"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in the eternal world."
I think that scripture is quite often mistaken. Or rather not so much mistaken as that I believe it applies to a principle that gets over looked quite often, one that in my opinion could help people find a source of strength far greater than they would otherwise attain. From my experience when people read that scripture they mostly think that it is not meet that people should wait until they are on their deathbed to begin their repentance process. But if that is all they perceive from this, they are missing a very valuable nugget of wisdom.
If this scripture were a discussion on when to, or not to, begin the repentance process it would not talk about "the time that ye go out of this life." That is because the repentance process is just that, a process. It does not happen over night, and therefore cannot be attained on one's "death bed."
What I believe this scripture discusses is a person's view on the way they live their life, not the way they view their death. Repentance is an every day thing, it is a refiner's fire, it should become an attribute of ours just as much as mercy, love, happiness, sadness, and the whole array of emotions. A repentant attitude is a humble attitude, it keeps one's pride in check because if we are prideful then we will think and feel as though we have nothing to repent of, no one to answer to, and we will possibly get a "holier than thou" syndrome when it comes to interacting with other people. Especially other people whom we KNOW are "sinners." (Which leads me to another thought, are not we all sinners?)
The underlying principle that I gather from this discourse is that of enduring. Of enduring through the trials of our day. Our respective days in fact, because enduring is necessary no matter the struggle. If we successfully endure, with a repentant attitude, there will be no need to hope for a "death bed repentance" of sorts because we will have performed our righteous labors in the time given to us to do so. The spirit that is mentioned at the end of that passage is that of either a lethargic one (one that does not take the business of repentance seriously) or that of a devout and God-Respecting one. I pray each day that my spirit within will eek out of my body and overflow into my actions and my words. That my person will carry out the desires of my heart, the desires of my spirit. And I have faith that in doing so, I will carry the image of Christ on my countenance, and that the spirit which doth possess my body in the eternal world is one of love, charity, and faith.
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in the eternal world."
I think that scripture is quite often mistaken. Or rather not so much mistaken as that I believe it applies to a principle that gets over looked quite often, one that in my opinion could help people find a source of strength far greater than they would otherwise attain. From my experience when people read that scripture they mostly think that it is not meet that people should wait until they are on their deathbed to begin their repentance process. But if that is all they perceive from this, they are missing a very valuable nugget of wisdom.
If this scripture were a discussion on when to, or not to, begin the repentance process it would not talk about "the time that ye go out of this life." That is because the repentance process is just that, a process. It does not happen over night, and therefore cannot be attained on one's "death bed."
What I believe this scripture discusses is a person's view on the way they live their life, not the way they view their death. Repentance is an every day thing, it is a refiner's fire, it should become an attribute of ours just as much as mercy, love, happiness, sadness, and the whole array of emotions. A repentant attitude is a humble attitude, it keeps one's pride in check because if we are prideful then we will think and feel as though we have nothing to repent of, no one to answer to, and we will possibly get a "holier than thou" syndrome when it comes to interacting with other people. Especially other people whom we KNOW are "sinners." (Which leads me to another thought, are not we all sinners?)
The underlying principle that I gather from this discourse is that of enduring. Of enduring through the trials of our day. Our respective days in fact, because enduring is necessary no matter the struggle. If we successfully endure, with a repentant attitude, there will be no need to hope for a "death bed repentance" of sorts because we will have performed our righteous labors in the time given to us to do so. The spirit that is mentioned at the end of that passage is that of either a lethargic one (one that does not take the business of repentance seriously) or that of a devout and God-Respecting one. I pray each day that my spirit within will eek out of my body and overflow into my actions and my words. That my person will carry out the desires of my heart, the desires of my spirit. And I have faith that in doing so, I will carry the image of Christ on my countenance, and that the spirit which doth possess my body in the eternal world is one of love, charity, and faith.
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