Love, Reverence, Honor, Nuture

Continuing to think this week about Paul's writings to the Ephesians for Come, Follow Me, I appreciated his counsel about parents loving and reverencing each other and nurturing their children with a family focus on Jesus Christ.  This is so applicable today.

I'm grateful for clarifying counsel by modern leaders in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World".

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it
Ephesians 5:25

Wife see that she reverence her husband.
Ephesians 5:33

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  Honour thy father and mother;
Ephesians 6:1-2

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

It also reminds me of the counsel of King Benjamin in Mosiah 4:

14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

Why Apostles and Prophets...

Paul explains why the Lord calls prophets and apostles....  Clearly, they are so sorely needed today.

The apostle Paul to the Ephesians:
  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Ephesians 4:11-15

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free

In this week's Come, Follow Me studies, Paul reminds us that we should "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" and later teaches that being "called unto liberty" means we should "serve one another" and "love thy neighbour as thyself" (Galatians 5:1,13,14).

I've been pondering a lot lately what it means to be a Christian--a follower of Christ--and I think these teachings of Paul embody the core of this. The Book of Mormon gives us some great examples of standing fast in liberty and loving others (see Mosiah 23:13-15).

 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…
 13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Galatians 5

Be of One Mind

Paul's message of unity and peace ("be of one mind, live in peace") is applicable today and will lead to the love and peace that we and the world need.

Note that his counsel to "be perfect" in the ancient Greek carries the meaning to "be what you ought to be".  Let's not get discouraged if we are not yet Godly.  Jesus Christ will make that happen through his grace.  He says, "Come, Follow Me."  Let's do what we can and turn to him.

This is one of the things we've been ponderizing this week from the Come, Follow Me reading.

Be perfect,
be of good comfort,
be of one mind,
live in peace;
and
the God of love and peace
shall be with you

2 Corinthians 13:11

Peace, peace be unto you,

because of your faith

in my Well Beloved.

Helaman 5:47

Eternal Weight of Glory

I am grateful for the eternal perspective the Gospel gives us and the hope and peace it offers. Paul talked of this in his epistle to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) which reminded me of similar principles learned by the people of King Benjamin in Mosiah 5:3. We have been reading 2 Corinthians this week for Come, Follow Me.

we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come;
Mosiah 5:3

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18