Today’s Reading: Moroni 6:5-9
5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.
6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.
7 And they were strict to observe that there should be no iniquity among them;
The Book of Mormon was written for our day. Of this there is no doubt in my mind. And my testimony of this truth is confirmed when I read passages like this. Moroni is speaking to us. He is telling us the things that we can do to have Zion-like congregations. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
As I was studying these scriptures while I was in the temple today, I decided to check out some of the footnotes. This led me to D&C 20:54.
And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking.
Yes. This is what it takes my friends. This is what it takes. Are we up for the challenge? Can we strive to have no iniquity among us even when someone says or does something that we take offense to? Can we treat our fellow brothers and sisters with kindness instead of hardness? Are you willing to not participate in backbiting or evil speaking? It is a real challenge for sure. Satan knows this and He and his followers work extremely hard to bring these things about in our lives.
Don’t let them do that. Don’t let them destroy your relationships or prevent you from having relationships that are beautiful and rewarding. I cannot tell you how many times I have had the tendency to let judgmental thoughts creep into my brain and then guess what happens? The Lord allows me to serve with the person/people whom I was judging in my mind. Through each of these experiences I have grown to love these people. I have been able to see them through my Heavenly Father’s eyes and have reaped the benefits of friendship.
We can have congregations that are full of love and acceptance. We can have meetings in which the spirit abounds because of the faith, fasting, and prayers of the people present. We can do this!! But how?
There are many ways that I could list; many individual things that I could suggest, but there is one word which encompasses them all.
The pure love of Christ.
Step out of your head and into your heart. Feel the spirit of the Lord working through you. Reach out with a hand of love instead of withdrawing it in anger.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1 Corinthians 13:4-6
Let us rejoice in the glorious truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and as we do this, our hearts will be filled with charity towards our fellowmen and we will be able to move one step closer to banishing iniquity from our lives.
I grew up the oldest of 5 children in the blazing heat of Southern Utah. After high school and some college experience I met and married Mark Ogden and we are the parents of four children. I have owned and operated my own home-based preschool for more than a dozen years, and I consider myself an accidental author as well. When I am not in my minivan transporting children from one activity to the next, I enjoy playing the piano, blogging, speaking about my life’s experiences, and feeding my insatiable crafting disease.
I love to tell people that their names are safe in our home. You are so right & I love this!!