5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.
I’m thinking today about the promise Nephi makes in the passage above: that if we receive the Holy Ghost, it will show us what we need to do. Obviously, as a member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost knows everything (see 2 Nephi 9:20). We also recognize that our ability to receive knowledge is limited, both because of the imperfection of our mortal brains and because education is an incremental process. The Spirit can teach us all things (Moroni 10:5), but we may not be ready to learn all things. So I’m grateful that Nephi’s promise above is more focused: the Spirit will show us what we need to do now.
When I think of perfection, I can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. I certainly fall far short of the perfect love, judgment, and wisdom of God, and I can think of many things I wish I did better. But as Nephi reviewed his actions earlier in his writings, he applied a different, more sensible criterion. He said simply, “Thus far I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us” (1 Nephi 5:20). Heavenly Father had given him a set of achievable (albeit challenging) assignments, and he had completed them all. How satisfying it must have been to recognize that he had fulfilled all of those commandments!
Today, I will remember that the Holy Ghost can teach me what God wants me to do. I will avoid becoming overwhelmed by the complexities of life, and will instead focus on the specific things the Lord wants me personally to do. I will seek to know what those things are by the Spirit of the Lord, and I will commit to obey each of those commandments as I receive them.
When I think of perfection, I can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. I certainly fall far short of the perfect love, judgment, and wisdom of God, and I can think of many things I wish I did better. But as Nephi reviewed his actions earlier in his writings, he applied a different, more sensible criterion. He said simply, “Thus far I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us” (1 Nephi 5:20). Heavenly Father had given him a set of achievable (albeit challenging) assignments, and he had completed them all. How satisfying it must have been to recognize that he had fulfilled all of those commandments!
Today, I will remember that the Holy Ghost can teach me what God wants me to do. I will avoid becoming overwhelmed by the complexities of life, and will instead focus on the specific things the Lord wants me personally to do. I will seek to know what those things are by the Spirit of the Lord, and I will commit to obey each of those commandments as I receive them.
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