さらに、彼らは正しい理解力を備えた人々であり、また神の言葉を知るために聖文を熱心に調べてきたので、すでに真理を深く知るようになっていた。そればかりではない。彼らはしばしば祈り、また断食したので、預言の霊と啓示の霊を受けていた。そして、教えるときには、神の力と権能をもって教えた。アルマ書１７：２－３
…for they were men of sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with the power and authority of God. Alma 17:2-3
As we travel through this life, one thing is certain. We will all make mistakes. Every one of us has done bad things. Every one of us has made mistakes. Every one of us has done things that we wish we had not done.
Because we all make mistakes, we sometimes feel like we are too sinful for the Lord to care about us. We feel that we have done so many stupid things that we cannot come back into the light of the Gospel.
This is one of Satan’s great lies. He knows that we will make mistakes. He knows that we will feel bad about those mistakes. He tries to trick us into thinking that we are too wicked. He tries to trick us into giving up.
Alma and the sons of Mosiah are a great example to us. This scripture tells us that Alma and the sons of Mosiah were great missionaries and powerful priesthood leaders. The story of their missionary work among the Lamanites is one of the greatest missionary examples in the scriptures.
But, they were not always great priesthood leaders. When they were younger, they were very wicked men and were trying to destroy the Church. …they were the very vilest of sinners (Mosiah 28:4) 。。。かれらはかつて罪人の中でも最も罪深い者であった。モーサヤ書２８：４）
While we have all made mistakes, none of us are “the very vilest of sinners”. None of us are trying to destroy the Church. If Alma and the sons of Mosiah could repent and be forgiven and become great priesthood leaders, we can too!
All of us can repent. All of us can be forgiven. All of us can become clean and pure. That is the great blessing of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He knows each of us. He loves each of us. He has prepared the way for us to repent.
Let us all try each day to do the small and simple things the Lord has asked us to do. Let us all repent of our sins. Let us all receive the blessings the Lord has promised to send to us.
Let’s have a great week!