Serving God and Man

Mosiah3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint 

through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,

submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all 

things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth 

submit to his father.

This verse in Mosiah has much to teach is. Earlier in the Book of Mormon, we read of Enos and his struggle, despite his close association with Nephi and Jacob, with repenting of his sins and obtaining his testimony of the atonement of the Savior. Each of us must "wrestle before the Lord (not with Him) to come to know the truthfulness of the teachings of the prophets, the restored gospel and to obtain our own testimony.

The natural man is an enemy to God In our natural state, we are prone to sin. King Benjamin taught that we must yield to the enticings of the Holy Ghost to put off the natural man. We know that to have the Holy Ghost as our companion, we must live worthily and we must quiet our surroundings to hear "the still small voice'. Once we have "wrestled before God", once we have repented of our sins, we can allow the Atonement of the Savior to wash away our sins.

Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we receive a remission of the penalty of our sins. Christ has suffered and paid the price so we do not have to as long as we have repented our sins. 

Dallin H. Oaks taught: “We understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to overcome the spiritual death that results from sin and, through making and keeping sacred covenants, to have the blessings of eternal life.” In referring to Mosiah 3:19, Elder Neal A. Maxwell discussed how we might accomplish this task: “Personal righteousness, worship, prayer, and scripture study are so crucial in order to ‘[put] off the natural man’. The Savior taught us, we must “Except ye be converted, and become as little children,ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18:3-4 In this way we can

becometh as a child,submissive, meek, humble, patient, full 

of love, willing to submit to all things. Sister Jean Stevens taught us that, "They are full of faith and receptive to feelings of the Spirit. They exemplify humility,obedience, and love. They are often the first to love and the first to forgive. They have believing hearts." Children are without guile and are easily led. Their example to us is powerful when it comes to how we should follow the example of the Savior, obey the commandments and choose to do right. Later in Mosiah, King Benjamin teaches us, “that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” . And isn't that what we all ultimately desire? To have a mighty change wrought in our hearts? It is my prayer that we will all heed this wise counsel, that we will put off the natural man (our desire for sin), quiet our minds and yield to the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost to reveal truth and guide and direct us. That we will live worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. That we will allow the atonement of Jesus Christ to, after all that we can do, wash away our sins and redeem us to be able to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. That we might become as a little child and align, even forsake our own will to our Heavenly Father's. This is my prayer for all of us.