When one generally thinks of the word pure, I assume most people also think of the words innocent, holy, and sacred. However, truthfully that is only a broad sense of what purity really is. For example, a newborn baby is one of the purest things to behold on this earth. When my daughter was born and I saw her for the first time, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was what the Savior wants us to be like. Seeing and holding this tiny infant in my arms, I was reminded that the prophet Mormon once saidthat "little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin"1. In telling this to his son Moroni, Mormon made it known to us that children under the age of accountablility are spiritually whole and unable to sin: the kind of purity that we ourselves must strive to acheive. It was this same spiritual wholeness that Jesus himself exemplified during his mortal ministry. Mormon drives this idea of the purity of children further in by saying, "teach parents that they must repent...and humble themselves as their little children"2. Mormon, a chosen prophet of the Lord, would not have said these things lightly. I know that our goal to become more like Jesus can at times seem very daunting and impossible to even approach, so I feel that it helps to try and aim for a less intimidating goal: if being pure like Jesus seems too much, then try to ask yourself, "What would a child do?"
Purity can also come to mean our righteousness in following the Lord and his gospel. David promised us that "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart...shall receive the blessing from the Lord"3. If we strive to be pure of heart and thought, repenting when we make a mistake, then the Lord shall bless us with many things. What these blessings are will differ from person to person, but the fact remains that the blessings are part of a covenant, with having a pure heart being one of the conditions of that covenant. Only by fulfilling our end of the promise will the Lord fulfill his end, that being the blessings. You only have to look at the righteousness cycles of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon to understand how these things work. Whenever the Nephites were a righteous people, the Lord blessed them with prosperity. Eventually, the Nephites would begin to become proud and vain. After they fell far enough, the Lord takes away those blessing and in some cases even lets the Nephites' enemies defeat them. Their defeat and subsequent hardships lead the Nephites to becoming a righteous people once more, wherein the Lord pours out his blessings again, causing the cycle to start all over again. If we simply learned to stay humble and pure of heart all the time, without letting a love of worldly things impede us, then I'm sure that we will continue to be blessed and prosper in the lands of our inheritance.
Another aspect of purity we don't really think about too often is the fact that the words of the Lord are in themselves pure. Eliphaz once asked Job, "Shall a man be more pure than his maker?"4. We know that God is the purest of all beings, so wouldn't it make sense that the words of the Most High would be considered sacred and pure? The gospel itself is composed of light and truth, both of which properly describe purity. I don't think this is a coincidence. The words and true gospel of God are words of the purest kind and are vital to our exhaltation. There is nothing more helpful to us in our quest for progression than the holy scriptures, other than the Holy Ghost and faithful prayer.
In closing, I want to remind everyone that purity is not just a word used to describe someone or something. Purity is a sign in my eyes, a sign that we are progressing towards our eternal salvation and away from our everlasting damnation. If we strive to be innocent like our little children, be righteous in all our thoughts and deeds, and listen to the pure word of God, then we can truly be like the Savior himself. Also, don't forget the purest of all deeds: charity. As the scriptures teach, "charity is the pure love of Christ"5 and we must do all that we can to be a righteous and charitable people. Doing so will keep us on the straight and narrow path and keep us safe from Satan's temptations.
Works Cited
1- Moroni 8:8
2- Moroni 8:10
3- Psalms 24:4
4- Job 4:17
5- Moroni 7:47
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Jason, great job! I especially like your discussion of the purity of little children and your personal experience with your daughter. Did you find anything on the LDS Church website or with the scripture concordance tool that was interesting to you?
Your words are powerful and persuasive. You write with the authority of real experience. Thank you for this excellent discourse.
It is good to remember that children are the most pure. Sometimes we should look up to them instead of the other way around.
i loved the begining of your blog about your daughter. i also loved your use of questions throughout the blog. very good.
I love your definition/thought of the word purity. Also, your fourth paragraph touched my heart! There is no doubt that the words of Father are the purest of all things. We can not deny that.
I enjoyed reading your blog, you an excellent writer. I could tell that you put a lot of thought into it, and I like the examples you gave for the different meanings of purity.
Well done! You certainly had a nice flow to your post that made it so much easier to read. It's true that aiming for Christlike purity is daunting, but thank you for giving me another aim that is more obtainable.
This was very well done. I especially like how you drew the connection between purity and your children. I love babies! It's so wonderful to see their purity shine from within.
I loved your view of purity, of striving to become pure like a child. What a simple and profound testimony.
I liked your synonyms to purity, they help show the real meaning that we must all better understand. I also like the question "what would a child do?"
Jason, I haven't had any children of my own but understand what you mean when you say that you just know they are pure and incapable of committing sin.
Post a Comment