Day 75 God Invites All: None Are Denied

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success and welcome to day 75. There's something cool about the number 75.

I don't know. It just seems like we've reached some sort of milestone, even though yesterday was our 20% milestone. I guess as I look at it, I look into the library here and I see that I've just hit just over seven hours inside of it.

So if you have hung with me through all of that, well done, because we are 75 days in and we are about seven hours of studying the Book of Mormon together this year. I want to just shout out to you as well. Two days in a row here, shout out to you.

Say, "Hey, nice job, man!" Give yourself a high five again. Say, "Well done!" Today on our 365-day journey, we're going to finish 2 Nephi Chapter 26. So the reading today is 2 Nephi Chapter 26, verses 17 through 33.

This is a wrap-up of kind of Nephi's plainness in testifying of Jesus Christ. And our verse today comes right on the tail end of our reading and right on the tail end of the chapter, actually, in verse 33. Now, before we read 33, 32 is actually this full list of verses that we're going to read today.

And I'd actually encourage you to take a look at that iniquity list because it feeds into what we're going to talk about in 33 here just a little bit. So take a second, go into verse 32, read through that. You're going to see the iniquities that are listed, kind of this list of, you know, the things that are against the commandments of God.

And then in verse 33, this is what Nephi says: "For none of these iniquities come of the Lord. For he doeth that which is good among the children of men. And he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men.

And 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 female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." Now, I love this because, first of all, at the bottom of the list we get, you know, it's open to everybody. Everybody can come unto Jesus Christ.

The list is an 'all' list there. The interesting thing that I think comes into play with this is it's preceded by verse 32 with this list of iniquities. And I think the divisive nature that comes in today's world when it comes to some people talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ being divisive is that people want to come unto Christ and stay exactly who they are.

That's a little bit different than my desire to come unto Christ. I want to come unto Christ and I want to be changed through him. I want to become a better person because of him in my life.

I want to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change me to increase the things that I need to increase in terms of maybe love for others or whatever it is off that list, the iniquity list in verse 32. But I love here on the front end of the verse how he talks about how to know when things come from Jesus Christ. He doeth that which is good among the children of men.

There's a great indicator. A lot of people do things that have the appearance of good, but really at the end of the day, is it accomplishing good among men? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple.

It's really basic and easy to understand and to apply in our lives. He inviteth them all to come and partake of his goodness. This is an open invitation for all to come and be part of the world that falls under Jesus Christ and his commandments.

I see this as very empowering. I see it as an invitation for everyone. And that invitation can only be accepted when we are willing to look in the mirror and say, "You know what, I want to come unto Jesus Christ because he can make me so much better than I can make myself." And that's one of the reasons why I try to embrace Jesus Christ in my life is because I know he can make me so much better than I can make myself.

That's all for today, my friends. I have loved Chapters 25 and 26. They are awesome.

I hope you have enjoyed them too. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt.

I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you are too.