2.41 Encircled About in the Arms of His Love

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. I've got a curveball for you at the start of the week.

Welcome to Doctrine and Covenants sections 10 and 11 and 2 Nephi chapters 1 through 4. Oh my goodness, have we got a power week ahead of us. Now, I want you to be able to pace yourself this week, but I got to tell you, the curveball is that we're going to be bouncing, hopefully this works, at least the way that I've got it planned, I hope that it works, but we're going to be bouncing back and forth between the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants as we dive into our readings this week.

I don't know if you were with me last year during 2 Nephi, but 2 Nephi chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 are some of my absolute favorites, especially when it comes to the role of Jesus Christ in our lives. And so as we look at Doctrine and Covenants sections 10 and 11, especially section 10, we have such a clear understanding of the role that Satan is playing in our world today that I thought, my goodness, we're going to get into the law of opposition in all things in 2 Nephi chapters 1 through 4. And so, of course, Satan's going to be brought into Doctrine and Covenants section 10.

Why not go back and forth in this law of opposition in our own experience, in our reading through Savory Salt? So what that means is if you're just used to doing the readings, that's totally fine. Doctrine and Covenants sections 10 and 11 this week, 2 Nephi chapters 1 through 4 this week, and actually the week should work out where if you just kind of pick a section or a chapter for the day you'll make it through the end of the week.

This week for us as we get started I'm actually going to start in 2 Nephi chapter 1 for our verse today. And this is Lehi giving his final instruction and final testimony to his family. Let's start with his—our verse for today—with his testimony, and then let's talk about what it means for us a little bit.

I chose today 2 Nephi 1:15. This is Lehi speaking to his family and it says, But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell. I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

What a powerful testimony to leave your family, especially knowing as he did in the verse before that he only had a few days left to live. Lehi bears his testimony of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. And I love his description here that he's encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

My friends, what would it be for you if you knew you were having final conversations with your family? I know that's not always the case for us in our lives and sometimes sudden tragedies leave us with unfinished conversations. I hope I can get through this quick story today.

I've never shared this publicly before, but I feel very strongly to do so here. And so bear with me for a second. I had on my mission a very difficult companionship one time.

As many times, you know, sometimes companionships are hard, and I had a very difficult companionship. After the mission, we never really had any sort of relationship. I saw him a couple of times through the years, but not really very often.

And when I was living in Houston with my wife, I got word that he had passed away in a very tragic way, a very tragic incident. I struggled for a long time and prayed for a long time for forgiveness because our last conversation was not one filled with testimony. It was not one filled with this encircling love of Jesus Christ.

And I often wondered and felt that if I ever get the chance to see him again that I could perhaps fill the role a little bit that Jesus Christ fills in our lives and just give him a hug and let him know that despite our challenges we had, that I love him. My friends, Jesus Christ loves us. He loves you.

He has redeemed our souls from hell and asks that we simply repent and follow his commandments and love him back and do the best that we can as we get started this week with opposition. I wanted to start off the week with a focus on Jesus Christ and his love. I hope that one day I have the opportunity to embrace my old companion and let him know I love him, and I hope that he can love me back too, despite our challenges that we had.

I know that Jesus Christ fills our lives with love. I hope you can feel that in your own life as you go forward as well. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt.