What life lessons can I take from this chapter?
What does this chapter teach me about my Savior?
How can I apply what I've learned this week?
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Reread Vs. 11 & 14-15. Why do you think it's so important to our eternal progression to develop a forgiving heart? When someone has hurt or offended you, what are some things you can do to actively and deliberately overcome negative feelings and truly forgive the individual?
Reread Vs. 24. "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." What examples have you seen in your life that illustrate this principle?
Reread Vs. 33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." What are "all these things" for you in your life? Why is it important to put the Kingdom of God before all other things?
1. Through my life experience, which is short compared to many, I have come to realize that growing a forgiving heart is perhaps one of the most important works we can do for our salvation. It takes complete faith in the Savior to know that He can heal you when you have been mistreated, and it takes complete faith to not judge another soul who has mistreated us. Forgiveness requires complete faith in serious circumstances, and that is what we came here to do... demonstrate our faith in our Savior, who can heal us and who loves our enemies as much as he loves us.
ReplyDelete2. There have been times in my life when I thought I was serving God, yet I felt miserable. I have come to discover that I take the commandments for granted. For instance, thou shalt have no other gods before me... I can logically say, "no, I don't!" but, deep inside of me, I am at times more worried about how my husband, or mother, think of me than I am about what God thinks of me... and that makes me miserable. I know I have spent much of my life as a member thinking I was on one side of the fence, but really I have been teetering between fearing man and God. To fear God alone... and not man is the path to peace. That is my experience anyway. And sometimes to do so, we risk abandonment, emotional detachment of loved ones or judgments of our fellow man. Yet, we are entitled to the peace of the Spirit and are serving the one true God. Another thought; the scripture uses the word SERVE. I think many times we are following both God and mammon with one foot in the world and one foot in the church, but to SERVE God, we have to be fully devoted to Him and none else. I like the scripture in Rev 3:16, " I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because ye are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hotl I will spew thee out of my mouth." He wants us to have an eye single... then our whole bodies will be filled with light!
3. I believe "all these things" is referring to security. Raiment, food, drink... I believe the Lord is saying, "have faith in me! I WILL provide for you! Stop worrying so much" That if we first put our FAITH in Him, then he will bless us to feel secure. We have a tendency to want to create our own securities. To control our security. Why? Fear. But, we should not be motivated by fear, we should be trusting in faith... knowing that our Father (and He truly does) LOVES us and WILL take care of us. We don't need to get our finances in order and THEN pay tithe. We pay tithe, and have faith that the Lord will enable us to get our finances in order.
I'm so grateful for His love. He is so merciful and tender and kind to us. If only we were more acquainted with that love.