Day 355 Accountability: Our Choices, Our Path

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. Welcome to day 355 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Ether chapter 14, and it is a difficult chapter to read.

Many would call it, you know, kind of a downer. It's a difficult chapter as we watch the ultimate accountability that comes from rejecting the prophets as a civilization faces its own destruction. If you remember, we went through this earlier in the Book of Mormon as we watched the end of the Nephite civilization and the full collapse of the people there.

This is going to happen in chapter 15. That being said, it was kind of difficult for me to try and find a verse in here that we could pull a principle out of and see what it means for us in our savory salt pursuit. And I think I landed on one.

I'm going to share it and see what you think about it. It's Ether chapter 14, verse 25. And it says, "And thus we see that the Lord did visit them in the fullness of his wrath, and their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction." You know, I think it's interesting.

Some people would read this out of context and say, "See, look, there's an angry God here, and I just can't worship and follow an angry God." And yet if you read the chapters previous to this, you see time and again, the Lord sending his prophets to invite the people to follow him, to repent, to have faith in. The Bible says that the Lord sent forth these prophets for them to repent, and in their past they had repented and found prosperity again. This time they chose not to do it.

And so I think the phrase that stands out to me here is, "their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction." This is ultimately where accountability lies for the Lord and for us. It is through our choices that we bring upon ourselves our own destruction. And yet at the time that I share this here, the message I have for you and for me is that this doesn't have to be us.

In fact, I would say if you're listening to this podcast episode, this is not you. You and I are reading the scriptures. You and I are listening to the prophets.

You and I are trying to repent on a daily basis. You and I are attempting to be savory salt on this earth. This story doesn't have to be the story of you and I.

We can remember the Lord together. We can turn to him. And in so doing, we can get the promises that he gives us through living prophets and prophets of old.

So as we read this, yes, this is a downer moment here. This is watching a civilization ultimately. The Bible is a scripture that my mom always had posted in our house, and I actually taken it since my parents' passing, and it's in our house.

And it comes from Joshua, and it just always said on this, you know, it kind of a gold frame, right? It kind of got a little bit of the look of the '60s and '70s to it, but it says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." I used that before in Savory Salt, and I use it again here today. You and I don't have to be the Jaredites.

We don't have to be the Nephites. The way we Warnings are there. We should absolutely heed them, but we should also accept that as we do these things to bring the Savior Jesus Christ into our lives, we do not have to deal with the same consequences that these people chose to bring upon themselves.

That is uplifting for me in this darkness of night and destruction that happens here. There's a beam of light I can hold on to and seek to follow. 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.