I am so thankful for the call of the Savior. Christ has given us the call to, "come forth unto me."(3 Nephi 11: 14). He also calls, "Follow thou me."(2 Nephi 31:10). The invitation of the Savior is to come and follow Him. He wants to bless and change us! The question is, how do we come and follow Him?
The Savior has sent forth the call many times. He spoke these words to the inhabitants on this contenant before He showed Himself unto them after He was crucified and resurrected:
3 Nephi 9: 13-14
O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
3 Nephi 10: 6
O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.
He has sent forth the call many other times, for example in Matthew 4: 19, 8: 22, and 9: 9. So the question is how do we come and follow Him?
To come and follow Him, we must do just that! We must change! At the end of 3 Nephi 10: 6 it read, "repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart." His call is to actually change. We must trust in His sacrifice and use it to change our lives. His arms are extended and open, but if we never take the steps to walk up to Him, then we won't be able to enjoy His embrace! An example can be a car ride. The doors of the car might be open and the seat ready for us, but if we don't get into the car we will not go on the ride. The car doesn't pick us up and set us inside, we have to sit down ourselves. Christ has prepared everything for us, but if we don't use it we won't be able to enjoy the blessings.
We have been given direction how to trust in Him and change. 2 Nephi 31: 10-11 reads, "And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father? And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son." We must do some things. We must have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and stay faithful to the end of our lives.
I know that as we trust in Christ and His sacrifice and follow His teaching the best we can, we will be able to change and return to be with Him! We will be able to feel the love and cleansing power of his sacrifice for us. We must remember His call, "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."(3 Nephi 11: 14).
Images found at:
http://www.sugardoodle.net/sdclipart/?s=jesus&search=Search
http://www.sugardoodle.net/sdclipart/?s=christ&search=Search
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