Day 98 The Joy of Forgiveness and Sharing Love

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. Welcome to day 98 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon.

You know, we've only got two more days in the double digits on our journey before we dive into the triple digits and stay there through the end of the Book of Mormon. Well done on your journey and welcome today to the Book of Enos. Today on our path, we're going to be reading Enos chapter 1.

Well, there's only one chapter in Enos, but still, let's call it chapter 1. Enos chapter 1, verses 1 through 13. We're going to kind of split this one in half today and tomorrow.

This one, an interesting chapter. You know, I've been thinking about Enos a little bit. He's kind of an interesting perspective here.

He writes just a tiny little bit. He is Jacob's son, and that, I guess, by default, makes him Nephi's nephew. And I don't know if I ever necessarily kind of focused on what that might mean or what kind of interactions Enos had with his uncle Nephi.

His story is an interesting one. It's one very common that we use about wrestling with God and praying all day. And maybe you've taken an Enos challenge at some point in your life where you're like, "All right, I'm going to see how long I can kneel down and pray." And then, like, you know, three minutes later, you're like, "Wow, I guess I'm not at the Enos level." Maybe some of you have been able to get a longer than a three-minute prayer inside of there.

But this is a fun one. I want to dive into the verse today and talk about it. Let's get to the verse for the day and see what Enos has to say through his lens on it.

Today's verse is going to be Enos 1:9. Let's read it. "Now it came to pass that when I had heard these words, I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites. Wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them." Now, the preceding verses here, Enos is praying for his own soul and his own repentance, and he gets a confirmation from the Lord that he is forgiven of his sins.

And then we get to verse 9 here, and his immediate reaction after his own joy of repenting from his sins, with Paul Anas. He gets some comfort about the Nephites, and he has a desire for his enemies with the Lamanites. What is it about Enos having a desire to help other people?

If you go back to Savory Salt and listen on episode 13, you're going to start to see kind of a recurring pattern here. Although it's a spaced-out pattern, it's been a couple of, well, it's been a hundred-plus years, almost 200 years since Lehi has his dream. And yet what we see inside of here from Lehi's dream, if you remember when Lehi takes the fruit, he takes it and it's so good that he immediately turns and wants to share it with his family.

And the message today is that the love and the joy that we receive on the back end of the repentance process, when we feel the love of God from repenting of our sins, from doing the best that we can in keeping our covenants and keeping His commandments, that joy is so great that we can't help but want to share it with our loved ones and those around us. It's interesting because recently the Church came out with its annual report, and something that stood out to me just as I was going through kind of the numbers of the growth of the Church each year and those types of things. We be right back.

So those young missionaries, those brothers and sisters that are going out as teenagers, right? 18, 19, 20 years old. Year over year, it has increased almost 50. That to me is a sign of the love of God that those teenagers are feeling, and they can't help but want to share it with others.

And I love that. Where do you stand when it comes to feeling that love of God? And if you haven't felt it, be willing to wrestle as Enos did.

Wrestle with the Lord. Receive the joy that comes through repenting and praying for the welfare of your soul. And then when you feel that love, you can't help but want to love and serve and share it with others around you.

Such a great thing to think about when it comes to how much joy the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring into your life. That's all for today, my friends. 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, and I hope you are too.