I tried something new this morning. At the beginning of my run I brought up the scripture and read it carefully a couple times and then started running. It was actually pretty successful. You know how when you run there is always something in your head that you cycle through over and over? Normally it is some stupid lyric from a song in High School, but the scripture stayed stuck in my head for most of my run which was nice. I was even able to use the "Hey Siri" function on my phone to define some interesting words.
"And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above the sun at noon-day."
This verse is perfect. It is bite-sized and some really special things jumped out at me. The capitalized O on One didn't catch my eye until just now but how awesome is this? The word denotes that a single person stepped forward out of the multitude, but it also is Christ's title. Christ is the One. He dwells amongst us all but is the reason that any of us have any good to speak of. That is why he is the beginning and the end. Without him there would be nothing and there would be no end to misery, suffering and pain. I love that it doesn't talk about Christ descending from a throne or anything like that. I like to think that Christ would prefer to be down among us.
The word Luster is a footnote (I almost said hyperlink) and it takes us to two accounts of Joseph Smith's encounters with heavenly beings. Now Joseph doesn't use the word luster. Joseph uses the word brightness and glory. Now I find Book of Mormon verbiage extremely interesting, because if my understanding is correct, the Book of Mormon is not in Joseph's tongue. This would mean that God is choosing the best english word for what the original word meant. The word 'luster' is generally the brightness or glow of a surface (usually a soft one), but the more interesting thing is that it is always associated with reflection. Luster is never attributed to something that produces light by itself. Just as the moon is a reflection of the Sun's light, Luster's light comes from someone else. Christ's light came from God. It was always God who produced the light and Christ was the vessel for that light to us. The really cool thing is that treatment and polishing yields a higher luster. We can improve our luster as well. I I know this sounds all metaphorical but it is oh so literal. We can improve ourselves until we literally have the light of Christ (again, both literally and figuratively) shining through us for other people to experience and to see. ** ISN'T THAT AWESOME?! **
THE BIG THING
There is a light that we can both see and feel if we are sensitive to it. Christ is a constant source of this light. It warms the soul, brings smiles to faces, and attracts like you wouldn't believe. Christ want's us to feel that light, and almost just as importantly, he wants us to be lustrous. If we will polish ourselves, and I don't mean get a steel brush and start grinding away, then we will become mirrors of Christ't light. We must act as lights on a hill that cannot be hid. So, every day, see if you can spend a little time polishing your vessel. Just be a little bit better. If you leave it unattended for too long it will start to tarnish, but it's nothing that can't be polished back to its prime condition if you are willing to spend a little more time on it. My challenge to you would be to evaluate yourself. How must luster do you have? How are you, and where can you spend a little more time, polishing?
"And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above the sun at noon-day."
This verse is perfect. It is bite-sized and some really special things jumped out at me. The capitalized O on One didn't catch my eye until just now but how awesome is this? The word denotes that a single person stepped forward out of the multitude, but it also is Christ's title. Christ is the One. He dwells amongst us all but is the reason that any of us have any good to speak of. That is why he is the beginning and the end. Without him there would be nothing and there would be no end to misery, suffering and pain. I love that it doesn't talk about Christ descending from a throne or anything like that. I like to think that Christ would prefer to be down among us.
The word Luster is a footnote (I almost said hyperlink) and it takes us to two accounts of Joseph Smith's encounters with heavenly beings. Now Joseph doesn't use the word luster. Joseph uses the word brightness and glory. Now I find Book of Mormon verbiage extremely interesting, because if my understanding is correct, the Book of Mormon is not in Joseph's tongue. This would mean that God is choosing the best english word for what the original word meant. The word 'luster' is generally the brightness or glow of a surface (usually a soft one), but the more interesting thing is that it is always associated with reflection. Luster is never attributed to something that produces light by itself. Just as the moon is a reflection of the Sun's light, Luster's light comes from someone else. Christ's light came from God. It was always God who produced the light and Christ was the vessel for that light to us. The really cool thing is that treatment and polishing yields a higher luster. We can improve our luster as well. I I know this sounds all metaphorical but it is oh so literal. We can improve ourselves until we literally have the light of Christ (again, both literally and figuratively) shining through us for other people to experience and to see. ** ISN'T THAT AWESOME?! **
THE BIG THING
There is a light that we can both see and feel if we are sensitive to it. Christ is a constant source of this light. It warms the soul, brings smiles to faces, and attracts like you wouldn't believe. Christ want's us to feel that light, and almost just as importantly, he wants us to be lustrous. If we will polish ourselves, and I don't mean get a steel brush and start grinding away, then we will become mirrors of Christ't light. We must act as lights on a hill that cannot be hid. So, every day, see if you can spend a little time polishing your vessel. Just be a little bit better. If you leave it unattended for too long it will start to tarnish, but it's nothing that can't be polished back to its prime condition if you are willing to spend a little more time on it. My challenge to you would be to evaluate yourself. How must luster do you have? How are you, and where can you spend a little more time, polishing?
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