Day 240 Moroni's Fierce Fight for Faith and Freedom

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. I know that I'm cheering for your every success.

What gets you fired up? We're going to dive in today to that very question. Welcome to day 240 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today, you're going to be reading Alma chapter 54, verses 4 through 24, basically the chapter there. And it really is quite a simple chapter. It's two letters.

One letter from Moroni to Ammoron and one letter from Ammoron back to Moroni. I think that there are vital lessons we can pull from both of these letters. And I hope that you can take some time to think into what those lessons can be for you.

Seek the Spirit and seek what comes to you as you read the words of Moroni and the words of Ammoron back and forth to each other. But I have to choose one verse from this and the one that I chose today, I think describes a level of passion. Moroni is passionate to the level of extreme actions for his people.

And I think we see it inside the verse today. Today we're going to be reading Alma 54:10. And this is in the middle of Moroni's letter.

And he says, "But as the Lord liveth, our armies shall come upon you, except ye withdraw, and he shall soon be visited with death, for we will retain our cities and our lands, yea, and we will maintain our religion and the cause of our God." Now for Moroni, religious freedom was his fire, and the danger that he faced with the Lamanites threatening to take that freedom away and to take away their ability to worship the God of their choice was worth everything for him. He would fight morning and night. He would risk his own life.

He would put those things in danger's way in order to keep the right. Amen. My friends, I think into that, and I ask myself, what am I so passionate about that it draws me into extreme action?

I see many things that the church spends time focusing on, one of them being marriage, one of them being religious freedom. The Church is very active in making sure that at least inside the United States here where the First Amendment to the Constitution currently at least holds the religious freedom and the right to worship in the dictates of our own conscience, as the Articles of Faith would say. I wonder for you, what draws that level of passion out?

What are you willing to fight for? Maybe it's too deep for a savory salt, but what are you willing to die for? Those are questions worth knowing yourself.

You don't have to necessarily advertise those to the world, but those are questions worth reflection. What are you so passionate about that it draws you to extreme action? And for Moroni, his was the cause of God.

His was his family's liberty, the freedom to choose who to worship and how to worship. And the Bible says that the Lord God created the world to keep the dictates of religious freedom in the lives of the Nephites. That drove him to battle and it drove him into many war scenarios.

My friends, what gets you fired up? What's it worth to you? And what can you do to take that fire and put it into the world today?

Take action in your testimony. Stand for the cause of God. I love the example that Moroni gives us.

And yes, it's a tough one. There are absolutely wars and battles in here. And yet Moroni stands firm.

There is no question what his belief, his passion, and what gets him fired up is. 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.