2.86 Because of Pride They are Puffed Up

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 am so grateful that this week, Doctrine and Covenants, our reading is a little bit shorter, quite honestly.

Although I have enjoyed Doctrine and Covenants sections 27 and 28, it gives us a little bit of time to dive into some of my favorite parts of 2 Nephi. And that is in 2 Nephi chapters 28 to 30. There are some powerful testimonies from Nephi inside of chapters 28 through 32.

We won't quite finish 2nd Nephi yet. That will come next week inside of chapter 33. But one of the things I love about 2nd Nephi 28 and the chapters that surround it is Nephi is seeing our day.

And I love that idea because think about it. I think we've used this before, but if you were in a maze and somebody could see the way to get out of the maze, Jeffrey R Holland Russell M Nelson Dallin H Oaks Henry B Eyring Dieter F Uchtdorf Like Nephi is trying to be like Hey I can see your day and here some warnings to be worried about Here some warnings to be aware of Here some warnings to help you stay on the right path And that what I love about it So our verse for today is going to come from second Nephi chapter 28 and it verse 12 It says inside of this because of pride and because of false teachers and false doctrine their churches have become corrupted and their churches The Bible says that the people of the world are lifted up. Because of pride, they are puffed up.

Now, this is an interesting point of view here because Nephi is describing these as churches. I might extend this interpretation just a little bit because Nephi's version of what he's seeing in terms of churches would be different today than it was for him. I'm going to extend this just a little bit and say that Nephi saw our day and he saw different schools of thought.

He saw groups of people getting together, following certain teachers and following certain doctrines. And I would even interpret that a little bit today. I get that I'm using some license here, interpretive license, but I would interpret that as what we would call influencers today.

Now, influencers is a weird word, right? It came up out of the podcast world, the radio world, the YouTube world, the social media world, right? And if you have this following, you have these influencers, right?

But what are these influencers teaching? Where does their doctrine come from? What Nephi is trying to tell us here is a lot of these are based on pride, false teachers, and false doctrine I love personal growth I love growing personally And that means I go to events And I found myself in events before Let me just give you a couple quick examples of things that I heard that I have to listen to And like Nephi says I have to be aware of this I have to see this I have to decide what it means for me I want to grow but I want to grow closer to Jesus Christ as I grow I want to grow personally but I want to make sure I do it in alignment with Jesus Christ and his teachings So here's a couple that I've been aware of.

Have you ever heard this one? You are perfect just the way you are. Now that sounds beautiful and amazing until you think into it and go, wait a second, didn't President Nelson tell us that we should be focusing on repenting daily?

If we're perfect just the way we are, we can reject repentance. We don't need it because we're perfect just the way we are. I know I'm not perfect the way I am.

That's why I'm trying to follow President Nelson's advice. I'm trying to repent daily and become more like Jesus Christ, but we hear that often. It's on t-shirts, it's on walls, it's on billboards, and it's just not true.

Let me give you just one other one. Nobody's going to save you. You must save yourself.

That one's a really interesting one because I get what it's trying to say. It's trying to get you off the couch and get you out and moving and going after your dreams. And yet at the same time, scripturally, it says there's no other name or means by which we're saved, but by Jesus Christ.

I'm not going to become my own savior. I want to turn towards Jesus Christ as my savior. So my friends Nephi sees our day and he gives us a fair warning He says beware of these Look for pride Look for false teachers Look for false doctrine Look at what happens with these churches They are lifted up because of pride and because of that they puffed up You and I with the Lord help can stay close to Jesus Christ Let's grow side by side with Him.

As we choose paths to walk along, let's walk along the covenant path. As we find churches and schools of thought with influencers, let's find those that encourage us to increase our relationship with Jesus Christ. To increase our relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Jesus Christ's true and living church on the earth today. Let's find influencers that encourage us to follow the teachings of a living prophet of God. Those are the influencers.

That's the church that we're seeking to be part of. That's the world I want to be in and I'm grateful that Nephi has given us a warning sign to see and help us out in the maze of life today. That's all for today my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Rejoice, cleave unto the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. For more information visit www.fema.org