Day 147 Alma 1: Confronting the 'Everyone's Fine' Doctrine

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 the Book of Alma, and welcome to day 147.

You know, it's been kind of fun. I did a little bit of quick day counting here, and if I'm off a day or two, give me a little bit of a break here. But we were in First Nephi for about 39 days.

Second Nephi for about 46 days. We were in Jacob for 12 days, just a couple of weeks there. Enos, and all the little books there, we did in six days.

Mosiah took us about 42 days. And now we get to Alma, and we're going to be in the Book of Alma for almost 110 days. Now we're on day 147, so almost double the time that we've spent so far on Savory Salt.

We're going to be in the Book of Alma. Now two things I want you to remember with that. One, hey, it's all right.

We're going to do this small and simply, right? We're going to take small and simple steps. Fair enough?

Okay. Second thing I want you to remember is, if Alma is such a large chunk of the Book of Mormon, why is it included? What's so important about the Book of Alma?

As we get started here, I want you to just keep that perspective. Alma is a massive book, and a lot of times people are like, oh my goodness, we're going to get into the Book of Alma and it goes forever. And it does go forever, and that's okay, but it's worth pausing and saying, what was Mormon thinking when he added all of this information?

And so I am very excited to spend the next hundred plus days with you looking at the Book of Alma. Today you're going to read Alma chapter 1, verses 1 through 14. That's the reading for the day.

Let's get straight to the verse to make sure that we keep this short and sweet for you. Verse 4. This is introducing a man.

Boy, I'll tell you, Alma gets thrown straight into the fire. This is Alma the Younger, who's repented and become the chief judge of the Nephites. He gets challenges right off the get-go as the first chief judge.

He's meeting a man that is teaching all sorts of false doctrine. Verse 4, we get the tail end of that false doctrine a little bit. This is some of the man's teachings.

Verse 4 says, "And he also testified unto the people that all mankind should be saved at the last day, and that they need not fear nor tremble, but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice; for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men; and in the end, all men should have eternal life." Now we find out in the reading today that Alma says this is the first time priestcraft has been introduced to the people. Priestcraft was defined back in 2 Nephi as a couple of things here. One, that a person sets themselves up as the light of the world rather than Jesus Christ.

Second, they do it to get gain, right? So they want to make a profit. They want to make money doing this.

And third, they do it not in favor of seeking Zion, but for self-aggrandizement. Now I want you to think about this today, and I'll keep this short and sweet when it comes to the thought, because I don't want you to go any further than what I say here. Don't take what Allen says and roll the boulder down the hill.

But I say this with love in my heart and with an understanding of how I see these things. This man is saying everyone's fine. Everyone's going to be redeemed.

Everything's okay. Everybody's fine. Do your things.

Live your life. Everything's fine. I want to tell you something that sounds like it's very much against the current grain of the self-help world.

You're not enough. I'm not enough. And I don't say that to hurt your feelings, or to make you feel bad, or to hurt your self-esteem.

You're not enough. Jesus Christ is enough. Jesus Christ makes us more than enough.

We need Him in our lives. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer, and He alone is the Light of the world.

And any light that I may shine, any savor I may bring to my life inside of Savory Salt here, is light and savor from Him. The things that I am doing to try to become better, I am trying to become better to be like Jesus Christ. That is very opposite much of the messaging of the world today.

You are not enough. I am not enough. Together with the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we become more than enough.

We are worthy of the love of the Lord. That is true. We are also worthy of the blessing of changing for the better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Don't fall for those that are telling you that all will be redeemed, that all are enough as they are. Don't fall for those that say, "Hey, listen to my way because my way is the highway." There is one highway that is through our Savior, Jesus Christ. I believe it with all my heart, and I'm so excited to start Alma with you together today.

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.