THE LESSONS

 

I wrote yesterday about the practical knowledge of mortality that is essential for us in our rise to godhood. We acquire this knowledge through lessons we are given that provide an opportunity for acquisition of godly attributes and skills.

Every single quality I desired in life and asked for was not freely given. What was given was a practical lesson in difficulties I had to go through to acquire the skill I wanted. Indeed, just knowledge of it could not develop a godly character. It’s a matter of doing. I have wondered which of my lessons I didn’t need and the answer is I needed all of them. I have likewise asked myself what lessons I missed that had to be repeated because I was at the time unyielding.

I think of the Saviour and wonder which ones He could have skipped. Even He had to wade through the probationary state of mortality step by step receiving “grace for grace until He received a fulness”…..and he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him….” (D&C 93:12,13,17).

Now relate this to us. Verses 19 and 20 of Section 93 state that we too can receive of the fulness if we follow the example of the Saviour…but we too shall receive it “grace for grace”, one step at the time, one lesson after another. Would we have that example of fulness if the Saviour didn’t embrace ALL of His mortal experience? His subjection to receiving ‘grace for grace’ was for the benefit of the human race. He showed the way to perfection.

“He is the way, the truth, and the light, and no one can come back into the presence of our Father in heaven except through him. Christ is God the Son and possesses every virtue in its perfection. Therefore, the only measure of true greatness is how close a man can become like Jesus. (President Ezra Taft Benson, in CR, Oct 1972, p 53 or Ensign Jan 1973, p 57)

I often reflect on Him ‘who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2) and know that I can hope for the same joy if I follow Him to the end of my mortality……grace for grace…..

The lessons of my life flowed like a river

Winding through days, months and years;

I rescued a few but missed so many

From the currents as I saw them passing;

They drowned in a daze of my ignorance,

Unwanted and ignored but yet abiding.

I fish them now from the pool of my memory

And give them life everlasting.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Jesus the Symbol of Hope by Ivan Guaderrama)

THE PLAN

 

“In the theology of the restored church of Jesus Christ, the purpose of mortal life is to prepare us to realize our destiny as sons and daughters of God – to become like Him….. through the Atonement of the Only Begotten of the Father, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (President Dallin H. Oaks, “Apostasy and Restoration”, Ensign May 1995, 86-87).

Even though the Doctrine and Covenants describes our latter-day theology of our ultimate destiny, it does not give it a name. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, refers to it by many names among which is the name we use in the Church, “the plan of salvation” (Jarom 1:2; Alma 24:14, 42:5).

Among other names given in the Book of Mormon are these: “the merciful plan of the great Creator (2 Nephi 9:6); the plan of our God (2 Nephi 9:13); “the great and eternal plan (2 Nephi 11:5); “the great plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9); “the plan of happiness (Alma 42:8,16). The “plan of redemption” appears fifteen times in the Book of Mormon. You could write books about this subject.

We are told one of the reasons we are here is to learn lessons through mortality that we could not otherwise learn while we were spirits, that mortality alone can propel us into further progression in our quest for godhood. I have come to see throughout my life that through opposition and conflict one truly does need a body to overcome and learn resistance, wisdom, and most importantly the process of cause and effect, in other words, consequences that come through exercise of free will.

I have a fourteen-year-old grand-daughter who claims she is old enough to make her own informed decisions. If only she could see that her brain is still so under-developed she can’t grasp life at all. Later she will learn that obeying parents when you are young trains you for higher obedience to God when you are an adult.

We are so eager for the adventure called life when we are young but we tend to miss many lessons when we need them most. And some of those we miss tend to repeat themselves a few times until we get it, thanks to God’s mercy. I marvel how merciful, tolerant and forgiving He is towards our humanity. Where would we be without Him?

When Moses encountered God on Mount Sinai, God revealed Himself to him and Moses saw the glory of God and every particle of this earth and all the children of men (Moses 1:8,27) that have ever been created. The vision of God's power was overwhelming to a man who grew up in an Egyptian court believing that Pharoah was god and there was none greater than him so he exclaimed that now he could see that man is nothing (v 10).

God, however, didn't want Moses to miss the point so He showed him the same vision again and He ended it with the sum of what we call The Plan of Salvation: “For behold, this  is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39)….because Moses, among all of God’s creations, none are greater than man, man is everything.

The lessons of my life flowed like a river

Winding through days, months and years;

I rescued a few but missed so many

From the currents as I saw them passing;

They drowned in the daze of my ignorance,

Unwanted and ignored but yet abiding.

I fish them now from the pool of my memory

And give them life everlasting.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Moses by Greg Sargent)

DIVINE HOUR OF SOLITUDE

 

“Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.”  (Psalm 69:20)

The Saviour made many references to the Father during His earthly ministry. One year I counted He referred to Him 147 times during His visit to the Americas. His closeness with the Father is unmistakable. As Jesus neared the pinnacle of His mission, He was sure that this closeness would see Him through His hour of agony. He knew and acknowledged that everyone else would forsake Him, even His closest disciples, thus He said to them: “…..the hour cometh….that ye shall be scattered….and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32). Imagine then the shock that induced the heart-breaking words that came from His agony on the cross: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

As in all experiences of mortality, there is a purpose. Christ’s experience on the cross is no exception. In fact, it heralded the completion of suffering that was the major part of the Atonement. The Father withdrew because:

1. Where there is sin, God’s spirit withdraws (Mosiah 2:36; Helaman 13:8; D&C 1:33). When on the cross, the agony of the Garden returned and intensified so the Saviour took upon himself once again, all sin and thus He became estranged or separated from God and his divine Spirit. (See Talmage, Jesus The Christ, p 661 and McConkie, Mortal Messiah, 4:232, note 22)
2. In that hour of solitude, it was needful for the Saviour to experience the full consequence of sin which leads to spiritual death, meaning being cut off from the presence of God, and His role in redemption of same (Helaman 14:16-18; Alma 12:16; Mormon 9:13-14; D&C 76:36-38; Jacob 3:11)
3. To glorify His Son, the Father allowed the glory to be exclusively His, hence the Saviour could say: “I have trodden the winepress alone: Isaiah 63:3; D&C 76:107, 88:106; 133:48,50).

And so what appears on the surface as cruelty, had a divine purpose. In our extreme moments of earthly suffering, may we remember that it is needful for us to sometimes suffer it alone that the ultimate purpose and tutoring may be accomplished…..but once the lessons are learnt, the test passed and the power gained,  the Saviour can step in and take away the burden. He can then say on our behalf, “It is finished”.

A life well lived,

The price willingly paid,

A glorious victory

At His feet laid.

-    CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Behold the Man by Christopher Young)