Today's Favorite Verse: Galatians 5:22-23

Today's Favorite Verse: Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

When the scriptures say "by their fruits ye shall know them" this is the very words we can look upon. Is there love and joy? Are they a peacemaker, longsuffering and gentle? Do they work goodness and show faith, meekness and temperate in behavior. Does this person have self-control and show restraint over their appetites and passions. It is not hard to see with our own eyes what their fruits are, and who they follow.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
(Matthew 7:16-20)

Day 4220

Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 5:39

Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 5:39
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

I found this note in my scriptures added on 8 Oct 2023. It would have been right after President Oaks general conference address on "Kingdoms of Glory".

"Wow, I just realized that President Oaks general conference talk was actually steps ahead of a growing movement I have read about in several articles now. How inspired he was."
"It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — "turn the other cheek" — [and] to have someone come up after to say, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?" And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, "I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ," the response would not be, "I apologize." The response would be, "Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak." And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis." 
(NPR, "He was a top church official who criticized Trump. He says Christianity is in crisis", 8 Aug 2023)

Day 4058

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:12

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:12
"Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."

Before reading in the Old Testament I was reading in the Book of Mormon, where Jesus Christ appears to the Nephites after his resurrection. He gives to them what was taught on the Sermon on the Mount. The part on mercy stood out to me, as it does now in reading Hosea. How grateful I am for mercy.

"And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
(3 Nephi 12:7)

“Mercy is not showered [indiscriminately] upon mankind, except in the general sense that it is manifest in the creation and peopling of the earth and in the granting of immortality to all men as a free gift. Rather, mercy is granted (because of the grace, love, and condescension of God), as it is with all blessings, to those who comply with the law upon which its receipt is predicated. That law is the law of righteousness; those who sow righteousness, reap mercy. There is no promise of mercy to the wicked; rather, as stated in the Ten Commandments, the Lord promises to show mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his commandments.” (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 484.)
(Old Testament Student Manual Kings-Malachi, "The Ministry of Hosea: A Call to Faithfulness (Hosea)", (10-31)

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
(Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21)

"And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;"
(Daniel 9:4)

"Behold, I, the Lord, am merciful and will bless them, and they shall enter into the joy of these things. Even so. Amen."
(Doctrine and Covenants 70:18)

Day 4034

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 13:24

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 13:24
"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

I've had some new thoughts on this verse lately. I had always thought of Mammon as another name for Satan. As I have been observing things of late, I realized that people can serve themselves, and place any number of things above God, so their thoughts are not in the right place. Eventually, this road turns you from God. I finally looked up what Mammon means and this is what I found.

Bible Dictionary: Mammon, An Aramaic word meaning "riches"

Wikipedia: Mammon in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain.

Britannica: Mammon, biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. The term was used by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount and also appears in The Gospel According to Luke. Medieval writers commonly interpreted it as an evil demon or god.

So all this time I had the wrong definition of what Mammon was. Yet, I find it interesting that the spirit taught me what it really meant.

Day 1950

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 12:44, 48

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 12:44, 48
"But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you;
Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect."

One of the first sermons that Jesus gives to the people in the Americas is a discourse similar to the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes found in the Bible. He is the embodiment of them all. I love what Harold B. Lee said of it.

"Christ came not only into the world to make an atonement for the sins of mankind but to set an example before the world of the standard of perfection of God's law and of obedience to the Father. In his Sermon on the Mount the Master has given us somewhat of a revelation of his own character, which was perfect, or what might be said to be 'an autobiography, every syllable of which he had written down in deeds,' and in so doing has given us a blueprint for our own lives."
(President Harold B. Lee, "Decisions for Successful Living" [1973], 55-67)

Day 1949

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 109:8-9, 13

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 109:8-9, 13
"Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their names be blotted out.

The header to this chapter says David "prays that his enemies will be confounded." No, I think he wishes him dead and his posterity too. It was painful to read. All I could think of were Jesus' words on the Sermon on the Mount.

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"
(Matthew 5:44)

Jesus came to give a high law, a better way. What a contrast to the way they were living. As I pondered on David's words I could see the parallel to my day. There are still people not living the higher law.

Day 1162