Whosoever will may walk therein and be saved – Alma 41:8 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize and Commentary

Whosoever will may walk therein and be saved – Alma 41:8 – Come, Follow Me Ponderize and Commentary

Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.

I find it so interesting that people are always trying to conform God’s teachings and requirements to meet or be in alignment with their own wills and desires, rather than conforming their wills and desires to meet God’s teachings and requirements! The question is, do we do this same thing in our own way? Do we try to rationalize away the decrees of God, or rather, try to bend and twist them to somehow encompass or include our thinking, desires, and actions? Here it is now, loud and clear, “the decrees of God are unalterable!” That means they can’t be changed, bent, or twisted to be or include anything outside of what they are and what they include.

So, let’s stop trying that approach of bending and twisting. for it is tiring, and in the end, gets us nowhere–it ultimately only brings us disappointment. The beauty of the decrees of God or Gospel of Christ is not how to accept, allow or sneak human and carnal beings into heaven, but rather it is about how to change and transform human and carnal beings into new heavenly creatures. This is the great key!! When we start to understand and really comprehend this great key, then the process of conforming our will to Christ’s will and being transformed into a new creature becomes exciting and joyful regardless of what trials and hardships we may be going through. “It is in turning to Him, obeying Him, binding ourselves to Him that trial and sorrow are turned to joy” (D. Todd Christofferson, “The Joy of the Saints”).

Paul teaches us that the Savior suffered the greatest pain and abandonment ever known to man because of and for joy.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.“ Hebrews 12:2

Armed with this eternal perspective, understanding, excitement, and joy we are ready for this the greatest of all journeys back to Christ; for “the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved.” The footnote for walk, takes us to “Walking with God” in the Topical Guide. This invitation to walk with God is not just extended to apostles and prophets but to “whosoever will.” This means it is not extended to any particular group or class of people but rather to a whoever possesses the will, passion, and desire to walk with Him and then who takes the necessary actions of righteousness. Peter taught us this in Acts 10:34–35:

34 …Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

We all have an equal opportunity, let us step and show up like never before. I will close with my favorite quote of all time.

We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker and is caught up to dwell with Him. (Joseph Smith)

Craig