FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT

Mosiah 2:23-25

"And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him."

"And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted to him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore of what have ye to boast?"

"And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the eart; yet ye were created of the dust of the eart; but behold it belongeth to him who created you."

It occured to me as I read these and other verses in Mosiah this morning, that there could be potentially a fine line between feelings of godly humility and feelings of self-doubt. What are we supposed to learn or to feel about our worth from reading these verses? What was King Bejamin's intent when he taught that we are "worthless" and "unprofitable servants?" Are we then supposed to feel that we have no purpose, no hope, no value? No. I think that the purpose of these seemingly harsh words is to remind us that just as "with God all things are possible," that without God, we cannot do anything of worth. Ironically, we are intended to learn a great deal about our divine potential from these verses. We learn that on our own we are nothing, but that we have God on our side, which ensures eternal and exquisite value and triumph!

I love, love, love the promise that King Benjamin gives in verse 24: " . . .do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you. . . "

I don't think that humility means we should feel worthless. I think that humility, rather keeps company with hope in God. It speaks to me of the joy and peace that come with a godly partnership here on earth. It means that we have learned to be submissive and meek as a little child. So, let us banish all thoughts of despair, all negative thinking of ourselves. Instead, let us fill ourselves with godly humilty, the kind that allows great and wonderful blessings to enter into our lives as we join with the Father, acknowledging that we are eternally His.