Day 131 The Danger of Unfaced Shame

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. We are on day 131 inside of our journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today, we are going to be reading from Mosiah chapter 19, verses 19-29. We will finish that chapter. And then we're going to also begin Mosiah chapter 20 by reading verses 1-11.

This one's such an interesting one today, and the insight that I have is a little bit from an interesting point of view. We've now got the story where all sorts of different chess pieces are moving across the board, and we're going to take a little bit of a look inside of the former priests of King Noah. They have run away from their people.

They followed King Noah into the. All sorts of bad things happen there, and they are left to themselves after killing King Noah. And then there's kind of this, "What are we supposed to do?" I think what they choose to do is an interesting insight for us in our lives.

So let's take a look at what happens with them. Mosiah 20:4 is our reading for the day. And it says this: "And having tarried in the wilderness, and having discovered the daughters of the Lamanites, they laid and watched them." Now, there doesn't sound like there's much of a lesson inside of that verse.

And yet, interestingly enough, in Savory Salt, because we only choose one verse, you're kind of missing the context around it. What we find out here is that these priests, right, these priests of King Noah, they had an opportunity to return, and yet they didn't return because they're ashamed of the things that they did. That's the first thing I want you to keep in mind is they made some mistakes, but their shame prevented them from coming back and trying to make amends.

And then we find out that what did they decide to do? Well, they decided to lay and watch these daughters of the Lamanites. And what's going to happen there is it's going to lead to them actually taking those Lamanite women and kidnapping them, right?

Pulling them off into the forest and running away. And so I think it's an interesting insight that here these priests had an opportunity to return, to make amends, to try to return back to their lives, but their own shame prevented them from doing so. And then this turning point seems to happen.

Instead of turning back and turning away from the mistakes they already made, they lay in wait. They basically are sitting in their sins, and it leads to them stepping further into transgression and further away from the Lord. This is ultimately going to lead to the full demise of these, as they're going to fully lose any sort of spirit of the Lord in their lives at all.

They're going to ultimately join the Lamanites. They're going to become more hardened than the Lamanites themselves. And yet we have this little piece here that lets us see that there was an opportunity, but their own shame prevented them from taking advantage of the change that could happen in their lives.

My friends, I want to encourage you that if there are areas of your life that need to be corrected, stand and face them rather than turn away in shame. Because that shame almost creates a shadow, a piece of darkness in your life that allows for other shadows to enter in. And when you sit inside of your sins there, there seems to be a point at which you can either turn and bring them to light and face them.

All of those things come because of the choices that they make. And yet how sad it is that they had an opportunity to return, but their own shame was lost. I challenge you to embrace the Atonement in your life.

The Atonement of Christ is designed for mistakes. God, our Heavenly Father, knew we would make mistakes, and that's okay. That is exactly why Jesus Christ came to the earth and performed the Atonement for each one of us, was so that we could face those mistakes, learn from them, turn to him, and be forgiven of those things in our lives.

Don't allow the shame of a mistake to lead you down a further path of transgression. I know the Lord loves us even when we make mistakes. And I know that as we turn to him, he will create a path where our shame can wash away, and we can stand in the love of our Heavenly Father.

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.