MIGHTY CHANGE OF HEART

One of the residual gifts which comes from spending one’s life as a people watcher is that it opens some understanding about common passages we all traverse during our lives. I was reading in the 13th chapter of Mosiah where Abinadi was trying with what turned out to be a singular success to convince the Priest’s of Noah the difference between a religion based on performance and one based on becoming a new creature in Christ.

Now that I have once again demonstrated the looseness of my thought patterns, let me attempt to bring some clarity to the connection between the two sentences in my introductory paragraph.

I have observed that most of us spend a good portion of our lives conforming our actions to the boundaries which have been created by various authorities in our lives.

In the beginning of our journey these boundaries are made up of familial traditions passed on to children because of the parent tapes playing in their mother’s or father’s heads.

When we leave the confines of our home and are exposed to the physical, emotional and philosophical fences of school yards, we dramatically come to the realization that some of those home environment rules of conduct are not completely shared by those coming from other homes, nor from those who are designated as teachers or administrators. Many times we are left to practice one set of rules at school and another set at home.

Even when we enter the chambers of worship we find a divergence of value our peers and leaders place on various aspects of the religious experience. Far too many of us now find the practice of conditional behavior expanded into three distinct areas.

As we venture into the work-a-day world it becomes apparent that behavioral expectations whether written or unwritten often vary significantly from what we previously believed to be acceptable behavior. I think you understand by now this will mean we are constantly adjusting our actions to be appropriate to whatever arenas in which we find ourselves confined.

There comes a time when it should not surprise us to be involved in so many different situations with innumerable different rules and regulations that because of confusion and constant adaptations we find ourselves committing embarrassing mistakes.

Although it seems like he was only able to convince one Priest of Noah, a man named Alma, of the principle, Abinadi knew and taught that salvation could not come by adhering to a set of laws and statues. He taught them that in spite of all their strictly abiding by statues and performances they could never gain salvation without the Atonement of Jesus the Christ.

I am well aware that without the Atonement of Jesus the Christ all the purposes of existence would be meaningless, but I also believe that just as trying to conform to all of the norms of the societal groups in which we find ourselves ultimately will cause most of us to throw our hands in the air and exclaim, forget about trying to please all people in all places, and turn inwardly to discover a way of behaving which makes us feel peaceful, comfortable and calm. Pure religion, besides being totally dependent on the Grace and Mercy of God, ultimately comes upon one when they experience a mighty change of heart. (Alma 5:11-14)

Abinadi did not diminish the need for the Law of Moses to be a schoolmaster which leads us to the good news the Savior would teach, but he well understood that if we abide by the expectations of the outward ordinances alone the inner vessel could never be made clean. We must go beyond being doer’s of the word and become the word.

The scripture make it abundantly clear the heart is a symbol of the traditional center from which all goodness proceeds. It also becomes apparent that if our heart is not right our actions will count as naught. (Joseph Smith – History 19)

When Paul wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians it seems they had fallen into the trap of believing that if they lived within the fences of the Law of Moses that salvation was assured. In the third chapter of that book we find him saying that the laws written upon stone could not bring salvation, but they must be written upon the fleshy parts of the heart, and that if that we tried to live correctly by the performance of law alone we would find our eyes covered with a veil which would hide understanding.

Most of us sooner or later find we fall far short of happiness by trying to practice perfect performance of the variety of situational societal expectations and only discover true living when we follow the comforting whisperings of the Holy Spirit as he communes with our heart. There should come a time for all of us when the fences put around us in our homes, school yards, cathedrals and work places must yield to the conversion which happens when we experience that mighty change in our hearts.

The more I ponder upon the principles of performance of laws and that of having a mighty change of heart, I become more convinced that performance may never lead to having a pure heart, but having a pure heart will cause us to correctly perform.

A few verses to ponder in connection with this Thought for a Sabbath day.

3 Nephi 12: 8 And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

3 Nephi 13: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 8: 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Luke 24: 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Romans 8: 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

1 Peter 3: 3, 4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY