"But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yes, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection.
Therefore ought ye not to tremble? For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim."
Today was simply an amazing day. Seeing the seed of the gospel unmistakably planted in someone's heart is an experience that is hard to match. Institute tonight was awesome, as always, and I think more so tonight in particular because of the change I saw in the demeanor of Maritza tonight in comparison to the way she normally carries herself. I am going to continue to pray for her, she truly does seek after that which is true, and she is closer now than she ever before has been. If there is any time in her life that she needs the direction and guidance of the Lord, it is right now. I feel an odd peace come over me when I ponder on her future with the church, it almost seems as though there is no need for me to worry, the Lord is taking care of her. I do hope I am correct in this, it would bring me so much happiness and joy to see her partake of the blessings of the gospel. I yearn for it!
However, I heard a phrase used the other day that really bothered me. A close friend of mine was talking about "temple day" referring to the day in which one attends the temple. The term came up while we were talking about movies. He brought up the movie "The Producers" which I think is a great movie, freaking hilarious. Anyways, he mentioned that he loved the movie, but didn't feel as though it was appropriate to watch on "temple day." That got me thinking, why should "temple day" be any different from any other day of our life? We should feel as though we are clean and worthy enough to attend the temple any and every day shouldn't we? If we do things that we wouldn't do assuming we were going to the temple later that day, should we do those things in the first place?
Then I got wondering, how many other people in the church share that same sentiment? Because in all honesty that sentiment reminds me of nothing other than compromise and rationalization. Mindset has a lot to do with intent. In order to have the correct intent, regarding our honoring the gospel, we must have the correct mindset about what it takes to do so correctly, and we must be black and white about what is and what is not correct. There is no middle ground when it comes to the gospel, there are only 2 directions in life. Up, towards the Celestial Kingdom, or down, towards eternal and everlasting hell.
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