" the water. This concept of being "all in" can also be symbolic of our commitment to be "all in" to living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we putting our best efforts into keeping our baptismal covenant to keep His commandments, always remember Him and to take His name upon us? If so, then we are continually immersing ourselves in His gospel.