Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? – Alma 5:14 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize and Commentary
And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
I love what Marion G Romney said about Alma’s experiences:
No one can read Alma’s resumé of the experiences of his father with the saints who joined the church at the waters of Mormon; of the Lord’s mercy and long-suffering in bringing them out of their spiritual and temporal captivity; of how by the power of the Holy Spirit, they were awakened from their deep sleep of death to experience a mighty change wrought in their hearts—no one, I say, can contemplate this marvelous transformation without yearning to have a like change wrought in his own heart. Alma 5:14
And no one can answer for himself these questions, which Alma put to his brethren:
“[1] . . . have ye spiritually been born of God? [2] Have ye received his image in your countenances? [3] Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
“[4] Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? [5] Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
“I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
“[6] Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? [7] Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time . . . that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ?” Alma 5:14-16,27
I say, no one with the spirit of the Book of Mormon upon him can honestly answer to himself these soul-searching questions without resolving to so live that he can answer them in the affirmative on that great day to which each of us shall come.
Now that it is abundantly clear that the words and questions of Alma bring all men to have the desire to be born again, so that they can be presented before God blameless, and hear these words: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
Then let us go to work this day, not delaying any longer, to bring forth works of righteousness all the day long.
This will bring to pass what Ezra Taft Benson envisioned:
“Would not the progress of the Church increase dramatically today with an increasing number of those who are spiritually reborn? Can you imagine what would happen in our homes? Can you imagine what would happen with an increasing number of copies of the Book of Mormon in the hands of an increasing number of missionaries who know how to use it and who have been born of God? When this happens, we will get the harvest President Kimball envisions. It was the “born of God” Alma who as a missionary was so able to impart the word that many others were also born of God. (See Alma 36:23–26)
The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”
The goal of this life is not to just be a good human being, but rather to be born of God and then to begin the transformation to become like Christ in every way possible to a mortal being. This path is so vividly laid out before our eyes in scripture, where example after example is provided to show forth that it is not just possible but that it is the path we all must take. It is not a path of ease or popularity, but it is the only path that will bring lasting happiness in this life and the life to come. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Craig
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