 |
| Now remember, if you're ever having a bad day.... you're never alone😉 |
Merry Christmas eve everyone! So, We had a pretty good week! It was especially dedicated to studying and planning, and going INSANE because we weren't allowed to leave our apartment for 3 days this week! Togo had their election and not to get to political but lets just say that the people and the president have a problem with one another and so people like to show how they feel by manifestations and stuff if you get what I'm saying 😉 Its all good now, nothing really to crazy happened. I mostly just think they had us do that as a safety measure just in case and so we wouldn't look like we were involved in politics. Haha, But it was good they had us prepare like it was either the end of the world or the Second Coming and so now we probably won't run out of food or toilet paper until the end of the transfer!
In being on a mission here I feel like it is easier to see what Christmas is about. We don't have snow, or lights, or Christmas trees, or family around to spend time with. But the one thing we do have the same is the celebration and message of Jesus Christ. One thing I hadn't really thought about before this Christmas was the question of why do we have a need for a Christmas anyways? We all hear the words of "peace, light, and hope" during this time but do we truly understand that Christ's purpose was more than just to bring a nice feeling and happy thoughts but to save a literally fallen people! Elder Holland, I think, put it best (as usually right 😉) He said "we cannot fully understand the purpose of Jesus Christ without first understanding the fall of Adam and Eve. That there was a literal Garden of Eden in which they lived and because of their fall, made it impossible to ever return to God's presence. The world was forever lost in despair." But despair was not the plan of God. In Cor 15:21-22 it says " for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (21) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." But it wasn't just anyone who could redeem man from this fall. In John 10 it teaches us that only Jesus, being the first born of the Father and Son of God in the flesh was capable to give his own life and then take it again. Christ, the creator of this earth was not sent as a solution in case Adam and Eve ate the fruit but was foreordained before the foundations of this world to save us from sin and death. But his life on this earth wasn't the end of his purpose. I really like this excerpt from 3 Nephi 11:
10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.
12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.
13 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:
14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.
15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.
We now prepare for the second coming of the same Christ when he will once again appear to man and every knee shall bend, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus is The Christ.
Merry Christmas!
Elder Briggs
Merry Christmas!
Elder Briggs
No comments:
Post a Comment