This chapter is full of great doctrine on miracles and faith, hope, and charity and many other things but I am going to focus on some ideas in this chapter that may go overlooked but that I find of great importance to myself.
Moroni 7:9
And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.
What does that mean "with real intent of heart"? I define "heart" as our center, our core. Our true inner desires. Our true selves. Our identity independent of all other people or influences. The things we would say and do if we lived alone on a island, and there were no other people to "act" for. So when we pray if we wish God to receive us, we must truly be sincere.
The general idea expressed in this scripture is that it doesn't count if we don't mean it. It takes constant effort to "mean it", to overcome the tendency we all have to revert back to just "going through the motions". Do you have a testimony in your core that you pray in sincerity and with real intent of heart? Only you can answer that question for yourself and it takes some heart searching, but I think if we're honest with ourselves we can all find the answer.
Moroni 7:44
If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God; save the meek and lowly in heart;
Now terms like lowly in heart are used all too often in the church, but I find personally, if I'm put on the spot, I struggle to provide adequate definitions for them. Now that I have plenty of time to ponder, I would define lowly in heart as being sincerely humble, as being humble in our very core. It means we fully admit to ourselves the gap between us and the Father and our dependence on the savior and his atonement to bridge that gap. It is related to the sentiment expressed by Ammon when he said "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak" (Alma 26:12) Do we have a testimony of our own nothingness?
The ideas expressed in these verses relate to our true selves, not only the actions that we perform but the ideas and desires behind those actions. These scriptures show us that a person may pray and may have faith and hope but may still be unacceptable before god. While god wants us to have hope and faith and to pray he is also vitally interested in the actual changing of our hearts. It's about making real change, becoming something new in our very core. He wants us to truly become like his son Jesus Christ, and this is a work done alone, in our hearts. It is between us, our Father, and the Savior. And only we can know our own sincerity and our own progress.
And never forget...
1 John 3:20-21
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
Showing posts with label 1 John 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1 John 3. Show all posts
Saturday
Tuesday
Helaman 3
Helaman 3:27
Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
Several times throughout the scriptures we find the idea of having a sincere heart. I think it is very closely related to the idea of a pure heart. A person's heart is their core. It is the thing that is "I". It is their feelings and their desires. The thing that drives all of their choices. A man or woman must know their own heart and change them to fall in line with God and the gospel teachings.
But, what does it mean to do something in the sincerity of your heart? It think it has to do with the idea of our heart being our desires. Are our desires sincere? When we kneel down to pray to our Heavenly Father what do we want? What do we really want? Why are we doing it? Is it a cultural thing? A habit? Or are we truly looking for guidance or mercy?
One does not have to have perfect faith to sincerely approach God, maybe you can only want to believe, or maybe you can only want to connect to something more, but whatever level you are at you must admit that is where you are in order to be sincere. Sincerity requires that we be honest with ourselves and with God. This includes admitting your sins in their fullest and not trying to hide them from God, or admitting that you do not believe the things you have done are sins.
To be sincere our hearts must also be open. We can not sincerely approach God unless we do it on his terms. This is because the purpose of approaching God is not to tell him what he should do for you but it is to find out what his purpose for you is, to align our hearts with his. So, while we must begin where we are in terms of being honest about our actual faith or beliefs we must be open to changing those beliefs. We must be willing to let go of beliefs, thoughts, and actions that will keep our hearts from aligning with his. If we are not willing to make these changes then we are not really sincerely calling on God. In essence we don't really mean it.
And remember.
1 John 3:20-21
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
Several times throughout the scriptures we find the idea of having a sincere heart. I think it is very closely related to the idea of a pure heart. A person's heart is their core. It is the thing that is "I". It is their feelings and their desires. The thing that drives all of their choices. A man or woman must know their own heart and change them to fall in line with God and the gospel teachings.
But, what does it mean to do something in the sincerity of your heart? It think it has to do with the idea of our heart being our desires. Are our desires sincere? When we kneel down to pray to our Heavenly Father what do we want? What do we really want? Why are we doing it? Is it a cultural thing? A habit? Or are we truly looking for guidance or mercy?
One does not have to have perfect faith to sincerely approach God, maybe you can only want to believe, or maybe you can only want to connect to something more, but whatever level you are at you must admit that is where you are in order to be sincere. Sincerity requires that we be honest with ourselves and with God. This includes admitting your sins in their fullest and not trying to hide them from God, or admitting that you do not believe the things you have done are sins.
To be sincere our hearts must also be open. We can not sincerely approach God unless we do it on his terms. This is because the purpose of approaching God is not to tell him what he should do for you but it is to find out what his purpose for you is, to align our hearts with his. So, while we must begin where we are in terms of being honest about our actual faith or beliefs we must be open to changing those beliefs. We must be willing to let go of beliefs, thoughts, and actions that will keep our hearts from aligning with his. If we are not willing to make these changes then we are not really sincerely calling on God. In essence we don't really mean it.
And remember.
1 John 3:20-21
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
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