2.213 These Things Are Given Unto You For Your Profit

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, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. My friends, I have absolutely loved reading from Doctrine and Covenants section 84, which is our reading this week. We're going to do one more from 84, actually.

And we're also reading Alma chapters 39-42, counsel from a loving father to a son who needs a little bit of direction in his life. We're going to finish off the week with a couple of verses from there, although we've already used one of our verses earlier in the week. In Doctrine and Covenants section 84, we've covered things like the oath and covenant of the priesthood this week.

We've talked about resonance and dissonance, finding light and truth. We've talked about forgiveness and the forgiveness that can come through bearing our testimonies. I wanted to take a look at the next kind of segment inside of Doctrine and Covenants section 84 and see what it means for us because there's a piece on the back end of it that really stood out to me this week.

See if we get into verses 64 to 72, we get quite a fascinating list of the signs and miracles that are going to follow those that believe. And that list is beautiful, honestly. It's quite amazing to read, especially when you consider the context of several of our living apostles and prophets today telling us that the miracles of the scriptures are only just the beginning of the miracles that we're going to witness going forward.

And so I read a list like this and I go, oh my goodness, what else could possibly be coming in our day and our opportunity to witness miracles? And then we get to verse 73, and it was; it just kind of gave me enough pause that I thought, you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to share some thoughts around that one. So in Doctrine and Covenants section 84, verse 73, which is our verse for today, after that list of miracles, it says, "But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither speak them before the world.

For these things are given unto you for your profit and for salvation." Now, isn't it interesting inside of there? One, the Lord's counsel to us that when miracles happen in our lives—and that list above, right, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, stopping the ears of the deaf—right? The first commandment and warning given unto us is that we don't boast and say, "Look, look at what I've been able to do for others." And that was an interesting one for me.

I think there have been times where I have helped others, maybe not in a miraculous sense by any means, but I helped others and then kind of hoped for that pedestal moment, right? That moment where somebody says, "Oh, Allen helped me with that!" And I go, "Yay for Allen!" But then the second piece is quite interesting as well: Neither speak them before the world. And this one gave me an interesting pause, and it made me actually reflect on a conversation I remember having as a, I don't know, maybe a youth with my mom.

Maybe I was 12 or 13. When she talked to me about the idea of secret and sacred and the difference between the two of them. And she shared, "You know, sometimes as you grow up, you're going to have sacred experiences that are so sacred that sharing them amongst those that wouldn't even understand really what you're sharing is kind of discouraged." And you think, "No, I want to share these things to prove that miracles are real or to prove that they really do happen." And yet our counsel here is interesting.

These miracles are for us. They're for our profit. They're to show that they came after our faith.

They're to help us with our own salvation. The counsel there, aside from boasting, is also the counsel to accept those with love and gratitude to our Heavenly Father and not speak them before the world because of their sacred nature. My friends, I don't think the miracles of the Lord are meant to be secret, but some of the things that I experienced in my life...

But I also feel like I follow this counsel a little bit and pause and don't necessarily share those publicly. I don't know, those are some of the thoughts that are going through my mind for today. I know the Lord is a God of miracles.

I believe in miracles today every bit as much as I believe in the miracles of the scriptures. And I believe they can happen, and they absolutely follow those who believe and make covenants with the Lord. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. May you and I be those that experience miracles. Cleave to the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. We'll see you next time.