Day 249 The Dangers of Division and the Power of Unity

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.

Patrick Henry has been attributed with the phrase, "united we stand, divided we fall." Let's see what that looks like for Moroni and the Nephites today. Welcome to Day 249 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today we're going to read Alma chapter 60, verses 1 through 20.

I love in Alma 60 how direct Moroni speaks. Yes, he is. He's absolutely jumping to conclusions and making guesses about what's happening in the capital city.

And yet at the same time, we find out here how Pahoran responds to that. But I love Moroni's direct style of communication. If anything, he doesn't leave any questions as to where he stands with his opinion.

And inside of this letter that we get, as he is trying to figure out what is happening from the capital city and why resources and men are not being sent to help him out, this is a view that we get inside of his letter. It's Alma chapter 60, verse 16 today. It is a bit of a long one.

So bear with me as we get through it here. It says, "Yea, had it not been for the war which broke out among ourselves; yea, were it not for these king-men who caused so much bloodshed among ourselves; yea, at the time we were contending among ourselves, if we had united our strength as we hitherto have done; yea, had it not been for the desire of power and authority which those king-men..." In the strength of the Lord we should have dispersed our enemies, for it would have been done according to the fulfilling of his word. Did you catch how many times he talks about the challenge "among ourselves"?

It's interesting because one of the oldest and most effective strategies in war is division: to divide and conquer. It's been used for millennia by generals and captains across the world. And so, doesn't it make sense that a genius general in the war today, the war for our souls, would use the same strategy over and over again?

The adversary knows that one of the greatest and easiest ways for us to fall victim is to be divided. And here Moroni pauses in his reflection and sees that one of the challenges the Nephites faced was that they did not unite together under a single banner. I think it's interesting because as we look forward to the coming of Christ inside of the Book of Mormon, we're going to see that one of the first commandments he gives to the people when he gets there in 3 Nephi 11 is the way to get rid of the arguments and to unite and to come together.

My friends, we are stronger together. We can unite under the banner of heaven. Unite together as brothers and sisters with faith in Jesus Christ.

The other things are things that are there to distract us and to divide us. I love how President Nelson and others have reminded us over and over and over again that we first and foremost are children of a loving Heavenly Father. That's the label that we can put on each other.

That's the label we can put on ourselves. That's a label that unites all of us. I think it's interesting, the reflection that Moroni has here when he realizes that so much of the weakness of the Nephites.

I hope that you and I can take this verse and learn something from it when it comes to uniting ourselves under the cause of Jesus Christ and under the banner of heaven. And I hope that as we do that, we become stronger and more able to handle the temptations and the challenges that come our way in the spiritual war against the adversary. 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.