My journey through the New Testament brings me this week to the Holy Ghost (the fact that it was an assignment option may or may not have helped sway my intrest peak this week.
The longer I live, the more I discover that I can't to do this whole life thing on my own. There are so many pressures from the world. Family, work, school, and activity in the gospel. All of these things have a tendency to scrape our metephorical butter thinly over the top of some whole wheat metephorical toast (because it's hard to butter real toast with metephorical butter)
Sometimes this world can be a cold lonely place...or it can seem like it anyway. Christ tells us that if we love Him and keep the commandments, then the Holy Ghost will ever be with us. Why is this important, why would something that we can not use our natural senses to percieve bring someone comfort? Christ answers this question too. In John 14 he tells us this: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (emphis added)
I know that I forget things all the time, so just having someone (whether I can see them or not) is really actually very comforting that as long as I'm doing my best, that I will not forget anything very important. We will be reminded of Christ, help us repent of our sins, and he will guide us where we need to go.
These are all really wonderful tools that we have been given, but they don't come without doing somethings that God has required of us. Christ told the deciples that they must testify of Christ, be physically seperated from Him, keep the commandments, love the Savior, pray in faith, then live with that faith instead of fear.
To me the Holy Ghost has been a never failing guide and friend. I have seen in my life where He lifts my capacities mentally, physically, and spiritually to do things that I alone could not accomplish if I had been left to my own devices. Also in addition to that and perhaps partially because of that, there has been more light and fullness to my life. In essance, because I have the Holy Ghost with me, I am able to be more and more like my Savior Jesus Christ, and am able to more fully walk in His footprints.
So, to return to the question that peaked my intrest as I read this week (especially in John), "how does the Holy Ghost help us with our mission here?" I don't just mean when I say "mission" when one leaves one's home for a period of time to preach and share the gospel that Christ has shared with us, I mean the mission that each of us as come to this earth to fulfill.
Let's take a look at the Apostles. How were they helped in the remainder of their lives? They had lived with the Savior, and not only grown to love Christ as their Savior, but as a dear friend, and their strength. The Holy Ghost was able to remind them of that strength as they suffered persecution, and the taxing task to keep the purity of the gospel across the map, fighting tradition and misunderstanding and inturpritation of the ideas of man. They were taught how to run the church, given inspirition as they wrote epistles to individuals and groups of members of Christ's followers. Ultimatley, they were given the strength to look pain, fear, temptation and even death in the face, and still choose the Savior and His teachings.
I can not recall a major moment in my life where the Holy Ghost has touched me in such a powerful way as to forever sear the memory into my mind, however, the warmth of the constant nudgings, adjustings, and loving reminders help me to know that He is there. He gives me, and others "hunches", just plain intuition that turns to be a blessing. I will think of a friend and want to call them, so I do and they just needed someone to say hello, or something small like that. Those small things end up meaning the world to me though, and they help me to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is real, and that they have done and are doing everything to help me return to them.
You know, when we look at it all. We aren't required to do a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment