2.129 The Lord Shall Be in Their Midst

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 have so enjoyed our reading of Doctrine and Covenants section 45 through this week, and I hope that you are continuing your light of Christ list in your life.

I love doing this. This one's been a great one. This might actually continue forward beyond this week, actually.

I got a—I'll be honest, your reading this week Doctrine and Covenants section 45 as well as Mosiah chapters 12 through 16. We are going to get more into Abinadi's story, but first one more thought from Doctrine and Covenants section 45. It comes in verse 59, only a couple of verses from yesterday's.

And the reason for that is it's describing this time when Christ is going to be on the earth. And we have this interesting image that I thought, you know what, I got to share a thought about that. It comes in verse 59, and it says this: "For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver." Now, what is it about this verse that strikes me as kind of interesting as I thought into this?

How do we prepare to have that type of experience in our lives? The Lord in our midst and his glory around us. Now, first of all, that's awesome, right?

I'm excited for that day. But it occurred to me that, my friends, we can prepare for this now. Having the Holy Ghost in our lives, guiding us, as we talked about yesterday, it being there as a regular guide is preparing us to be in the midst of the Lord.

So how do we prepare for that day when he comes? We start doing it now. And as I thought about this in my own life, I saw, you know, instances—and this is, I'm not trying to be any sort of, there's no judgment inside of these comments.

These are just observations as I've seen this, but you know, the missionaries that are most prepared to live mission rules as they go on a mission are missionaries that have had rules inside of their homes. I see people that are most prepared to go into the temple for the first time and, you know, have the endowments and take upon them those covenants and promises. Are those that already kind of have a choice of clothing in a way that's going to allow temple garments to be put on and continue wearing their clothing.

When the Lord comes, those that are going to be able to live in his midst and accept that as our king and our lawgiver are those that are already seeing Jesus Christ as king and lawgiver. So I am looking forward to that day to have him constantly in our presence and his glory around us. But it's a chance for us to sit down and say, "Wait a second, today, am I living a life that allows the Lord to be in my midst now?" Am I doing the things that I would do if he were here next to me?

And that's a high law to live and it's a law that we're all striving for. Are we going to do it perfectly? Absolutely not.

We've talked extensively in these podcast episodes about the role that repentance and forgiveness play in our lives. What an amazing blessing for that, because we're not going to do it perfectly, but we do have an opportunity. Whether we're the kids right now, whether we're the parents right now, whether we're grandparents right now, we have an opportunity to say, "If the Lord were in our midst right now, what would we be doing?" What would we be saying?

How would we be acting? How would we use our communication? What would we use our social media posts for?

How would we interact in text messages or on phone calls? These are opportunities to put the lens of the Lord in our midst right here, right now so that on the day that he comes and, going forward, as he lives amongst us, we can see him, be part of the glory around us, and accept him as our king and our lawgiver. It won't be unfamiliar if we prepare now.

I love that perspective and opportunity to try to see my life right now as if the Lord is in my midst here and now. By doing so, I hope that I can show the Lord that I am putting oil in my lamp, that I am preparing for His day. And when he comes, I will gladly be excited for the day that I can call him King and Lawgiver.

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.

We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye.