Friday, June 1, 2012

Week Seven: Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ

What it means to be a disciple of Christ and what the Savior taught:
  • Our spiritual nourishment is just as important as our physical nourishment, perhaps more so. (Luke 10:38-42)
  • We pray to the Father for blessings, and He willingly gives them to us, if we only ask. (Luke 11:1-13)
  • We must forgive others even as God forgives us. (Luke 11:1-13)
  • We should not set our heart on riches and worldly successes, but on the things of Heaven. (Luke 12:13-40)
  • If we are faithful, God will provide for our needs. (Luke 12:13-40)
  • It is good to provide for our families, but it is also good to give to those who have none. (Luke 12:13-40)
  •  We will not follow the ways of the world, or of the popular majority, but the Way of Christ, which is the only true Way. (Luke 13:23-24)
  • We should not follow Christ lightly without considering what it'll take to be His disciple. (Luke 14:16-33)
  • If we put other things before Christ, the blessings we would have gained from being His disciple will be given to someone else. (Luke 14:16-33)
  • Following Christ means giving our all, and no less. (Luke 14:16-33)

If we are faithful, God will provide for our needs.

I have a tendency to forget this principle. I want to be independent and self-reliant, and while God wants us to be self-reliant, He also wants us to be God-reliant. He wants us to do all we can, but, in the end, leave it up to Him. I think He's been trying to teach me this the last few months. I keep thinking that I can take care of myself, that I can do anything, that I can conquer all of my weaknesses. And then I mess up. Again. And again. And yet again. And every time, Heavenly Father reassures me that it's okay. At first I wondered, "Really? It's okay?" The first lesson I had to learn was that it is okay to mess up. The lesson I am learning now is that while it's okay to mess up, it's not okay to give up. And as a part of that lesson, it's especially not okay to give up on the Lord. He won't give up on us, so we shouldn't give up on Him. I am learning that I need to do everything He asks of me, to try my best, and to remember that when my best isn't good enough, He is the one making up the difference.

Ultimate Requirements to be a Disciple of Christ.
  
To be a disciple of Christ, we need to forsake everything. We need to offer up our whole souls unto Him, and to "continue in fasting and prayer and endure to the end" (Omni 1:26). We need to give Him everything that we are and allow Him to shape us into who we can and should be. In other words, being a disciple of Christ is worth everything we have, including who we are, and we need to be willing to give our all in order to obtain it.

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