Day 148 Bearing Persecution: Steadfast and Immovable

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.

Another congratulations is in order for you. As of yesterday's reading, we have completed 40% of the Book of Mormon together in Savory Salt. Well done on that.

Can you believe that? I mean, imagine this for just a second. If you sat down and said, "Man, I got to read 40% of the Book of Mormon together." Welcome to Day 148 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today we're going to continue in Alma chapter 1, and we're going to finish that off by reading verses 15 through 33. Now this one's interesting as Alma seems to just go in as chief judge and just experience the challenges. The Church just is experiencing challenges all over the place.

We're going to continue those challenges. We got done with Nehor yesterday. That was the man that was convicted of his crimes and suffered the punishments thereof.

And yet we're going to continue with this challenge with the members of the Church. They're not just going to be challenged with those that don't. We're going to have many members of the Church that actually leave the Church and then start having challenges there as people that leave the Church start to persecute them.

And the members are simply facing persecution from all sorts of different directions. Let's see how they respond to it in our verse today. Today's verse is going to be Alma chapter 1, verse 25.

This is just a little bit of an insight to those that are experiencing persecution, both from outside the Church and from outside the Church. This is a great trial to those that did stand fast in the faith. Nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God.

And they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them. You know, I love this one because this gives us a little bit of an insight to what it's like to be picked on. I use "picked on" because that's how I kind of interpret the persecution that's happening with the members of the Church.

They're getting picked on for their beliefs, and the persecution could be quite rough at some times as we find out inside the scriptures here. I can remember a time trying to figure out what it's like to be persecuted for my beliefs. And I remember just trying to live my life in Houston when we used to live in Houston.

I had some friends that really got to know who I was and what it was like to be friends with a member of the Church. They had never had friends with a quote-unquote Mormon before. And yet one of them had a husband that quite enjoyed the outside views of what it was like to be a member of the Church and liked to hear people make fun of Church members, and he liked to laugh along with those.

And his wife one day said, "You know, why do you do that?" And he was trying to balance his beliefs between what he thought Mormons were like and what we were as he knew us to be. He knew us as quite normal people. And yet what we tried to do was bear those persecutions, the things he liked to laugh about, and the things he liked to laugh about.

The best thing we could do was just try to answer his questions whenever he had them and just be willing to talk to him about our beliefs. And I think that's a little bit of what it's saying here in verse 25. The members of the Church, they did stand fast in the faith.

They were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God. They didn't apologize for how they lived. They didn't wonder themselves if, when their neighbors left the Church, they should leave the Church too.

They were steadfast and immovable. And then they bore with patience the persecution that was heaped upon them. My friends, my family, bear those persecutions, because we find out later in this chapter the blessings that came to the members of the Church because they were willing to do so.

I know that it can be tough sometimes. I know it can be difficult to watch loved ones leave the Church and even choose to kick against the Church principles. Stand fast and see the blessings of the Lord come into your life, and hopefully even into those that choose to leave for a time.

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.