3.123 The Laws Lead Us To The Lord

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

What is it that helps you choose to follow the commandments of the Lord, or what is it that makes you choose not to? That's been stewing in my mind as we're reading through our Exodus and Leviticus chapters here. As we see such a detailed description here of the Law of Moses.

We see all of these intricate details, and we find out and learn through the Book of Mormon that those laws were given to the people because they wanted all of the details, right? They were stiff-necked, actually, as Abinadi says. Like the Lord needed to say, "Hey, you got to do all these things here." But it's got me pondering on what is it today that you choose to follow the Lord in?

Where did your motivation to follow the Lord come from? First, for today, I know we were there about two weeks ago or so, but we're going to head back to Mosiah chapter 13, inside of Abinadi's teachings. This is further down in the chapter than we shared a few weeks ago.

And he says this in reference, I believe, to this area of the Old Testament that we've been studying. He says, "And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses." My friends, when we have laws, or today, maybe we don't consider them necessarily laws, but when we have the commandments given to us by the Lord, what is it that draws you to follow them? I wanted to do kind of a shout-out example to my daughters here.

This is a shout-out to them. This isn't meant to be from any sort of position of pride or bragging; this is from a position of observation as a parent. I've got a 13-year-old as of this recording.

I've got a 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, an 18-year-old, and a 21-year-old. All daughters. I think I've talked about that before in terms of total.

I know I've talked about all my daughters over the years here. But there's something that absolutely makes me admire the choices that they make, and it comes on a simple Sunday morning. All of my children now, you know, teens, and now one past the teenage years, but I know how many people talk about teenagers, and they talk about Sunday morning as this incredible, laborious adventure of trying to get your teens out of bed for church.

And if you have that struggle, bless you, keep going, keep up the good fight. But I have to say, over the years, I think I can remember maybe two times over all of the years of all my daughters' teenage years that I've needed to go in and see if they're going to wake up and come to church. I haven't set any sort of alarms for the girls.

My wife and I, right, we don't set family alarms to wake up Sunday morning. We basically say goodnight the night before, and then the girls get up at different times to—some of them get up earlier to do their hair, or to shower, or to put their makeup on, or whatever it is—but we're never pulling them out of bed. Now, how am I going to connect this to Mosiah and then connect it to Exodus?

My friends, this idea that the laws are our road to salvation. Sometimes we get bogged down and just feel like we have to do the things. I have to do this because I have to, and I have to do that because I have to.

I have to go to church because I'm supposed to. I have to pay my tithing because I'm supposed to. My friends, the Lord has set the path for us as a reminder of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

It is to keep that first and foremost in our minds so that as we follow those commandments, we can have the Spirit with us, and as we have the Spirit with us, hopefully, become more like our Heavenly Father and Christ. It is in that internal decision-making that we find the greatest power, rather than that external peace. And so, while we've been going through this detailed adventure of the laws of the children of Israel, Abinadi helps us remember here in Mosiah that it's not about the laws.

Have fun watching us choose to follow them or not. Those commandments are there to ultimately see if each one of us will choose ourselves to find joy in the journey of following the commandments of our Lord and becoming more like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I'm grateful to the example of my daughters, to me, of what it looks like to make decisions internally, decide what's important to you, and then go after those decisions.

It's certainly something that I could see difficulty, right? Especially through those teenage years. I know there were plenty of times my mom needed to come and wake me up through those years.

And yet, in admiration, I could watch my girls get up and choose to do so on their own. My friends, may we all choose to follow the laws the Lord has given us, and may we benefit and be blessed from doing so. That is all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.