Day 250 Cleanse the Inward Vessel First

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. Whether it was Goethe or Mother Teresa, the saying goes something like this: "If everyone would sweep their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean." Let's take a look at what that might mean here inside of Savory Salt.

Welcome to Day 250. Two hundred fifty, well done on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, we're going to be reading Alma chapter 60, verses 21 through 36.

You'll finish that chapter; we are knocking on the door of the end of Alma. And you're also going to read Alma 61, verses 1 through 3, just a little bit of Pahoran's response to Moroni. But Alma chapter 60 is going to be focused on the rest of Moroni's letter to Pahoran and his call to action.

And inside of this letter, we see him—remember, Moroni doesn't have the full picture of what's happening in the capital. He doesn't know what they're experiencing and the challenges that they're facing. And yet, at the same time, he's offering advice and insight and even directives about what should happen, should they be sitting back and resting on their laurels as the rest of the army fights for their protection.

And then we get Alma chapter 60, verse 23. This is what it says: "Do you suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also." This one's such a great mirror scripture. This is such a great, like, you know, that all the things we've talked about in terms of maybe you've heard before, like if you're pointing at somebody, there's, you know, three or four other fingers pointing back at you, and these types of ideas. I thought about this one specifically right now.

I'm currently working with my daughter's volleyball team and working with them on positive psychology and positive mindset inside of their volleyball games. And one of the things I've noticed is that—and this is common amongst many sporting teams—but there's always players that have advice and insight for what everybody else needs to correct. Right?

They're that player. And look, I notice it because they learn that from their parents, who their parents watch them play, and they always sit and have correction and insight as to what the kids should be doing better. And it's always interesting to see what happens, because what it does is it does not lift the morale of the other players when they're constantly corrected.

It does not encourage you to be better when somebody tells you everything that you didn't want to know about all your mistakes. And so, this moment here with Moroni is a great reminder that those of us that go in life always looking about, "Hey, you know what? I just wanted to give you some unsolicited advice on how you should improve your life." Well, if it's unsolicited, they probably don't want to hear your advice, and it's nothing about whether your advice is good or bad.

It's an opportunity for us to remember, hey, why don't we focus on the inward vessel? Why don't we focus on our relationship—my relationship with Jesus Christ? I'm going to focus on that.

I'm going to focus on my commandment keeping. I'm going to focus on the covenants that I have made and what it means for me to keep those covenants. And then I'm going to let others do the same thing for them.

And that brings us around to that quote from Goethe or Mother Teresa. And we're going to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know it comes from several people, but the idea that, look, if we all just focused on keeping our lives clean and pure and in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ, what would happen in our neighborhoods?

What would happen in our wards and in our stakes if we all just took the accountability to say, "You know what? Today I'm going to focus on the inward vessel, and I'm going to cleanse it, and then I'll worry about cleansing the outer vessel second." I'm not saying that you should not leave your house and go help others and all that. That's not what I'm saying at all.

Let's focus on the things that we're doing and do our best with them, and then the Lord, He can continue to help others in what they're doing in their lives. I love this. This is such a great reminder, and it's such a moment inside the scriptures here to just flash a mirror up and say, "Hey, Allen, every time you're looking at what you can do for others in terms of their improvement in life or things they should be doing better, why don't you pause and see what you could be doing better and see how you could be a better light in the world?" Great reminder from Moroni in the middle of this letter to Pahoran.

I am grateful for him and his example. 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.