FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT--Feasting Upon His Love

I read the most beautiful verse this morning and wanted to share my thoughts. I was reading in Jacob 3 and I LOVE verses 1-2:

". . . Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause. . . "

"O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and fest upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm forever."

It struck me that all the promises in these two verses are CONDITIONAL. Do you remember in high school geometry, learning about "if, then" statements? This verse is an "if, then" statement as well, meaning that in order for the promise to be fulfilled, something must first be added to the equation. So, in my nerdy way, I wanted to write verse one in equation form:

look to God+firmness in mind+prayer+exceeding faith=consolation in afflictions+mediation+justice

There are tons of these "if-then" statements in the scriptures. I had an institute teacher once teach us to look for three different types of scriptural passages:

1. Principles
2. Doctrines
3. Storylines

Principles are "if-then" statements. They are conditional upon something. Doctrines are true regardless of actions on our part. An example of a doctrine would be "there are three degrees of glory." Storylines are just that; they are verses that tell the history. I have used this framework to study my scriptures for many years. As I am marking my scriptures, I simply write "P" for principle, "D" for doctrine, or "S" for storyline in the margin. This has been a great help for me in my scripture study. It helps me to better understand and focus on what I'm reading and understand what I need to do to claim the blessings that can be mine through righteousness.