Oct 23- Doctrine and Covenants 121:45-46

(upbeat music) - Hey everybody, welcome to Come Follow Me Daily Dose. I'm Lindsay Hanson and today is October 23rd. Today we're gonna finish up this week's Come Follow Me block by talking a little bit about verses 45 and 46. They say, "Let thy bells also be full of charity "towards all men and to the household of faith. "And let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. "Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God. "And the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon the soul "as the do's from heaven. "The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, "and thy scepter, an unchanging scepter of righteousness "and truth, and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion. "And without compulsory means, it shall flow unto thee "forever and ever." Such amazing blessings there. And let's figure out how we get there. What do we need to do to obtain these blessings? In order to do that, let's start at the end and work our way backwards. So the blessing here is, first of all, the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion. Who doesn't need and desperately desire that blessing? It's interesting, sometimes I think we expect the Holy Ghost to act upon us. Like we were baptized and confirmed, and so we feel like we have that right to have the Holy Ghost with us always. But the words of the confirmation prayer are important there. The command given in that prayer is to receive the Holy Ghost. It doesn't say we bless you to have the Holy Ghost with you always, it's a command to receive it. Meaning there needs to be action on our part. If we don't accept that gift of the Holy Ghost, if we don't do everything necessary to have that gift of the Holy Ghost, then we can't have access to this promised blessing. So that's the first blessing. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion. And then it says, "And thy scepter, "an unchanging scepter of righteousness, "and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion." Now those are some really interesting symbols. A scepter is a symbol of leadership. If you were a leader over a group of people, you would have a scepter to show that these were your people, this is your group, right? So that scepter is just kind of this symbol of being a leader over this group. And then it says, "And thy dominion "shall be an everlasting dominion." Dominion is kind of like a kingdom. So your people, your people will be an everlasting people. Now my friends, let's think about this in relationship to our families. As parents, we have that scepter over our families. Our families are like our own little dominion, our own little kingdom, our own little group. Now here, the promise is that our scepter, our group, our families, can be a family of righteousness and truth. And that our dominion, our families, can be everlasting. But what I absolutely love here is that it makes these promises of this eternal family, this righteous family, this good family. And it says, "Without compulsory means, "without forcing, without coercion, "without demanding or yelling, "our family can flow unto us forever and ever." What an incredible promise. What an incredible blessing that's given to us. And it is a blessing that is promised to us through our righteousness. So like I said, we were gonna take a look at the promise blessings and then we're gonna work backwards to see what we need to do. So now let's take a look at verse 45, which says, "Let thy bals also be full of charity "towards all men and to the household of faith." In Doctrine and Covenants section 88, we're told to above all else, clothe ourselves in charity. Charity is the defining Christ-like attribute. It's kind of this parent attribute of all other attributes. And so here, we're being told to let our bals be filled with charity towards all men. But then I love the clarification that's given here. Yes, charity towards everyone and to the household of faith. Yes, have charity towards all men, but that charity should especially be present in our homes and in our families. It's not enough for God if we are kind and good and compassionate and charitable to everyone we meet while not being those things to our own family, to our kids, to our spouses, to our parents, to our siblings. Our bals need to be filled with compassion, with Christ-like attributes to all men and especially to our families. Elder Marvin J. Ashton taught about charity and what charity is. Now, as I read this, I want you to picture what your home would be like, what your family would be like if we had this kind of charity with our family. Elder Ashton says, "Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings, having patience with someone who has let us down or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us." Imagine our homes. Imagine our marriages. Imagine our relationships with our parents, siblings, kids, and spouses. If above all else, we were kind to each other. If above all else, we were willing to accept each other's differences and weaknesses. If above all else, we were patient when someone we love has let us down. If we were willing to look past and accept when someone didn't handle something exactly the way we would have. If above all else, we were willing to forgive one another. Charity in our homes, kindness in our homes is essential to the kind of righteousness needed to keep our family close to us and flowing unto us forever and ever. It goes on to say, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." But my friends, I testify that if charity is this parent of all virtues, if we are charitable, virtue will naturally follow. And if we are charitable, if we are Christ-like, we will have Christ's image in our countenances. And then, because Christ's image is in our countenance, our confidence in the presence of God will wax strong because we will be like Him. My friends, our righteousness, our charity, our love will affect our generations to come. Orson F. Whitney once taught, the prophet Joseph Smith declared, "And he never taught a more comforting doctrine "that the eternal ceilings of faithful parents "and the divine promises made to them "for valiant service in the cause of truth "would not only save themselves, "but likewise their posterity. "Though some of their sheep may wander, "the eye of the shepherd is upon them. "And sooner or later, "they will fill the tentacles of divine providence, "reaching out after them "and drawing them back into the fold. "Either in this life or in the life to come, "they will return." My friends, that promise that comes with righteousness for the divine tentacles of God to reach after our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren, sounds an awful lot like this promise that without compulsory means, our posterity will flow unto us forever and ever. My friends, I testify that even though we aren't perfect, even though we make mistakes, even though we aren't always charitable, especially to those that we love most, it's my testimony that through righteous principles, through righteous living, through us doing our very best, God has promises for us and for our family, so much so that we can have faith and peace and joy knowing that he has a plan for every single member of our family, especially those who we may fill are lost. He has the ability to draw them to us. He has the ability, without compulsory means, to make sure that they flow unto us forever and ever through our righteous living and our efforts and through his infinite goodness. Thank you so much for listening today. If you're enjoying this podcast, make sure to follow us on social media, subscribe, like, comment, or share. This has been Come Follow Me, Dainty Doves, and I'm Dainty Hansen. (upbeat music)