How does a rock relate to our salvation? Simply, a rock is strong, firm, immovable, and something you can build upon, the lord and savior Jesus Christ is strong, firm, immovable, and is someone we must build our life upon. Through his steadfast example, pure love, and the atonement we can be saved. Gordon B. Hinckley spoke of Jesus saying, “He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith.”(1) The savior is the mediator by which we have the opportunity to reach the celestial kingdom and return to our father. By centering our entire lives round Christ we will remain on the direct path to the tree of life and eternal salvation.
We all know the story of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and of the foolish man who built his upon the sand. This is a very short and simple story but one that can be detrimental in one’s life. Joseph B. Wirthlin spoke of this story: “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell.” (2) While one may take heed to this story as a simple anecdote of little meaning, we know that this can apply to our lives in that those of us who build our house upon a rock, a firm foundation of our lord, will be worthy to reach our lord again and will be able to withstand the winds and rains of temptations that beat upon us. And those who not build their foundation upon a solid rock, but yet soft, weak sand, will fall to the temptations of Satan.
One might then ask the question of how we can build our house upon the rock of our redeemer. The answer is through our previous subjects faith and diligence. We must heed to the words of the scriptures and pray with real intent to receive answers from the savior. In chapter five of Helaman we learn what blessing we will receive if we stay worthy and remain faithful: “that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, year, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built.” (3) So as we live worthy and remain faithful to our savior while likening the scriptures to each of our lives we become closer to god and ultimately build a rock for a foundation that eventually will be impenetrable to Satan.
As we build a firm foundation for our own lives we eventually are creating solid foundations for our marriage and family to come. If one is living a life among the teachings of the gospel and is building their life round the rock of our redeemer than his/her family will remain in that same direction. On the other hand if we build our houses upon a “sandy” foundation than this will lead to a family household that can be washed away. This house of a family must be built around the right teachings if it is to remain in the sight of the lord. As a whole we must take heed to the words written in 2 Nephi, saying “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.” (4) And if we can accomplish this, to trust and not be afraid, we will achieve eternal salvation.
It makes sense that our rock and our foundation, our lord, went through the worst experience of suffering to become his perfect self just for us. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul speaks saying, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (5) The one person who we must build our life around is one who has endured all, felt all pains, and has humbled himself before the lord. As it reads in Ether, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”(6) This makes complete sense in that we must push through our trials, push aside our pride and humble ourselves before the lord in order to obtain salvation. It is only through this rock by which we can become perfect in a sense. It is by his grace that we are able to repent and be worthy in the sight of god. In Deuteronomy it reads, “He is the rock, his work is perfect.”(7) This sums it all up. He is the perfect rock that we must all build our lives upon in order to surpass the temptations of the world and to remain on the straight and narrow path. He is the example we must follow, the light of the world.
(1) May issue of the ensign in 2002
(2) November issue of the Ensign of 1994
(3) Helaman 5:12
(4) 2 Nephi 22:2
(5) 2 Corinthians 8:9
(6) Ether 12:27
(7) Deuteronomy 32:4
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15 comments:
Roy, good job! I like how you don't just talk about how to make Christ a rock, but what kind of things that centering effects in our lives. I think Wirthlin's quote is actually a quote of the Savior from the New Testament.
Roy, great blog! I really like the way you use the story we all know from primary about the wise man and the foolish man. It helps make things easy to understand and really brings things home. I also love the scripture you found in 2nd Cor. 8:9. That one really stuck out to me. Good job!
One thing that stood out to me is when you said that Christ went through all of that pain, for Us. It's a wonderful example of the Innumerable amount of things he does for us. Thanks.
I like how you talked about how we can build upon the rock of Christ through faith and diligence. Your post was very well written.
That last line gave me chills. Some sections in this were so beautifully phrased. I enjoyed your testimony!
I like how you portray Christ not only as our foundation, but also as our shield from temptation.
Through a faith in Christ I believe we can gain a true testimony and gain safety from the temptations of life. He will become our Shield. We can be saved through Him.
The primary story was an awesome touch. I also liked the quote from 2 Nephi 22, well done
Good on ya' for tying the connection that building a firm foundation in our own indivdual lives carries over to our future families and marriages someday.
I really liked your first paragh. It simply states what we need to know and what we should be greatful of. Also, I really enjoyed your thoughts of what we should do. Thank you for sharing it.
I love how you said that Christ will protect us from temptation. Enjoyable read!
I loved how you incorporated that scripture from Helaman! It gives me comfort every time I read it.
I really enjoyed hearing about your primary story. It was great. Thanks for sharing your testimony too. Great work.
I love the part about family and the importance of centering the family around the gospel. Our families have been with us since the beginning and will be with us always. They are our first examples and teachers. It is very important that our lives are founded on principles in the Gospel that we learned while we were young.
I really liked how you said that the foundation we build now will benefit us in years to come with our families.
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