“Eternal Life, which Gift is the Greatest of all the Gifts of God.” (D&C 14:7) by Marina Bair

When the scriptures the words saved and salvation can have different means according to the context. Salvation could mean being saved from physical death and spiritual death. But salvation could also mean exaltation, “For I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee...shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal,” (Abraham 2:11, emphasis added). The last interpretation is the one that I want to focus on. 2 Nephi 31:20 reads, “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” I love this scripture because it is like a road map, telling us how to receive salvation. The five things we are told to do in this scripture are to have a “steadfastness in Christ”, faith, “perfect brightness of hope”, hope, “love of God and of all men”, charity, “feasting upon the words of Christ”, scripture study, and “endure to the end.” The main three points I want to talk about from this scripture is faith, hope and charity.

What is faith? Alma 32:21 says, “Faith in not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” What we learn from Alma is that faith is not a perfect knowledge of things rather faith perfects our knowledge of things. I don't know all the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but the Spirit whispers to me that what I know is true. The Spirit strengths my faith which in turn strengthens my knowledge, or perfects what I know to be true. How can we strengthen our faith? When we exercise our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ our faith increases. We can exercise our faith by praying to our Heavenly Father, studying and pondering our scriptures and by serving those around us. Mosiah 5:15 reads, “Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works that Christ...may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life.” Good works is an excellent way to exercise our faith. My faith increases as I feel the Spirit and I feel the Spirit the most when I am doing service, reading my scriptures and when I am listening and/or singing the beautiful hymns of our church. “Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever you work toward a worthy goal, you exercise faith. You show your hope for something that you cannot yet see.” [1]

“The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty.” But in the gospel, “The word hope is sure, unwavering, and active.” [2] Hope comes after you gain your faith in Christ. As Aaron explained to Lamoni's father, “If thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.” [3] What should our hope be in? Moroni explains, “Ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal.” [4] I also see hope as perspective. When I read, “a perfect brightness of hope,” I think of having the eternal perspective in our minds and hearts, because the eternal plan for us is so beautiful and happy that it feels like pure light. And knowing that the plan would be void without the Atonement of Christ, fills me with gratitude and hope in my Savior. When we have faith and hope in our Savior it leads us to want to become like Him in all aspects including being able to love as He loves.

“Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever.” [5] Charity is also more than love it is a way of being, “And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all thing.” (Moroni 7:45) President George Albert Smith, a great man, exemplified charity in his life. “Immediately following World War II, the Church had a drive to amass warm clothing to ship to suffering Saints in Europe. Elder Harold B. Lee and Elder Marion G. Romney took President George Albert Smith to Welfare Square in Salt Lake City to view the results. They were impressed by the generous response of the membership of the Church. They watched President Smith observing the workers as they packaged this great volume of donated clothing and shoes. They saw tears running down his face. After a few moments, President George Albert Smith removed his own new overcoat and said, “'Please ship this also.'” The Brethren said to him, “'No, President, no; don’t send that; it’s cold and you need your coat.'” But President Smith would not take it back; and so his coat, with all the others, was sent to Europe, where the nights were long and dark and food and clothing were scarce. Then the shipments arrived. Joy and thanksgiving were expressed aloud, as well as in secret prayer.” [6] That is such a beautiful story. Charity is love, but if you do not share those feelings through your actions what good will that love be? We should all strive to have that kind of love in us and ready to share with others.

In 2 Nephi 31:20 we are instructed to “feast upon the words of Christ.” In 2 Nephi 32:3 says that we need to, “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” The words that are used in these scriptures are specific. They do not say skim the words of Christ or nibble here and there, they say feast upon the words of Christ! The words of the Lord are so important! The words of the Lord feed our faith and hope, they tells us what we need to do to return to our heavenly home. The final thing that we are instructed to do in the 2 Nephi scripture is to, “endure to the end.” Enduring through all the hardships of this mortality and keeping a steadfast faith in Christ will not be easy, but the Lord never said it would be easy he only said that it would be worth it.

It is through Jesus Christ that we have the opportunity to be saved, or exalted. But we have to do our part. As Nephi says, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” [7] I know that if we follow the teachings of the prophets, living and those who have passed on, that we will be blessed with eternal life. And I know that if we will have faith, hope, charity, diligently studying the scriptures, participate in the priesthood ordinances and endure to the end that we will be able to live with our families in the eternities.

Works Cited:

[1] True to the Faith

[2] True to the Faith

[3] Alma 22:16

[4] Moroni 7:41

[5] Moroni 7:47

[6] Thomas S. Monson, “Your Eternal Home,” Ensign, May 2000, 52

[7] 2 Nephi 25:23