2:23 The Special Purpose... of the Ministry of My People

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends.

Great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Today, a special purpose for a chosen people.

We're going to be shifting today from our Doctrine and Covenants section two in Joseph Smith—History reading. As I mentioned yesterday, we're going to transition into the Book of Mormon for the rest of the week. Sorry, but there were just some sections in here that I thought, you know what?

Let's spend a few extra days inside of the Book of Mormon. Today our reading is interesting. It's an interesting spot inside the Book of Mormon as we in this section where Nephi kind of does some storytelling and then he kind of talks to the reader and then goes back to storytelling and talks to the reader a little bit.

And inside of that, we have one of these that I actually didn't even share from at all last year. I don't think I shared anything from 1 Nephi chapter 9 at all last year. And yet, this year, for some reason, I guess maybe because of the Doctrine and Covenants overlay or the Joseph Smith overlay, it's kind of hit me a little bit differently, and I want to share it with you.

Our verse for today is in 1 Nephi chapter 9 verse 3. Remember you're going to be reading 1 Nephi chapters 9 through 12 this week. And in verse 3 it says this, Nephi speaking: Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people.

I think that's interesting because inside this really small chapter, we hear special purpose being told and then also later in verse 5, he uses the term wise purpose. Now, of course, you know, hindsight's 20-20. Here we are reading the Book of Mormon realizing what Nephi's purpose was, and that was to have a record for us to read in our day.

And yet that's not the perspective that Nephi has. What he knows, he's got to put these plates together because this special purpose is going to include the ministry of the people. I thought about the records that we create in our lives.

It gave me a kind of a reflecting point in my life where I had transitioned out of teaching and into corporate training. It was the first time I actually stood in front of a camera and was teaching to nobody at the time. What we were doing is we were recording a course about family empowerment and about uniting families and creating generational families and whatnot.

And inside that course, it was the first time I was just talking to the camera and sharing what I would say is kind of gospel principles in a secular way. It wasn't anything that I sold to members of the church necessarily, right? It was just something that was available to help families learn how to have conversations with family members and how to run businesses inside family businesses, those types of things.

And yet, interestingly enough, at the time, I thought I knew the special purpose inside of what that creation of that account was. And as I look back now, with it being years ago, I think, wow, the Lord really knew what he was doing there in having me record that. And I think perhaps for Nephi, it's the same way.

He was sitting down and he said, look, all I know is that the Lord wants me to capture the ministry of my people. And then as I was recording those, I just knew the purpose was about helping families be empowered and be closer together. And I want to challenge you to consider the ways that you keep records in your life.

What are the different records you're keeping? Maybe that's on social media, maybe that's in a journal, maybe it's another podcast, maybe you're doing a podcast. I don't know what it is.

But consider the way that you're keeping records in your life and consider perhaps the overlay of recording the ministry of your people. But those that come along later can also see and remember the miracles the Lord has done in your life and also a reference point for you to go back and remember those as well. I love that Nephi steps forward into this special purpose because of what we have today.

And I think that you and I can step into our own special purposes as we create records about the ministries that have happened in our lives as well. That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice.

Cleave to the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. The Fast and the Cools is brought to you by WGBH.