Kickoff A New Life

   God has given us so many gifts. I have mentioned several in my blogs thus far. One that has become more personal to me during my mission is the gift of repentance. We are so imperfect. Every single day it seems, we do something we regret. How come God loves us so much? Because we are His children. That is why. I may not be a parent yet but I can sure say that I have done a lot of stupid things in my life but my parents still love me. He is the same. Even more so, since He is perfect. Repentance truly is a gift:
    "Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved." (3 Nephi 9:22)
    We can all be saved if we come unto Him asking for forgiveness. We must "confess and forsake" our sins. Confessing means to tell the Lord what we did and ask for forgiveness and also, if necessary, going to a church leader for more serious sins so they can help us repent fully. Forsake simply means to stop doing the sin. If we go back to the same sin, we really have not repented at all. Repenting means to turn back. To start a new life, in line with God's will...
   In light of the football season about to start (No I cannot watch it but the clock installed in me senses it is time for football), we must remember that we must seek to change our lives to be more in line with God's. We must kickoff a new life, a life for God and His will. In football, a kickoff starts everything over again. New opportunities arise for your team. No matter what happened, who scored or how they scored, a kickoff starts it over (everything but the score that is). Repentance gives us that opportunity. We can start over. We can become better and improve on our past mistakes. Let us all kickoff a new life, repenting of our shortcomings and mistakes and seek to be better people. People that follow Christ closely. I know that as we repent, and align our lives with the will of our Father in Heaven's, we will see blessings. And those blessings will increase exponentially as we seek every day to get better, to be a little better than yesterday.

Eternal Life: It's So Simple

   When you think on it, obtaining eternal life, which means to live in the presence of God in a state of never-ending happiness with our families, is pretty simple. There is a difference between simple and easy. I never said it was easy, but simple? Yes. Why do I say it is simple? Because we have the road map to eternal life right in front of us.

   God tells us several times in the scriptures how to obtain eternal life. In the book of 2 Nephi, chapter 31, it says 

"And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son. 

And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do... 

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." (2 Nephi 31:11-12, 20)

   We have that promise right there.  We shall have eternal life. All we have to do is repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, have faith in Christ, and then endure to the end. It's the only way. But how do we endure to the end? It is simple. This process called the "Doctrine of Christ" which you have seen me mention before (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end) is actually a cycle. It doesn't end once we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. We start over. We try to increase our faith even more. We do that by reading the scriptures and coming to church. We always need to be repenting. We are not perfect. None of us are.

 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:8-10). 

   Since we can't really be baptized again, we renew the covenants we made at baptism every Sunday when we take the sacrament. That's how we keep living the cycle. We must go to church every Sunday to fully live the doctrine of Christ. As we take the sacrament to renew that baptismal covenant, we are promised the companionship of the Holy Ghost. So you see? It all fits together. 

   This is a cycle that never ends. We must always be striving to make ourselves better. As we do that, the Atonement of Jesus Christ takes over the rest. Christ is our Advocate with the Father. In Spanish, it says that He is our "abogado." Which means "lawyer." He fights for our side, defends us and will convince the Father that we are worthy to merit eternal life and glory. The question is, are we worthy?

It Is Not Enough...

   We all know the scripture that says "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim 4:12). It is about being an example to the world. When asked why we don't have crosses in our church buildings, President Hinckley replied that the symbols of our Christian faith are “the lives of our people.” (Dallin H. Oaks, Sacrifice, Ensign May 2012). That is the way it should be. To our neighbors, our friends, coworkers, and acquaintances we are the Church. Their perception of the "mormon church" rests on what we do and say. Whether we like it or not, that is how it is.

   However, if we just simply walk around "being an example" will people flood to the church to be baptized? Probably not. If that happened, we really wouldn't need full-time missionaries, would we? But, the responsibility to preach the gospel does not rest solely on the shoulders of us full-time missionaries. God tells all of us that we need to "open our mouths." The Lord told Joseph Smith:

 " But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.

    And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have." (D&C 60:2-3)

   Do we fear man more than God? When we don't tell someone about the gospel when the opportunity arises, what are we afraid of? People we know and care about that don't have the gospel are all around us Even people we may not even know. The Lord has promised us that there are people everywhere being prepared to receive the gospel. There is only so much 2 young missionaries can do. For example, Elder Vilorio and I cover an area roughly 30 miles wide. There are approximately 8500 people living within the city limits of Orange Park alone. We can't talk to 8500 people. That would take years. We need everyone's help. Opening your mouth is the 2nd step of sharing the gospel, and perhaps the most important. Being an example is just not enough...