THE STRAIT AND NARROW PATH

 

Peace to Your Heart by Greg Collins

“I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is no. The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our sins will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins.

“Justice is a law of balance and order, and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his. But if we decline the Saviour’s invitation to let Him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance. Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life.

“By analogy, the criminals who fill our prisons are not necessarily “rehabilitated” when they pay their debt to society by serving a fixed number of years. The payment of that debt may satisfy our sense of retribution, but only a positive process of character change can rehabilitate a lawbreaker.

“The doctrines of mercy and repentance are rehabilitative, not retributive, in nature. The Saviour asks for our repentance not merely to compensate him for paying our debt to justice, but also as a way of inducing us to undergo the process of development that will make our nature divine, giving us the capacity to live the celestial law. The “natural man” will remain an enemy to God forever – even after paying for his own sins – unless he also “becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child.” (Mosiah 3:19)

“As King Benjamin here suggests, the Atonement does more than pay for our sins. It is also the agent through which we develop a saintly nature. When the Saviour accepts our repentance and blesses us with his mercy, he restores our spiritual balance from a negative position to a neutral position.

“This complete process requires active faith, changes in our lives, and baptism or the meaningful renewal of baptismal covenants. But when we have taken these sometimes arduous steps, we are then only ready to enter the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:17-18)

-          Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Hear – Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences, p 7,8

 

A river of peace floods my mortal being;

I struggle to contain such a merciful gift.

With grace You enlarge

the sparse capacity of my heart

And righteousness moves within me

as the waves of the sea.

 

Eternal hope floods my mortal being

And brings me to Thee;

I love You more dearly;

I serve you more freely;

I become what I alone could never be.

SACRED PROMISE

 

Rescue Me by Yongsung Kim

You took my soul and rescued me

From the river of my tears

 And promised I’ll be more than I could be

If I surrender all my fears;

Your sacred promise like a flame of hope

Locked in my heart these many years.

 

-     Cathryne Allen

GARMENTS OF SALVATION

 

Robe of Righteousness by Phil McKay

 

In speaking of the physical restoration of Zion in the last days, Isaiah used the marriage figure to depict the covenant between the Lord and His people. Zion is a “bride” adorned with pearls who awaits her “husband”, Jesus Christ. It’s a beautiful depiction of the joy awaiting the saints of the latter-days (see The Old Testament Student Manual Book 2, p 207):

 

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

 

A prophet who used the imagery of the ‘garments of salvation’ on a more personal level is Nephi of the Book of Mormon. Nephi leaves me breathless when I read his lamentation over his humanity and his pleading that the “gates of hell be shut continually before him” so that he may have a broken heart and a contrite spirit and “walk in the path of the low valley….” (2 Nephi 4:32). What makes it heart rending is that Nephi was an incredibly righteous man. Anyone who laments over their humanity though, which diverts one’s course of righteousness, would relate to Nephi’s heartfelt remorse for his sins and imperfections.

 

What he said next, however, is what tugs at my heart. Nephi was an ardent admirer of Isaiah and he referred to him simply as ‘the prophet’. He quoted Isaiah’s reference to ‘the robe of righteousness’ in the very next verse and he did so with great meaning and reason:

 

"Oh Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! ......Oh Lord, I have trusted in thee and I will trust in thee forever.........I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God."    (2 Nephi 4:33,35)

 

And this is the reason why Nephi appealed to God for His ‘robe of righteousness’. Lehi, his father was a successful and rich merchant and the family lived on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Living and trading so close to the desert means the family would have been accustomed to Bedouin’s way of life. Nephi would have been very familiar with the significance of ‘the robe’:

 

"In Arabic culture, when a person is running away, he runs to the tent of any great sheikh he can find. He goes in and kneels down before the sheikh and says, 'I am thy suppliant'. The sheikh is then obligated to put his caftan over his katef which is the same as shoulder - to put the hem of his garment over his shoulder and say, 'Ahlan wa-sahlan wa-marhaban'. This is your tent, this is your family'....He says, 'We'll make a place for you'. Then the lord or the chief is under obligation to defend you against the enemies that are chasing you. You are now under his protection, and he will protect you."  - Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1. (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies), p. 252

 

The significance of ‘the robe’ was well known throughout the ancient Near East. Cast your mind back to Jesus’ time when the woman from Capernaum who had suffered for 12 years with 'an issue of blood' understood this concept too. She had spent everything she had on treatments that had been fruitless and had brought her no relief from her chronic condition. Then there came a ray of hope. She had heard of Jesus whom many proclaimed to be the Messiah who spoke with authority and when He spoke people were healed.

 

The possibility of a healing worked in her to the point of complete faith that this man was her only hope. When she pressed through the crowds, however, she did not pat the Messiah on His back, she descended to the hem of his robe for the point of contact to release her faith for a miracle in her life. The touch needed, the robe crucial, for attached to the robe of His garment were tassels which represented the word of God (Numbers 15:37-41) and the authority of Yeshua whose divinity she was acknowledging.

 

One would think this sacred act of faith is sufficient for a faith promoting story but this story teaches us about more than faith on behalf of this woman. This story teaches us about the protective nature of the Lord's robe of righteousness. According to the Levitical law it was forbidden for this woman to be in public for she was considered socially unclean (Lev. 15:25). The Saviour knew that she was healed when she touched His robe and she knew that she was healed but nobody else would have known had He not made her faith known to the gathered crowd. How else could she have proved her healing to those who would have to proclaim her socially clean? The Saviour knew this and announced her cleanliness amidst many witnesses. That’s protection of His robe of righteousness.

 

Another wonderful example. In the country of the Gadarenes there was a man who was beset by a legion of devils who lived in tombs and cried night and day, cutting himself with stones (Mark 5:1-5). The Gospel of Luke tells us this man wore no clothes (Luke 8:27). In scripture, to be naked is to have your sins, vulnerabilities and weaknesses exposed. When all Jewish men wore robes and prayer shawls with tassels which reminded them of God, the legions of devils residing in this man must have wanted his nakedness exposed to signify lack of God's protection from his sins.

 

The idea of having our sins and vulnerabilities enfolded in the Saviour's robes, which can offer us protection from the same, is seen when John the Baptist rebuked the Pharisses and Sadduccees, warning them: "If ye receive not me, ye receive not him of whom I am sent to bear record; and for your sins ye have no cloak" (JST Matthew 3:34). The possessed man was not only freed from devil possession but was given protection from his sins by His robe of righteousness as he sat, fully clothed, in his right mind, at the feet of the Saviour (Luke 8:35).

 

The robe of righteousness exists for the spiritually astute of this day also. We might not have visual reminders of God’s protection, but it is there for the asking every time we kneel in prayer before His throne…..

SALVATION'S FLAME

 

Guiding Light by Annie Henrie Nader

You sowed Your truth

Deep within my heart;

So deep, the enemy cannot

Sever us apart.

You bid me nurture the seeds of faith

So you can forever cherish my name,

You are my keeper of salvation’s flame.

 

-      CATHRYNE ALLEN 

BEAUTY AMIDST THE ASHES

 

Jesus Christ and the Crown of Thorns by Edit Voros

This event of the Saviour’s ministry would have to have been the lowest point in his mortal life. Having returned form 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, having triumphantly overcome the temptations tailored to His godship, the Saviour returned to Galilee where ‘the fame of him went through the whole region’ as He taught in their synagogues (Luke 4:13-15).

When He came to Nazareth on Sabbath day, He proclaimed His divinity in the synagogue, through the words of Isaiah:

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning……..” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

And then the words which sealed his fate: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:21)

What followed makes you want to weep: “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things were filled with wrath. And rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.” (Luke 4:28,29)

Just as the Jews denied Jesus’ divinity in their day, we in our day sometimes deny His Atonement, not fully understanding its power and for what it was given:

“We need to understand the Atonement more fully than we do, both because outsiders may misperceive our doctrine and because we may view the Atonement too narrowly in our own lives. For example, Newsweek magazine has stated: “Unlike orthodox Christians, Mormons believe that men are born free of sin and earn their way to godhood by the proper exercise of free will, rather than through the grace of Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus’ suffering and death in the Mormon view…do not atone for the sins of others.” (Newsweek, 1 Sept 1980, p 68)

“It disturbs me that Newsweek would miss the point of our core doctrine, even though the article purported not to summarize our theology but to report what Latter-day Saints actually believe. It is unfortunate when we convey incorrect ideas to others; but it is worse when we by our limited doctrinal understanding, deny ourselves the reassurance and guidance we may desperately need at pivotal moments in our lives.”  (Bruce C. Hafen, Beauty for Ashes: The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign April 1990)

Elder Hafen goes on to say that according to Isaiah’s definition of the Saviour’s role, His Atonement is not only the healing power for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners but for all who need relief from weaknesses, shortcomings, disappointment, harmful effects from our ignorance, neglect, sickness, and heartbreaks that form the deliberate fabric of mortal life. The Atonement’s effects are meant not only for the Judgment Day but for here and now. It is a rich source of strength to deal productively with difficulties of mortal life. It is, in essence, beauty amidst the ashes of mortality.

The key to activating the power of Atonement in our lives is our understanding of grace. Nephi wrote, “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23). Christendom at large believes more in grace than in the second part of the process whilst some Latter-Day Saints tend to focus too much on it. Being saved by grace alone in spite of whatever we may do, tends to deny free will,” implying that God will elect those he will save without regard to their conduct or even their preference.” (see Elder Hafen’s quoted article).

Those who believe in being saved by grace alone tend to exonerate themselves from any wrongdoing while those who focus on their good works only as a means of salvation often drop out of the race believing the path to eternal life is just too hard.

“We need grace both to overcome sinful weeds and to grow divine flowers. We can do neither one fully by ourselves. But grace is not cheap. It is very expensive, even very dear. How much does this grace cost? Is it enough simply to believe in Christ? The man who found the pearl of great price gave “all that he had” for it (Matt 13:45,46).

“If we desire “all that the Father hath, God asks all that we have (D&C 84:38). To qualify for such exquisite treasure, in whatever way is ours, we must give the way Christ gave – every drop He had: “How exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not (D&C 19:15). Paul said, “If so be that we suffer with him”, we are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). All of His heart, all of our hearts.”

“What possible pearl could be worth such a price – for Him and for us? This earth is not our home. We are away at school, trying to master the lessons of “the great plan of happiness” so we can return home and know what it means to be there. Over and over the Lord tells us why the plan is worth our sacrifice – and His…..Of necessity, the plan is full of thorns and tears – His and ours. But because He and we are so totally in this together, our being “at one” with Him in overcoming all opposition will itself bring us “incomprehensible joy” (Alma 28:8).

Activating the power of the Atonement in one’s life is not just a matter of a simple common prayer. It is our opportunity to acknowledge and affirm our faith in Jesus Christ and His power to save…..the words that should be spoken are: “through my faith in Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement, I ask…..”

May you find the pearl of beauty amidst the ashes of your mortal life….

How vast You are that

You can fill the immensity of space

Yet so small You can fit

Into my heart with eternal grace.

 

How small and insignificant am I

Among the countless children

Of this earth’s dust and fleeting pace

But of what importance

To Your saving grace!

 

-      Cathryne Allen

THE CALL

 

Knock and It Shall be Opened by B. Laura Wilson

In need I reach for heaven’s door,

To concede, in spirit, I am forever poor.

I find Him waiting and knowing all,

No reprimand,

Just grateful I heard His call.

He took my heart into His hands,

The sacred balm, like honey,

soothed my aches.

- Cathryne Allen 

THE POWER WE SPEAK

 

In the Beginning by Greg Collins

I am passionate about words. They are an expression of the soulful nature of our being, our experiences, our attitudes and our cumulative growth. I love words that feed my soul, like poetry. Consider what the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran said about this genre of literature: “Poetry is not an opinion expressed. It is a song that rises from a bleeding wound or a smiling mouth.”  Never a greater truth has been spoken. When I write poetry, I write what I feel, from all my wounds and all my happy moments of the heart.

Words of poems that touch me are like seeds that had been sown in my heart. I believe the experiences of the poets that write them. American poet Sara Teasdale’s poems of love touch the very nerves of my heart.  When I read her poem about the ‘sensitive, shy years, that strove to sing with voices drowned in tears’ years before ‘she saw his face’ I tend to believe in love even though all I know of it is pain but I also know the years drowned in tears and so I can believe in love too (see her poem “The Years”)

Another poet of my heart is American poet Emily Dickinson. Her words of life and death and all that’s in between bring to me the reality of mortal life and the memories of it we will take with us when we cross the bar. Her poem “Retrospect” dissolves me into tears just by simple awakening of memories of my childhood. When she says “It was just this time last year I died. I know I heard the corn, when I was carried by the farms – it had the tassels on”, I remember the fields of corn of my childhood.

And who could not be touched by the lyrical poetry of the Irish W.B. Yeats who wished he had ‘the heaven’s embroidered cloths’ so he could spread them under “your feet: but I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” (Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven).

I believe in the beauty of words and I also believe in their power. They evoke emotion, memory, innermost beliefs, spiritual awakening, hope and faith. I am enthralled when I read the scriptures and see examples of words of faith that bring the impossible into possible. Such is the power of words.

Consider Enoch who was called to his holy calling when he was ‘slow of speech’ (Moses 6:31). The Lord promised him that He will give him ‘utterance’ and He will ‘justify’ all his words (Moses:32-34). So because Enoch trusted this promise, given to him by God himself, his weakness turned into his greatest strength, and he became so powerful that when he spoke the people trembled and could not stand in his presence (Moses 6:47). That my friends is turning the impossible into possible.

Worthy spoken words have the power to resonate with the spirit of God and empower us to achieve things we could not ordinarily do on our own.   An example of this is calling upon the power of the Atonement to enable us to overcome a certain weakness or to receive a healing. I have had experience to this end and can testify that the power of the Atonement, when prayed for, can heal you, as does hearing His word which ‘heals the wounded soul’ (Jacob 2:8). The vibration of words carries with it power that creates a pathway for manifestation of that which we pray for.  Admonition to pray is prolific in scriptures for exactly this reason.

 

Spoken word and faith are inter-related. The great exemplar of this is the Saviour himself, who created the world by the power of His word (Jacob 4:9; Mormon 9:17; Genesis 1; John 1:1). I believe when the Saviour spoke the words of creation, He spoke by the power of faith. This is obvious to me through a small incident in His mortal life when He came upon a fig tree that had no fruit to feed His hunger. He cursed the tree and the tree withered the moment He spoke  (Matthew 21:18-21). When His disciples marvelled at what they saw, Jesus told them that if they had faith and doubted not, if they said the word for mountains to move, it would be so (v21).

 

I have to speak of Enoch again. During his interlude with God, Enoch pleaded with Him that God would have ‘mercy upon Noah and his seed’ (Moses 7:50) but he did so in the most powerful way that a prayerful plea should ever be uttered. He said: “I ask Thee, O Lord, in the name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ, that thou wilt….”(v50). In other words, he did not use Jesus' name as an ending afterthought, like we are accustomed to do so at the end of our prayers. He began with the Saviour’s name as an acknowledgement of his faith in the source of power through which his petition can be granted.

As a result of his faith in the Saviour and the power of His name, God could not withhold from covenanting with Enoch that He would grant his petition (v 51). So powerful did Enoch become in speaking ‘the word of the Lord’ that the earth trembled and the mountains fled (v13). Without a doubt, he commanded the mountains to flee in the name of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the mountains of our lives can crumble at the mention of His name. Believe in the power of your faith in Him at whose appearing the mountains will flow down at His presence, the elements will melt with fervent heat, the waters will boil and the sun will hide its face in shame (Hebrews 12:29; D&C 133:40-44, 49). Is this not power greater than any mountain on your path? 

Dare to create the life that God would want you to have by becoming your best self. Aim higher than you have ever aimed before. The Saviour wants you to be like Him, in every way. He would have you learn to harness the power of faith that you might rise to godhood through your power of manifestation.  That power is already in you……He made sure of it. So speak the power…..

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN