2.127 Apply Your Hearts to Understanding

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. Picture this: you're brought before the tribunal of the highest court in your country. The accusation: you being a follower of Christ.

That's the image that recently our bishop imposed upon our minds as he bore testimony of being a follower of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what I want to dive into today as we've been talking about this inside of Doctrine and Covenants section 45, as well as Mosiah chapters 12 through 16 this week. Now, I do need to do a quick congratulations for all of us as we have passed the 33% mark.

We are more than a third of the way through both the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants at the same time. So if you've been following along here, congratulations because you are doing amazing. Now let's get back to our scene.

We talked yesterday about the struggle around us and how we can be not troubled. Or at least, the commandment of the Lord to be not troubled. Today, let's shift gears over to Mosiah for just a second.

Because what I just said at the beginning of this episode is exactly what happened to Abinadi. He's captured, he's taken in front of the king, and there, what is he supposed to do? First of all, big emphasis on Mosiah chapter 12, verse 19.

We did do that last year, so I promised not to do it on past seasons and repeat the verses. So we're not going to do that same verse, although you will see that he stands boldly in front of all those that are accusing him. He was not troubled.

But I think we get a secret here as to what helped him not be troubled. And that's our verse for today in Mosiah chapter 12, verse 27. Verse 27: This is Abinadi speaking to these priests that are questioning him.

And he says, "Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise. Therefore, what teach ye this people?" Now, there is some bold inside of that, but the point that I want to bring inside of this is for each of us. The beginning here, Abinadi says, "Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding." This week, as you're sitting down and you're looking at the Light of Christ in your life, I hope you're continuing that.

I love that exercise and I'm loving it through the week. I hope you're enjoying it as well. I feel like I'm doing a little bit of what Abinadi is talking about here.

I'm applying my heart to understanding. What does that mean for you in your scripture study? Are you reading the scriptures because it's a checklist thing that needs to happen?

Or perhaps you're just reading a verse a day because you're supposed to read a verse a day and that's the thing you're supposed to do? Or is this about applying your heart to understanding the will of the Lord? I think as we get further down into our week, our list of ways that we see the Light of Christ in our life is going to start to change.

I think it's going to start to change because we are applying our hearts to understanding the promptings of the Spirit. We are applying our hearts to understanding the ways that Christ shows up in our lives. It's so easy for us to get caught up in the struggles of the week, the struggles of the day, the challenges we face, all the ways things are going wrong.

Here is an opportunity for us to apply our hearts to understanding what the Lord would have us see. And that is truly a blessing that we can take from Abinadi's lesson, that we can take from Doctrine and Covenants section 45, and apply it into our lives here and now, and truly increase our own savor as savory salt. 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.