Friday, April 23, 2021

The Doctrine of Christ—2 Nephi 31:14-16

So, you’ve had that mighty change and now you’re good, right? Nope, that mighty change is just the beginning of a journey, and it is a journey that should be taken very seriously: 

14 But, behold, my beloved brethren, thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying: After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yea, even with the tongue of angels, and after this should deny me, it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.

Once again, I am going to recommend another blogpost, but here I will say that the long journey we embark upon will afford us new information about God. We will get to know him better, and discipleship will require us to emulate him as our knowledge of him increases. When we are given more knowledge, we are accountable for our reconciliation to that knowledge or our lack of reconciliation. While this is no small matter, it shouldn’t scare us. Continued submission to the knowledge that we receive is “enduring to the end,” and it is the only way to be saved:

15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.

Salvation demands that we do more than just profess a belief in Christ. It demands more than our adoration of him. Did Christ only profess to believe in the Father or did he actually do his will? How can we say that we are following Christ if we are not as willing to do the will of Father as he is? Christ showed us the way to obtain salvation. It is to follow his example—to submit to and do the will of the Father in all things to the end.