Come Follow Me: Moroni 10

 Come Follow Me: Moroni 10

Gifts of the Spirit

Chapter 10

In verses 3-5, we learn that faith in Christ and his gospel begins with real intent.  We cannot discover God and his eternal truths without real intent and desire not only to know, but to do whatever it is that God reveals to us.

Again, Moroni speaks on faith, hope and charity. As we seek with real intent, we receive these and other gifts of God through the Holy Spirit.  “And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things” (v 5).  We learn these things through the gifts we are given.

If we are not receiving some of the gifts of the Spirit in our lives, we should ask ourselves: why not?  Are we not spiritually preparing ourselves?  Are we not seeking the gifts of the Spirit?

President George Q. Cannon noted:

“How many of you are seeking for these gifts that God has promised to bestow? How many of you, when you bow before your Heavenly Father in your family circle or in your secret places, contend for these gifts to be bestowed upon you? How many of you ask the Father in the name of Jesus to manifest Himself to you through these powers and these gifts? Or do you go along day by day like a door turning on its hinges, without having any feeling upon the subject, without exercising any faith whatever, content to be baptized and be members of the Church and to rest there, thinking that your salvation is secure because you have done this?

“I say to you, in the name of the Lord, as one of His servants, that you have need to repent of this. You have need to repent of your hardness of heart, of your indifference and of your carelessness. There is not that diligence, there is not that faith, there is not that seeking for the power of God that there should be among a people who have received the precious promises we have….

“If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. Have I imperfections? I am full of them. What is my duty? To pray to God to give me the gifts that will correct these imperfections…. They are intended for this purpose. No man ought to say, "Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature." He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things and to give gifts that will eradicate them…. That is the design of God concerning His children. He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth.

“The Lord has said in a revelation to the Church that the Saints should "seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given; for verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments…

"How many Latter-day Saints are there who supplicate the Lord for the gifts which they need? …Every defect in the human character can be corrected through the exercise of faith and pleading with the Lord for the gifts that He has said He will give unto those who believe and obey His commandments.” (Millennial Star, 23 Apr. 1894, 260). 

Come Unto Christ

Finally, Moroni encourages and invites us to “come unto Christ and be perfected in him” (v 32).  Of all the gifts of God, the gift of Christ’s atonement is the greatest.  As we have studied the Book of Mormon over the past year, we have found the Nephite prophets bringing us back to this concept time and again.  From Lehi first seeing the Messiah descend from God’s throne to bring him his prophetic calling in 1 Nephi 1, to the resurrected Jesus inviting the Nephites to come to him and touch the wounds in his hands and feet and be healed by him in 3 Nephi, to Moroni’s final words to us in this last chapter, we are invited to believe in Christ and his atonement. 

It is a free gift to any who will humbly ask for it, repent, and allow the Lord to give them a mighty change of heart: from a heart of stone to a heart of pure gold.  Christ can heal us, if we will let him.  He has suffered through all the pains and infirmities in the world, so he can succor us (Alma 7).  He is the only path back to the presence of the Father and eternal life.  He is the Resurrection and the Life.  He is the Way.  He is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal Father.  He is the center of our faith and hope. 

The message of the Book of Mormon is this: We invite all to come to Christ and be perfected in Him.  We invite all to come to Christ and be healed by him.  We invite all to Christ, and let him bring you back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Come unto Christ.