2.239 From Grace To Grace

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. Let's talk about John today. I know this is not a New Testament episode.

We haven't even been discussing the New Testament, but let's take a little look at what John brings to the Doctrine and Covenants. We're reading this week Doctrine and Covenants section 93, as well as Alma chapters 57 through 62. We're going to have an understanding of all of John's records and his story.

But then the Lord talks directly about what John bare record of. And inside of it, we see an interesting verse that becomes quite repetitive several times throughout Doctrine and Covenants 93. I'm not going to give you the verse of the first time it shows up.

It showed up one or two times before this, but we're going to look today at Doctrine and Covenants section 93, verse 13. John, talking about him witnessing Jesus Christ. And he says this in verse 13.

It's very short. He says, "Jesus Christ had not received a fullness at first." Did you catch what he said there? Jesus Christ had not received a fullness at first.

A lot of times I think we think of Jesus Christ as our Savior and this perfect being, and yet he had to go through the human condition, and that required him to receive things from grace to grace, meaning step by step. He also had to go through the development process in order to receive the fullness that the Lord or that his Heavenly Father had for him. This is so cool because while many people see Jesus Christ as the example of perfection, I like to read this verse and the verses inside of Doctrine and Covenants 93, and realize that Jesus Christ is an example of becoming perfected.

You see it through him and his example that we can see from grace to grace working. It's through him that we can see the process of taking steps towards our Heavenly Father. We watch it through the life of Jesus Christ, and by emulating that, we too can receive a fullness from our Heavenly Father.

I love that promise because it makes us quite unique as Latter-day Saints. It puts us in a position a lot of times people will look down on the Church's view that we can seek to be perfected and to ultimately become like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are. And yet here we're given not just the template, but the encouragement from the Lord that this can happen grace for grace.

That this can happen step by step until we ultimately receive a fullness. And Doctrine and Covenants 93 is very clear that that fullness is possible for us. I love this one because it reminds me that, you know, some days when I don't feel like I'm taking steps towards the Lord, I'm going to turn and face him.

And if that step is a tiptoe, then I'm going to keep working for that. A lot of times we're told in the self-help world that we've got to take big, bold steps, or we have to move quickly, or we have to take action now. And while there are times and places for those things, I think the biggest key is actually where we're facing.

Can we move toward the Lord today and every day, regardless of the size of the step? Maybe there's some days where I can take big steps towards Jesus Christ, but maybe there's other days where I just need to turn to Him, and I might even crawl a little bit because of the difficulty of the burden or the day. I love that we are reminded here and taught here doctrinally that John's testimony of Jesus Christ is that he had not received a fullness at first, nor are we expected to get it all figured out right now.

Instead, he continued from grace to grace until he received a fullness, and that fullness is available to you and to me as well. That is a motivating thought for me. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave into the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.