Day 146 The Qualities of Mosiah's Beloved Leadership

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 146 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon, and welcome to the end of the Book of Mosiah.

This has been quite a journey to get through. I love the Book of Mosiah, and today we say farewell to it by reading Mosiah chapter 29, verses 29 to 47, and we wrap up the book. As always, when we wrap up the book, I would encourage you to take some time and reflect on what the book has meant for you.

Perhaps record a few things in a journal, or just some thoughts. Record your voice a little bit as you just make a voice memo. But think into what Mosiah has been for you, and what it done for your testimony of Jesus Christ, how it grown, or how you grown, or the ways that you changing.

Today, I love to finish us off. I think it appropriate to kind of look at this specific verse today and consider some of the qualities of a solid leader. A leader that the people wax strong in love towards.

And that what we going to look at today. So let take a look at verse 40 and see how the people view Mosiah, their leader, their king. And they did wax strong in love towards Mosiah.

Yea, they did esteem him more than any other man, for they did not look upon him as a tyrant who was seeking for gain, yea, for that lucre which doth corrupt the soul. For he had not exacted riches of them, neither had he delighted in the shedding of blood. But he had established peace in the land, and he had granted unto his people that they should be delivered from all manner of bondage.

Therefore, they did esteem him, yea, exceedingly beyond measure. Wow, that's a powerful guy there. That's a man whose people love him.

And so I want to look at that and say, what does that mean for me? I just drew about five things out here that I thought I'd just share with you quickly on leadership qualities that I see inside of Mosiah. And I ask myself, how can I better develop these?

The first one I see here is that he does not seek personal gain, right? He did not look upon them as a tyrant seeking for gain. So he not doing his leadership thing to get something out of it for him personally, right?

Number two, he did things ethically and morally. And you say, wait, where did you get that one? Well, I spent some time in the word lucre here, because that's not a common one inside the scriptures.

I mean, we've heard it a couple of times, the filthy lucre in the Bible, whatever. But lucre is an interesting one. Most people just associate it with money, but it's actually a little bit more specific than that.

It's money that's been earned either immorally, or illegally, or unethically. And so we're learning here that Mosiah does things ethically or morally. He has a moral compass.

And I like that inside of a leader. Next one is that he does not chase violent responses. It says that he did help establish peace, but he did not delight in the shedding of blood.

And, you know, obviously I could go down the realm of like stabbing people with swords and scimitars and stuff from the Book of Mormon times. But the way I actually interpret that is just measuring my responses to people. How do I respond and how do I act?

Do I tend to act violently or angry? And then lastly, one of my favorites here is delivered others from bondage. And we typically think like Book of Mormon bondage was actual, you know, the Lamanites taking them and making them their slaves.

And yet in today's world, I wonder about the different ways that people are in bondage, and how I might be able to impact their lives positively to help them get out of bondage. I think I do that in my personal career a little bit as I work with people and coach them and mentor them. But that's just one that I really think is a positive attribute that I can better develop in my life.

So there's the five leadership qualities that we pull from Mosiah. And I hope you take a little bit of time to reflect on what Mosiah has been for you and enjoy as we dive into the Book of Alma tomorrow. 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.