The Gospel is a team sport

So it's the Christmas season, and that has caused me to think a little more about Christ. Couple that with the new year quickly arriving, and my thinking about goals, and I've ventured down some interesting mental roads. The atonement enables all of us to repent. That was the point of the atonement. If we had no need of repentance, there would have been no need of an atonement. Christ died so that we could confess our sins and change. But change to what? Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon command us to be like our Heavenly Father (the Book of Mormon also includes Christ, because he had completed the atonement and was resurrected by that point). So, in our process of repenting and changing, we must change to become more like Christ, who is our example of what the Father is.

We all know that we are supposed to be Christ-like. I've heard that my whole life. Every time I hear that I need to be more Christ-like I think of qualities like charity, patience, compassion, etc. These are all correct. What was driven home to me recently is that every Christ-like attribute is based on serving others and blessing their lives. In Moses it teaches us that Heavenly Father's, and thus Christ's, "work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) If we want to become like them, that has to be our work too! That is how we perfect ourselves. At no point in my life was I closer to my Savior than on my mission, and it's because I was serving others all day. Even now, I am closer to the spirit and happier when I make others concerns more important than my own. Actually, I'm the happiest when I make others concerns my own, and find ways that I can bless their lives.

Alma 3:27 teaches us that "every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey." By obeying Christ, we are committing ourselves to serving. The gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be a passive element of our lives. It does no good to understand the gospel principles and not let them affect every aspect of your life.

I'll continue more on this topic in the morning...