Commitment To Christ, And My Country

What a great 4th of July it was this past Monday. I hope all of you had as great of a day as I did. Being a missionary it was exciting to have the 4th of July fall on a P-day (preparation day) which allowed us to be able to fully enjoy the celebration of our country and its freedoms. I'm blessed to be serving in the Flathead Valley area of Montana right now. What a beautiful part of this great country to be able to spend the 4th of July in! (check out some google images to see what I mean). The scenery of the snow capped mountains, pine trees, lakes, rivers, clear blue sky and a pleasant 75 degrees was the perfect setting that made me realize again what amazing land God has blessed us with.

    We headed down to Bigfork to join a few other Missionaries for the Bigfork Ward community breakfast. For those of you who are not familiar with Bigfork its a small mountain lake town near Flathead Lake. A lot of people come here to enjoy their 4th of July and have some fun on the Lake. It was fun to mingle amongst the crowd at the breakfast and have the chance to talk to visitors, member and non-member a like, from all over.  As the breakfast started they began with a flag ceremony. They had the Boy Scouts of America from the Bigfork Ward participate and a man dressed up in vintage revolutionary war attire gave a little speech before the the flag came forward. He talked about the blessings we have in this country of freedom and that if we were to remain faithful to God we would remain blessed. As the flag came forward I placed my hand on my heart. As I did so my hand not only hit my heart but my name tag. As a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we bear the name of Jesus Christ at all times on our name tags. As the flag was raised up into the blue sky the feelings of patriotism and love for God, Jesus Christ, and my country swept over me. As my hand rested on my heart and on His name I thought of all He has done for me in my life. How without Him none of us would be spiritually free. We would all be captured and bound by our sins. It's because of Jesus Christ, His Life and His Atonement, that we are made FREE! If we will come unto Him and let Him take our sins and burdens upon Him we will find rest and freedom.
         Mosiah 5:8-9 says And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives. And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ.
    Not only as a missionary but as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ I have made that covenant with God to take the name of Jesus Christ upon me. If I will strive to do so I can be found on the right hand of God someday as I stand as a witness of His son, Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to place my hand on my heart to remember Him and my country. And to recommit myself to America and following Jesus Christ. I challenge all of us to remember the freedoms we have not only in this great country but from Jesus Christ. And I leave this in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Let Freedom, From God, Ring!

As an American we hear the word Freedom a lot in our country. We look at it as a true blessing to live in "the land of the free and the home of the brave" We, as a country and as a people, never want our freedom taken away or put in jeopardy. This causes us to even fight and risk our lives for our freedom. We want to be able to choose and make our decisions in life. We want independence! We want to Let Freedom Ring! I can testify to you that by being a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and an American I know why we all have this desire for freedom. It's something that is ingrained into us from before we were born. It's natural and God given.
   God has given us the gift of freedom to act and make decisions for ourselves. This freedom is called free agency. We received this gift before the world was even created. God gave us this gift because he knew that in order for us to truly learn and grow we needed to experience life through our choices.
   Our country allows us to make choices but with all choices comes a consequence, whether good or bad. Many think we can always make a choice but not choose our consequence. This is true, however God would rather have us learn how to make better choices with our freedom that has a positive consequence attached to it.
     2 Nephi 2:27 states that "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
    Through this scripture we see men are free to choose, liberty and eternal life. This means through correct choices, and through obedience to God's commands, in the end we will find ourselves free from sorrow, pain, guilt, shame, and addiction. This allows us to keep our agency.
    On the flip side if we make choices contrary to God's commands we will find ourselves bound and captive to sorrow, pain, guilt, shame, and addiction, and more. This is exactly what Satan wants because these kinds of choices slowly bind us and our freedom to the point that it is very limited, if not gone.
    A simple real world example of this process is driving a car. If we drive a car as long as we follow the laws, or commands, of the road we have the freedom to drive where ever we desire. But if we break those laws, or commandments, we can find ourselves with fines from tickets, to having to attend driving school, to ultimately having our license suspended. And with no license we can't drive and our freedom to drive is gone.
   Unfortunately all of us over time in life have broken a lot of these laws, or commandments. This means all of us are in jeopardy of losing our eternal freedom. Luckily God has given us His son, Jesus Christ. Because of what Christ did by performing the atonement for all of us, through repentance, we can be forgiven. This sets us free of the penalties of sin and allows us to live with God again.
   How grateful I am for my freedom. Freedom from God and in my country. I know that if I make correct choices with that freedom that it will remain intact. I challenge all of us to examine our lives to see if there is, in any way, things we are doing to limit our freedom. Pray and seek God's help about it. As you do, through repentance, you'll feel liberated and free. I can promise this to you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

  For another Blog about the 4th of July Click Here