I Will Give Away All My Sins to Know Thee

I've been studying a lot this year about light and truth.  I learned that Jesus Christ is the source of light and truth; that all of us are given the light of Christ to guide us in our lives; and that if we follow this light, that we can make our way safely back to our Father in Heaven's presence.  It's basically that simple.

I have read a book called Following the Light of Christ into his Presence, by John Pontius recently.  He explains that the rod of iron, or word of God in Nephi's dream, represents the light of Christ, or the Spirit of Christ, which we can receive as the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  As we learn to receive this gift, or as we listen to the promptings given by this voice, we will be able to be guided, lifted, and our pathways lighted until we can become worthy, through our Savior's grace, to enter into the presence of the Lord.  Simply stated, Mr. Pontius teaches that personal revelation is our rod of iron, that it will lead us each unfailingly to the Love of God, to Charity the Pure Love of Christ, and to Eternal Lives.  It is the purpose of our lives to learn to follow this voice of truth, and the reward for doing so will be perfection through Christ and salvation in His kingdom.

Today we had a lesson in Relief Society about following in the path of the Savior.  It was based on the talk,  Ponder the Path of Thy Feet by Thomas S. Monson.  One of the paths mentioned in this talk was the path of obedience. During the lesson, I was reminded of an experience I had last year when I was reading about King Lamoni's father in the book of Alma, chapter 22 verse 18  This is the part of the scripture that struck me:  ". . .O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee." I was thinking about conversion, and how people change.  Some people change over time, but some people make a sudden and complete change from wickedness to righteousness with a sudden deep commitment.  They never look back from that time forward.  They simply accept the saving grace of the atonement and become purified through Christ's grace,  remaining ever valiant and obedient afterward. 

All of this has kind of gelled in my mind as being the way to gain light and truth, to build faith and testimony, and to trust in the Lord.  That we could give away our sins to know Him.

I have been trying to go through a process of  "giv(ing) away all my sins to know thee" since then.  I have been trying to listen more closely for promptings from the spirit, and to follow them more completely.  As I recognize promptings in my life and follow them, I find that there is always a spiritual reward, or confirmation that the thing that I am doing (in being obedient to the spirit) is pleasing to the Lord.  This is felt as joy, or peace, or as an inner light or warmth.  It is hard to describe these feelings, but they can be quite intense.  Sometimes I wonder how one could actually function normally if you felt   such a strong spiritual witness all of the time.  I hope to continue to be more sensitive and obedient to the light of Christ in my life until living with the Holy Ghost as my constant companion becomes a normal part of my life.

Over and over the gospel teaches us that we will receive blessings and be worthy of the companionship of the spirit of Jesus Christ by being obedient to the commandments of God.  John Pontius suggests that we can't remember all the commandments, to do them, and we can't always know which of all the things that we could choose to do is actually the right thing for us in each specific circumstance without the promptings of the spirit. By simply becoming sensitive to the light of Christ and by following spiritual promptings, or in other words, by receiving our own personal revelation, which is always perfectly tailored to our own questions and needs,  we can always know what is right for us to do at any given moment.  This becomes our own personal rod of iron to lead us always towards the tree of life.  

"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." Moroni 10:5

I felt like I was supposed to record these impressions.  So I have followed that prompting.  Now I feel the confirmation of the spirit--and that is how it works.

This morning, I remembered a simple Children's song about following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  It is a very simple message, but it is also very profound.  I thought I'd add it to this post.

  
Listen to the still small voice!
Listen! Listen!
when you have to make a choice.
He will guide you always.

Words and music: Merrill Bradshaw