Day 122 Abinadi's Courageous Stand and Divine Protection

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 am cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 122 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today, we're going to be reading Mosiah chapter 12, verses 21 to 37. Finish that chapter and Mosiah chapter 13, verses 1 through 6. Now we are in the thick of it here with Abinadi preaching, and our verse today goes straight into Abinadi.

I've told you before, Abinadi is one of my heroes in the Book of Mormon. Today the verse is going to speak into that a little bit, and then I got a challenge for you on the backside of it. So let's get to our verse today.

Mosiah 13:3 says, "Touch me not for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me. For I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver, neither have I told you that which he requested that I should tell. Therefore God will not suffer that I shall..." We have this epic Nephi moment happening here.

Do you remember when Nephi and his brothers were arguing back and forth and they went to lay their hands on him and Nephi was like, "Back up, back up, folks!" And Abinadi is having this moment here. I think the reason that this one stands out to me so much more than Nephi's, I love Nephi's example of it, but here Abinadi stands alone for all that we know. He stands alone against all of the people of King Noah.

Nephi kind of seems to have kind of a wrestling moment with his brothers, right? It's kind of an internal moment. And yet here Abinadi is the solo representation of the Lord, as far as we know, according to the scripture here.

That is heroic at another level to me. And I love the protection that we learn here from the Lord for those that have a message to share. He knew that he was protected while he was sharing the message of the Lord.

And I think that that protection is afforded to all of those that can go forward understanding that they too have things to share under the Spirit. I think of our missionary work going around the world. It makes no logical sense to have 18- and 19-year-old boys and girls walking around the earth preaching the gospel, and yet the Lord goes forth and protects them in the work that they do.

So the challenge for you today is: Abinadi is one of my heroes. His boldness and his willingness to stand when nobody else was around him to stand with him is one of the reasons that he's a hero to me. I love his strength in standing for the right.

The challenge for you is to sit down and think into those heroes in your life. Who are the examples from scripture or from history or from maybe your own family history? Who are the people that you look to as heroes and heroines in your life?

What attributes do they hold that you want to develop more? What can you do to take the steps to develop them? These are the things that will continue to increase your savory salt in your life as you ultimately embrace the attributes of those that have come before us and served the Lord in all that they've done.

Abinadi is one of those for me. He stands when no one else is willing to stand and he delivers the message the Lord has for him to deliver. I love seeing that, and it's an example for me to remember that regardless of where I am and who I'm around, I can stand as an example of Jesus Christ.

I'm going to do my best to do that. I hope you can take a moment to consider the heroes in your life and see what attributes they can hold that will increase you in your life going forward. 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. We'll see you next time.