This morning my electric shaver wasnt working. What a bumber. As a missionary I have to shave my face before I got out to serve. I had it plugged in all night, but it kept telling me it was out of batteries. I finally found the problem, it was the outlet. The outlet had stopped working. Everything that was plugged into it recieved no juice from it. Therefore, even though my electric razor was plugged in it would never get charged until the outlet put out electricity.
This experience brought my attention to the story of the Rich man found in the New Testament. This is a story of a man who had done all things right his entire life. He had kept the commandments and he was living by the "rules" of God. However he fell short of recieving eternal life. Even though he felt "plugged in" he recieved no power to inherit the kingdom of God. Here is his story.
"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions."
Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy stated in a talk, "We can have eternal life if we want it, but only if there is nothing else we want more." We can go about doing good and living according to the standards set by the Lord and recieve blessings for them. However, if we love God and Jesus Christ we must be willing to put them first in ALL things. Christ gave us His ALL. He sacrificed His life for ALL us. He suffered for ALL our sins. He is the only way to recieve eternal life. His Atonement was infinite and eternal. If we want eternal life we need to keep the commandments and then go and "sell all we have".
Is there anything holding us back from recieving eternal life? Is there something that we hold on to that prevents us from experiencing all of the blesisngs God has promised us? What do we have to sell? Christ has said, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21) I know that God wants all of His children to return to live with Him. We have to do the will of Him who has made our very existence possible.
This life is a gift. I know that as we recieve this gift with a grateful heart we can recieve eternal life. I hope we all are able to leave behind the things that prevent us from experiencing ALL that Christ has to offer. I know the only way we can is by giving our ALL to Him. He will help us as we do so. Because of His sacrifice we can "learn from our mistakes without being condemned by them."
Christ asks us to give our all, but he promises us that he will not leave us comfortless, he will come to us. (John 14:18) Dont be like the rich man or my electric razor. You may be plugged in but you need Jesus Christ. We need to be more like our Savior and give our all otherwise we are just sitting there in an outlet with now power. We are thinking we are doing what is right, but there is something very important missing.
I know that we can all do more and that Jesus Christ will help us to give our all. He is the way the truth and the life. No many can come to the Father but by him. Come to him and he will heal you. He is the only outlet that works. He will keep you charged so that when the time comes that you stand before God to be judged you will recieve eternal life. There is no other way.
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