Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Atonment of Christ


  Because of the season coming up, Christ has been a focal point for me the last few weeks. While following the study program I talked about earlier, I started reading about Christ and the sacrifices he made for us. While I was doing this, I remembered one of my favorite scriptures and a quote that goes along with them. The scripture is Alma 7: 11-12. This scripture talks about what the Atonement is and what was done for us. The quote does the same, but I think it brings to light a few things that we could sometimes forget. Bruce C. Hafen once said, " Some Church members feel weighed down with discouragement about the circumstances of their personal lives, even when they are making sustained and admirable efforts. Frequently, these feelings of self-disappointment come not from wrongdoing, but from stresses and troubles for which we may not be fully to blame. The Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to these experiences because it applies to all of life. The Savior can wipe away all of our tears, after all we can do... The Savior’s atonement is thus portrayed as the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners." I think that in our normal everyday lives we sometimes forget that the Atonement is for all of us. It does not matter what we do wrong, and we do not even have to do anything wrong to make it have effect in our lives. All of our stresses, troubles, discouragements, inadequacies, and unfortunate circumstances were suffered for. Christ has already paid the price for them. All we have to do is follow Christ's example and endure to the end.

To read the full article you can go to: http://lds.org/ensign/1990/04/beauty-for-ashes-the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Finding a More Christ Centered Christmas

As missionaries we have been asked to follow a sort of study program for this holiday. But this is a great thing for everyone to do so I wanted to share it. Turn to your topical guide or Bible concordance, there you will find about 18 pages and referances about the life, role, and mission of Jesus Christ. Our challenge to you is to go through these, each day choosing a differant topic. Such as the birth of Christ, or the Atonement of Christ, or anything having to do with Jesus Christ. Take about 10-15 minutes a day to learn more about our Savior. Christ is the reason for this upcoming season, so we should be focusing on him. Doing this will not only give you added knowledge of Jesus Christ, but your spiritual wittness of him will be strengthened as well. I've only been doing this for a couple of weeks and I have had an increase in both. And share it with your friends.