Day 112 The Balance of Diligence and Strength

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 are listening from, thank you for joining me and know that I am cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 112 and welcome to the tail end of Mosiah chapter 4 and the beginning of Mosiah chapter 5. As I mentioned before, Mosiah 2-5 were some of the chapters that were translated into Mongolian when we did not have a Book of Mormon.

And I hope you are finding the reason behind that inside of these chapters. These are powerful chapters in teachings of the plan of salvation, the role Jesus Christ plays in our lives, and the role that we play in making, keeping covenants with the Lord and living our lives so that the Atonement can be in full effect in our lives. Today on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon, you're going to read Mosiah chapter 4, verses 21 through 30.

So that will finish Mosiah chapter 4 and then you're going to begin Mosiah chapter 5, verses 1-5. And if you want to squish those over to the next day, that's fine. Today, though, our verse is going to come out of Mosiah chapter 4 near the tail end of our reading.

We're going to look at verse 27. It says, "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order. For it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.

And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize. Therefore, all things must be done in order." Now, there's a lot of context around this one. I'm not going to go into the full context because that's what your reading is for and you can read that.

There's actually an interesting balance between two sides of a spectrum here, I think. The first one is one that's very commonly referred to for us. It's not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.

Look, hey, just do the best you can and you don't have to overpower yourself when it comes to the gospel. And then the interesting thing is there's another end of the spectrum here. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize.

It got me thinking a little bit about the idea of what is the sweet spot between being diligent so that I win the prize but not experiencing burnout because I ran faster than I had strength. And I don't have an answer for you. I wish I was the great guru on the mountain for that one.

But what I do have is the encouragement for you to take the time to ponder on that and what it means for your life. Are you putting forth the diligence required that you may win the prizes that you identified as important in your life? And I think inside of this context with Mosiah and King Benjamin, we're talking about the prizes that come through keeping the commandments of the Lord.

On the flip side, are you making sure that inside of that diligence, you're not putting yourself in a dangerous situation where you overrun, right? You burn yourself out. It got me thinking about the power that water can be in the world.

And you're like, whoa, Allen, there's a curveball. Well, but think about this for just a second. Water.

I had a situation in our house where we became aware of some water damage that was coming through our roof. And as we got into it, we found that this little trickle of water from all of the storms that had just trickled through had completely destroyed entire walls in parts of our house. And we ended up tearing out part of the chimney and we ended up having to tear out a whole side facade.

Now that's not a ticket for laziness. That's not a ticket for procrastination because King Benjamin balances both sides of the spectrum here and encourages us to certainly not run faster than we have strength. But also that doesn't mean be lazy or procrastinate.

It is also expedient that we should be diligent, that thereby we might win the prize. I love the balance in both sides of the spectrum there. It's a great reminder for me in several areas of my life, places where I feel like I may be having a little bit of burnout from overrunning and places where I could get a little extra poke in the backside and say, Hey, Allen, get up, get going and be diligent that you might win the prize.

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. I hope you are too.