First, I was reading in Alma Chapter 1 about Nehor and how he went around the land teaching false doctrine and establishing churches for the purpose of getting gain. Alma talks about the differences in the people who believed in true doctrines versus those who follow Nehor's false doctrines.
27 And they(members of the true church) did aimpart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the bpoor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly capparel, yet they were neat and comely.
28 And thus they did establish the affairs of the church; and thus they began to have continual peace again, notwithstanding all their persecutions.
29 And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceedingly arich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need—an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things, and abundance of bsilk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely ccloth.
30 And thus, in their aprosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were bnaked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon criches; therefore they were dliberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no erespect to persons as to those who stood in need.
31 And thus they did aprosper and become far more wealthy than those who did not belong to their church.
Those last verses really caught my attention. We know that we are blessed through our obedience, but these verses really emphasized just how much the Lord blessed his people when they consecrated and sacrificed all that they had.
From there, I thought of Nephi and how he and his family were asked to leave all that they had to go into the wilderness. Later, they gave all their precious things to Laban in an effort to get the Brass plates. We know that Lamen and Lemuel murmmered but Nephi's response was "I will go and do". And while we don't know what exactly he said to his father when Lehi announced to his family that they were leaving Jerusalem and their home, and taking only provisions for the trip, we can know that Nephi's response must have been something similar to what he said when asked to go back and get the plates.
I struggled to know whether or not I could do what Nephi did. Nephi was asked to sacrifice all he had, and he did it. I wondered if it was hard for him to say "I will go and do", or if it came easy to him. When I read verses 12-16, I was comforted. "And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their afather. And they did bmurmur because they cknew not the dealings of that God who had dcreated them..... And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the amysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did bvisit me, and did csoften my heart that I did dbelieve all the words which had been spoken by my efather; wherefore, I did not frebel against him like unto my brothers."
I imagine that it was hard for Nephi to "go and do" but his strength to obey came from a sure knowledge given to him by the spirit that his father was a prophet.
I realized that we too can have the Lord visit us and soften our hearts and cause us to believe if we but ask. When our hearts are right, and we truely desire to do what the Lord wants us to, and to know that what we are being asked to do is coming from God, we will be given the faith necessary to "go and do" just as Nephi did.
While right now the idea of giving up all that I am and have to the Lord, being able to walk away from every earthly possesion, turn over all my time, talents, money, etc to the building of the Kingdom seems daunting and I question my capacity to do so, I take comfort in knowing that my desire to obey will be magnified. Through my testimony of God's prophets, the truthfulness of His church, and with an extra witness of the spirit, I have faith that the Lord will provide a way for me to live the law of consecration and sacrifice.
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