Even people who have had powerful spiritual experience and given faithful service can fall away if they do not endure to the end.
To those who are inactive “I exhort them to return because I believe that nobody will be able to make excuses before God.”
At times we move through life with sins in our lives that, like cracks in a kayak, make it difficult to navigate successfully.
Whatever it personal situation I testify that or Father in Heaven is saying to you, “I love you.”
Even those who have had powerful spiritual experiences and have given faithful service could one day go astray or fall into inactivity if they do not endure to the end. May we always and emphatically keep in our minds and hearts the phrase “This will not happen to me.”
I believe I’ve heard Elder Zivic before without this shaky voice. Is that related to whatever he is enduring?
Let us be faithful to what we have believed and know. If we have not been living according to our knowledge, let us change. Sinners who persist in their sins, and do not repent, sink deeper and deeper into filthiness, until Satan claims them for himself, significantly jeopardizing their opportunity to repent, to be forgiven, and to be blessed with all the blessings of eternity.
I have heard many justifications from those who have stopped participating actively in the Church and have lost the correct vision of the purpose of our journey on this earth. I exhort them to reflect and to return, because I believe that no one will be able to make excuses before our Lord, Jesus Christ.
When we were baptized, we made covenants—not with any man but with the Savior, agreeing to “take upon [ourselves] the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end.”
Attendance at sacrament meetings is one of the key ways we can evaluate our determination to serve Him, our spiritual fortitude, and the growth of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Partaking of the sacrament is the most important thing we do on the Sabbath day. The Lord explained this ordinance to His Apostles just before He died. He did the same on the American continent. He tells us that if we participate in this ordinance, it will be a testimony to the Father that we always remember Him, and He promises that, accordingly, we will have His Spirit to be with us.
Can we safely assume that any impulse to skip sacrament meeting does not come from Christ even if sometimes we may be promoted to miss another meeting?
Several years ago, while on vacation, I wanted to go kayaking for the first time. I rented a kayak, and full of enthusiasm, I launched into the sea.
After a few minutes, a wave overturned the kayak. With a great deal of effort, holding the paddle in one hand and the kayak in the other, I was able to regain my footing.
I tried again to paddle my kayak, but just a few minutes later, the kayak tipped over again. I stubbornly kept on trying, to no avail, until someone who understood kayaking told me that there must be a crack in the shell and the kayak must have filled up with water, making it unstable and impossible to control. I dragged the kayak to the shore and removed the plug, and sure enough, out came a large amount of water.
I think that at times we move through life with sins that, like the leak in my kayak, impede our spiritual progress.
If we persist in our sins, we forget the covenants we have made with the Lord, even though we keep capsizing because of the imbalance that those sins create in our lives.
Like the cracks in my kayak, the cracks in our lives need to be dealt with. Some sins will require more efforts than others to repent of.
I suggest a formula that will help us endure to the end:
- Daily, pray and read the scriptures.
- Weekly, partake of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
- Pay our tithing and our monthly fast offering.
- Every two years—every year for the youth—renew our temple recommends.
- Throughout our whole lives, serve in the work of the Lord.
May the great truths of the gospel steady our minds, and may we keep our lives free of the cracks that can impede our safe journey through the sea of this life.
Success in the Lord’s way has a price, and the only way to achieve it is to pay that price.
Life is different for each of us. We all have a time of trials, a time for happiness, a time for making decisions, a time for overcoming obstacles, and a time for taking advantage of opportunities.
Whatever our personal situations may be, I testify that our Heavenly Father is constantly saying, “I love you. I sustain you. I am with you. Do not give up. Repent and endure in the path that I have shown you. And I assure you that we will see each other again in our celestial home.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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