Day 219 Alma's Loving Invitation to Repentance

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. Don't forget the invitation that is part two of our message today.

Welcome to day 219 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. You're going to be reading Alma chapter 42, verses 17 through 31. You'll finish that chapter.

And I hope it doesn't get too doctrinal for you in there. There are some gems in there and I'm going to let you stay in the doctrine yourself rather than having any sort of my interpretation of the doctrine. Instead, what we're going to do is continue on this idea of a loving parent that Alma is as he shares his thoughts and counsels with his son.

Today's verse is going to be Alma 42:30. And this is what Alma says after counseling with his son: "Oh, my son, I desire that you should deny the justice of God no more. Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point because of your sins by denying the justice of God.

But do ye let the justice of God and His mercy and His longsuffering have full sway in your heart, and let it bring you down to the dust in humility?" I love this because in his loving way and as a loving parent, Alma answers the questions that Corianton had. He counsels him, he teaches him with the doctrine, but he leaves him with an invitation to repent and to be better in his life. And I love that because it's an example for me as a parent to remember to answer the questions that my children have, but also to regularly encourage them and invite them to live the gospel themselves so that they know that my hopes and desires for them are an invitation to live the gospel.

All of these are meditation-based. As he says, "I desire that ye should." Alma knows that his son has a choice, but it doesn't change that Alma is going to express to him his desire as a loving parent to repent, to find mercy in the plan of salvation, to allow it to take him into humility. And ultimately, as it goes into 31 and wraps up the chapter, ultimately to take it down into preaching the gospel and his missionary work.

So that he can get lost as a missionary again and find the mercy that comes with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My friends, as we put this two-part series together here, Alma is willing to counsel, as we mentioned yesterday, with his son on areas of doctrine. And then today, he's also going to invite.

He's going to invite his son to be better. And I hope it's a lesson we can all take to invite those around us and especially those we love the most. Invite them to come into Christ and to find mercy in their lives through the amazing plan of happiness and mercy and salvation.

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.