Tuesday, April 7, 2009

1 Nephi 18:4

In verse 4, we read that Nephi and his brothers finally finished the boat that would take them on their long journey across the ocean. At this time, I'm not sure if Laman and Lemuel knew how long this would take and what trials they would face along the way. I say this because the verse notes that Laman and Lemuel again humbled themselves before the Lord. However, as we will see later on, this does not last. As we read the story of Lehi's family's journey through the wilderness, we want Laman and Lemuel to be humble and repentant. But, alas, they are never truly repentant. To truly be repentant, one must make the change from doing evil to doing good, and not hold on to their favorite sins. Some are able to suppress these for periods of time, but when something happens like they are tempted or too much time passes, they slip up and fall again. For Laman and Lemuel, when "the goin' gets tough," they rebel and don't make the "tough get goin'." The father of Lamoni, in the Book of Mormon, puts it this way (Alma 22:18):

"18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day...(emphasis added)"

Here we see that the father of Lamoni is willing to give away all his sins and his desire to sin, to know God. This is repentance.

Here is a talk that discusses the whole idea in more detail and has been adopted by our stake as a core document:

The Meaning of Repentance by Theodore M. Burton

2 comments:

Molly said...

Make sure you check out our blog on Baby!! It's her birthday ya know!

sdbroder said...

Thanks, I'll do it.