Day 157 Be Separate: Following the Good Shepherd

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. How have we already come to the end of Alma chapter five?

I don't know. There's so many incredible verses in this chapter, but here we are day 157 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon. In today's reading, we come to the end of Alma chapter five by reading verses 55 through 62.

You finish that chapter and then throw in Alma 6 while you're at it. It's a short one, but it is a linking chapter between 5 and 6 before Alma lights it up again in Alma chapter 7. Our verse for today comes from the tail end of Alma chapter 5.

I had to just go with one more there. And this one is kind of Alma wrapping it all up and grabbing invitations and commandments. And he's saying, if you're a member of the Church, I'm commanding you to do this by the Lord.

And if you're not a member of the Church, I'm inviting you to do this by the word of the Lord. We're going to look at verse 57 today and see what we can pull from it. And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things.

And behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith, The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people. Now this is the first part of a thought. You're going to want to continue reading those verses.

But I love a little phrase inside of here that really got me thinking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It says, "If you are desirous to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate." I think it's so interesting because the call from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is to be one. And if you're not one, you're not mine.

And yet, interestingly enough, the more we join ourselves with Jesus Christ, the more we listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and try to be more like him, the more we will separate ourselves from those who are not. Be ye separate. Separate has a footnote there, and if you follow in that footnote, it goes to all these different examples where the Hebrews and the children of Israel separated themselves from those unclean things.

Certainly got me thinking. I'm excited for the promise that the Lord provides through Alma in later verses in this chapter as he wraps things up, promising us that as we do follow that voice of the Good Shepherd, we're going to be protected. And even though we may be separate, that separation I love that.

And I'm so grateful that the Lord has not provided just us to be separate from everybody else, but to have that separation be a place of peace for us in our lives. 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.