Two Reflections

To Fear or Not to Fear

19 April

Paul said, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”  Hebrews 12:28. 

Adam said, “. . . I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:10

A speaker in Church calls the senior missionaries the “recovery team.”  He told a story about how he was “recovered” back into the Church years ago and how thankful he is because of the blessings activity in the Church have brought to him and his family. 

Knowing that some people do return does give us missionaries hope.  That is why we go out day after day trying to find the lost sheep and are willing to be rejected time and again with words such as, “I want nothing further to do with contact from the Church,” or “I was offended by _______(whatever it was) and quit attending.”  Perhaps some people are shutting the door to future joy in the eternities.   I hope not.

“I’m having my kitchen redone, give me a ring in a fortnight,” she says.  We call her back in a fortnight and she says, “I’m having my bathroom re-tiled, give me more than a fortnight before you call me back.”  How many fortnights do we have to procrastinate our repentance?

All the excuses I’ve used over the years are going to sound quite ridiculous and feeble when Heavenly Father asks me for the accounting of my faithfulness to Him. 

When He mentions that we should “fear” Him, it often means to honor, respect, worship, and to hold in awe and reverence, but sometimes fear in the sense of being afraid of a certain outcome is usually a motivating factor to improve for most people. Look at obedience training for our dogs (smile).  

Reflecting on fear, when I have a lax attitude about keeping His commandments, I DO have cause to fear as to the outcome of my life for all of eternity.  We are reminded in the scriptures, though, that a person striving to live the very best he or she can should not fear God, for He looks upon the heart, desires, intentions, and works of each one and rewards accordingly.  A little or a lot of fear of God (in the context of either of the definitions mentioned above) is appropriate, depending on the circumstances of one’s chosen path in life.

Fortunately, we know, through repentance and Christ’s Atonement, our sins of commission or omission can be forgiven.  That is why He wants everyone in the world to know of His wonderful gift-- so we will not fear-- because He is always there beside us with His arms open wide.   

A Shocking Family Home Evening

A young woman from Spain told us, in a very animated and interesting way, a story of a lesson she learned when she was six years old.  Her father came home and said to the family, “Quick, we need to leave our home in five minutes!  Hurry and gather everything you need because we cannot come back home again.” Go where?   She ran to her bedroom with a large plastic sack into which she tried to put all of her ponies and cabbage patch dolls.  He father said there was no room for the large sack.  She related that she ran to the car and had managed to have only one small box of precious possessions, which she placed in her lap. At this point, she was very sad and hated her father. 

Then, the father put the keys in the ignition to drive off, and turned to the family to ask them how they were feeling.  After the upset family discussed this experience, the father explained that is how Lehi’s family felt when he told them they had to leave all of their riches and a comfortable home and go away from Jerusalem because it was going to be destroyed.

She went on to say that we should all stop to count our blessings every day and to remember, no matter where we are, someone is praying for us.  She challenged us to be a blessing to everyone.

As a side note, another speaker said we need to live for more than time only.

There are exceptional speakers of all ages sharing such great gospel tidbits and teachings every Sunday.  Attending Church is like getting in on the best sought after show in town.  The tickets are free!