Eye of Faith

I was recently asked to teach a lesson in church based on an article by Henry B. Eyring . It was about the law of tithing , but taught important principles that I think apply to following any of God’s commandments. President Eyring stated, "…paying a full tithe in this life prepares us to feel what we need to feel to receive the gift of eternal life.” I think the same could be said of many other commandments, obedience to them isn’t an end unto itself, but prepares us to feel what we need to feel to receive eternal life. I thought this was an interesting statement because we often hear discussion about what we need to be or do, but rarely do we hear about what we need to feel. President Eyring didn’t teach any groundbreaking doctrine, but clearly expressed in a few words the process of conversion. In my personal experience, I have often made commitments to obey commandments before I truly felt what I needed to feel. I paid tithing because I was asked to before I learned to want ...

In Luke, Chapter 7, a woman known as a sinner visited Jesus in a Pharisee’s home. She showered the Savior with love: washing, kissing, and anointing his feet. The Savior used the woman’s example and a parable to teach a simple and profound lesson. In his parable two individuals were both forgiven a debt by their creditor, one for a much larger sum than the other. He then asked, “which of them will love him most.” The Pharisee, who had been silently condemning Christ for allowing the woman to touch him, responded “he, to whom he forgave most.” The Savior then spoke of the woman, and said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” This lesson is reiterated later in 1 Peter 4:8, when we are taught, “charity [love] shall cover the multitude of sins.” It seems that forgiveness can come as a reward for our love, which is why we are taught, “if ye have not charity, ye are nothing,” (Moroni 7:46) and, “the greatest of ...

We had a Sunday School lesson the other day about the miracles Jesus performed during his mortal ministry. The teacher had written on the board, "Why Jesus performed miracles." As we discussed some of these events in the New Testament, the class came up with various reasons such as showing individual love and compassion, teaching gospel principles, giving witness of His divine role, etc. However, the question elicited a much different response from me. Rather than thinking of why He did perform miracles in certain circumstances, I was pondering about why He sometimes doesn't intervene with a miracle. All I could think about was times when a wanted miracle didn’t occur – when people exercised faith and God could have intervened to heal someone, save a life, or soften a heart, but didn’t. I was thinking of the few times in my life when I put all the faith I could in the promise, "ask and ye shall receive," but I didn't receive. I know this may sound like unf...

Grace, much like other common and seemingly simple scriptural words such as faith and hope, carries much more meaning that any simple definition can convey. I’ve often struggled to understand exactly what the concept of grace really means. Some of the difficulties my wife and I went through during my recent deployment to Afghanistan gave me an increased understanding on the topic. I think my idea of grace has, for a long time, been shaped by the words in 2 Nephi 25:23, “…for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do,” as well as a popular book from LDS author Stephen Robinson called Believing Christ . His book shared what he called the Parable of the Bicycle where a young boy does all he can to save money to buy a bicycle, but comes up drastically short of the needed sum. His father, recognizing the boy’s intent, effort, and limitations, makes up the difference. This story and the scripture in Nephi build the concept that grace is what we are given as a reward...

If you know me personally or have read either my about the author page or political blog , you’ll know that independent thought is extremely important to me. I firmly believe we should all come to our own conclusions about what is right and true – and that we ought to live and act according to those convictions. I understand we are all biased and influenced by those around us, but believe it’s extremely important not to let our beliefs, ideas, and thoughts be based solely on what others have told us. That very mentality is what drove me to become a committed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . I’d like to share that process as the beginning of my newest writing effort – sharing my spiritual perspective on the world. As a young person, I was generally uninterested in religion. That disinterest wasn’t because I felt like there was no God, but because it seemed as though most religions had no particular foundation for speaking authoritatively on the subject. (I don...