Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

2 Nephi 9:14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. Knowledge of my sins is essential to repentance. In the final judgment, my guilt will be completely and fully revealed to me. I will understand not just the details but the implications of my sins. This revealed knowledge is critical to my full repentance, for the Lord cannot forget my sins until I repent of them, and I cannot repent if I do not remember them and feel the appropriate godly sorrow for them.  Nakedness is guilt. The same feeling of exposure, vulnerability, and embarrassment that I would feel if caught naked is the feeling I will have when I face God and know that He can peer directly into my unclean soul. To be clothed is to have my guilt covered. Christ offers to cover me with the purity of H...

1 Nephi 15:32 And it came to pass that I said unto them that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual; for the day should come that they must be judged of their works, yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation. What I do in this life matters. I cannot earn my way into heaven, but I can disqualify myself. As a probationer in mortality, I started off with a clean slate when I was born. God sent me into the world with a conscience, called the Light of Christ, to give me a moral sense of right and wrong. Making right choices simply keeps my slate clean. Making wrong choices, however, puts black marks on my slate.  We are all going to make mistakes that deface our clean slate. If we learn from our mistakes and correct them, we limit the number of black marks. But how do we remove the marks we made before we knew better?  That is where Christ's atonement comes in. He gives me the opportunity and ability to repent. I can ...

1 Nephi 10:20 Therefore remember, O man, for all thy doings thou shalt be brought into judgment. I will be justly judged for my doings. The good news of Christ's atonement is that the sins of which I repent will not be mine. Christ will own them for me. He wipes my slate clean of every wrong, every mistake, every failure, every commission and omission that hurt others, every thoughtless word and brainless thought, when I repent. He will leave nothing unresolved that I am willing to resolve with Him. Therefore, it is imperative that I recognize, confess, forsake, and repent of every sin. I cannot afford to ignore the dusty corners of my life. If Christ will take it all, I should not be afraid to give it all to Him. Now, that's a daunting task for a single day. So I have a lifetime to work on it. However long it takes, He will be patient with me, but He is impatient for me to begin. The sooner I start, the more time I will have to get it right. I should not hoard that which Chris...

1 Nephi 8:24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree. The way to God requires effort and exertion and is always forward, never backward or sideways. Don't confuse effort, however, with self-aggrandizement. Keeping with Lehi's allegory, I do not build the path, forge the iron rod, plant and grow the tree, or produce the fruit. God does these things for me. They are gifts.  He requires my effort, however. He does not pluck me out of my comfortable easy chair, drop me at the base of the tree, and force-feed me the fruit. I must choose His gifts through my diligent actions.  Nor does He require me to walk the path perfectly from beginning to end. When I stray, He has provided a Savior to rescue me, dust me off, clean me up, and set me in the rig...

1 Nephi 2:21 And inasmuch as thy brethren shall rebel against thee, they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. Nephi struggled most of his life with his wayward and rebellious older brothers. They rebelled constantly against the commandments of God, which put them at odds with faithful Nephi. The Lord warned Nephi to warn his brothers that their continued disobedience would have dire consequences. In particular, God is warning the brothers about rebelling against His acknowledged prophet. Through Nephi's tireless obedience, God appointed him as the successor to his prophet-father Lehi. The Lord had already begun to speak through Nephi to call Laman and Lemuel to repentance. Therefore, their antipathy towards Nephi was tantamount to rebelling against God. When I ignore and defy God's anointed prophet, I put myself at odds with God Himself. The living prophet is ordained to reveal the will of the Lord to the world. My choosing to disregard the prophet's instructions...