I love to bear testimony of the remarkable mercy that both my
Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ willingly impart. It astounds me to realize how
compassionate They are to Their righteous children, but also upon those who
forsake Them, and at times even battle against Them. The depth of Their love is something that I currently cannot
fully comprehend. Each day as I
study my scriptures, I come across a verse, or a multitude of them, which seek
to broaden my understanding of the extent and magnitude of the devotion which
They hold for each one of us. I truly do stand all amazed. As my comprehension evolves my love and
gratitude for Them is so overwhelming it could disassemble my heart.
Additionally,
my fervency in sharing the message of Their mercy is so strong because I was
one who abandoned Them, but with time, sought after Their outstretched arm, and
experienced the magnificence that comes from receiving unexplainable mercy and
the most tender of affections. It
is a love with such power that our mortal existence becomes transfigured
because we forever crave more of what we have encountered. My heart will never tire, nor cease, to
declare the actuality of Their mercy, of Their grace, and the way that it will transform a life.
However,
as I reflect on my sincere and intense devotion for Them, I gain an
understanding that a great portion of my love is directly dedicated to Their
celestial attribute of being just.
As deeply and fiercely as I adore them for Their abundant and
extraordinary mercy, I identically cherish and praise Them for sustaining
consistent and perpetual justice. As I have pondered upon this element of who They are, and
what it means to me, I have found a desire to convey why it holds such great significance to me. My words will fall short of the
feelings in my heart, but I must try.
Lack of Justice Would Redefine Their Love
If my
Father in Heaven, the One I identify as my
Father, who I came from and who I am laboring to return to, was unjust, could I
ever have faith in His love for me?
I have decided that I could not, for if He was unjust in any facet of
His character, He would possess the capability of demonstrating inconsistency. Essentially, He would be a changeable
being. This quality would have the
ability to spill into each aspect of who He is, denoting that His love could be
altered by this inconstant trait.
His love could become unsteady.
Perhaps one moment His love would be abounding, while in another, His
frustration, exasperation, or irritation with me would reorganize His heart,
and His love would be slight and without the affection that I long for. He would carry a fickle heart, one that
changes depending upon my choices, unfavorable circumstances, or on His mood.
This type
of love is encountered and experienced frequently upon this mortal sphere, however,
these characteristics of the heart are not found within our perfected
Father. He is, and forever will be, the One who stands so full of constant, devoted, unwavering love for
His child. There is no part of
Him, and especially not within His love, that will ever be temperamental,
erratic, or unstable.
In my
fast and testimony meeting this month a brother in my ward stood and provided a
touching testimony which uplifted my heart and correlated so well with the
thoughts that I had been processing regarding this topic. One sentence in particular has been
ever circling my mind: There is nothing that we can ever do to make
our Heavenly Father fall out of love with us. I know he believed the words that he spoke, and the
sincerity which shone on his face explained that he had received such a
conviction by way of experience. I
pondered to myself if I, too, could declare the same belief with such
certitude.
I must
admit that I have struggled understanding my Heavenly Father’s love for me. I have a difficult time comprehending how I matter when there are seas of faces
around me, which I know are all of His children. Relationships given in mortality to teach us of the love of
our Heavenly Father, have been undependable in my life. In my youth this factor led me to
believe that He lacked love for me.
But as I grow and study of Him, I gain faith of my role in His life, and His role in mine. However, nothing
has clarified it to my heart quite as clearly as gaining an understanding that
He is undeviating in every component of who and what He is, which parallels
with His attribute of being a just God and Father.
That
definition of resolute consistency flawlessly illustrates the unequaled love He
carries-just for me. And it will never change, because
he is unchanging, and His love for me is included in that description. He has the ability to love each and every one of His children in this
exact manner, not collectively but individually.
The
quality of being just allows us to gain a testimony that Heavenly Father and
Jesus Christ are anchored, loyal, and devoted to us. It existed premortally, it is experienced within this mortal
sphere, and it will prevail into the eternities everlasting. Without understanding that they are
just beings we would be unable to declare of their unending and enduring
consistency, which combines to create so many of Their unique qualities which
we treasure so dearly.
Lack of Justice Creates a Deficiency of
Trust
If my Savior,
Jesus Christ, was unjust, could I depend upon His word? I simply would not be able to. If He did not value and exercise
justice, His judgments would be biased, inequitable, and unfair. I would not be able to have faith in
His promises of release of bondage and the joy which comes from peace of
conscience, because His bestowal of His power would be uneven.
If His
judgments were not swift and exact, His word could not be trusted, for it is
what He has vowed will come to pass.
If His words are not precise or reliable, my trust cannot be placed with
Him. I could not have confidence
that through faith and obedience I could be liberated from mortal persecutions,
nor could I lay hold on the blessings which He has covenanted to. This faith is what helps us to grasp
hold of the iron rod and stay there.
However,
I know with all the certainty of my heart, that His word is absolutely
unfailing, for I have received personal experience that has verified the
truthfulness of what He declares, and I could never forsake what I know to be
true. There is not a syllable that
falls from His mouth that is deceitful or insincere. All that He releases is truth, can be trusted and depended
upon, and will come to pass. The scriptures are evidence of His reliability.
One of my
favorite things to do is to study prophecies and then review the chapters that document
the prophecies as they come to pass.
The events that transpire do not fluctuate, vary, or alter even in the most
microscopic of ways. They happen exactly as they are promised, and this occurs
with both consequences as well as blessings. His word is trustworthy.
The
scriptures are not the only place we find truth of His words. The very best way to gain a testimony
of His veracity is to apply it to your own life. As you strictly apply the commandments and counsel that He
releases through His own words, as well as the words of His servants, you will
come to witness the overwhelming blessings in your own life, just as He has
promised.
We must
be careful in recognizing these tremendous blessings. Our carnal attitudes may look for temporal riches or worldly
prosperity as an indication. However, they are rarely manifest in this
form. Why would the Lord shower us
with earthly treasures that we will only leave behind when we exit this
sphere? They do not accompany us
back home, nor do they assist in refining our spirits to enable us to gain
entrance to the celestial kingdom.
They provide momentary happiness, not everlasting joy. He cherishes us too profoundly to offer
such fleeting gladness.
Instead, the
Omniscient One most commonly sends blessings of eternal nature, treasures that
will be ours even into the eternities, and ones that will embolden our desires
to live righteous and productive mortal lives. The depth of His love is manifest in the remarkable blessings
He provides to those who love and serve Him.
Another
misunderstanding occurs in believing that when we follow His words we will be
without affliction. We may declare
that Christ Himself promised that when we follow after Him we would be given
peace. But peace does not mean the
absence of trial or tribulation, hence why He describes His blessing of peace
as something that differs from a worldly definition.
We must
never forget that we are upon this earth to be tested, to learn and to grow and
to be purified. Trials, and the
lessons which accompany them, are the experiences which are given to allow us
to gain the development we sought after in coming to earth. Additionally, they provide us with the
opportunity to demonstrate to the Lord that we
can be trusted. Tribulation is not
void by righteous living, and in my experience and opinion, comes more
frequently to the righteous, as a sign of the increased confidence which the
Lord has for you.
The
attribute of being just enables us to have complete confidence in each and
every word that is released from our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We can have faith that
what they say will assuredly come to pass. This understanding empowers us towards righteousness, gives
us the strength to shake off the bands of iniquity, and provides hope even in
the most despairing times. Their
words have never fallen short, nor will they ever. Our faith is secure and protected with Them.
Satan’s War
Do we
recognize the majesty that lies within the celestial attribute of being
just? Are we aware of what it
offers us in our relationships with our Father in Heaven and with Jesus Christ?
I have
gained so much from obtaining a testimony of this characteristic. It has illuminated my understanding of
my Father and Savior, and has also helped me identify some of the snares which
Satan has laid, for he seeks to shatter and skew our interpretation of this
divine quality.
I believe
there are a multitude of ways in which Satan impairs and weakens our
comprehension of justice, but there are two that stand out most clearly to
me. The first is that he labors to
deceive us by encouraging to define God as a ferocious and brutal Lord who
finds pleasure in sending consequences upon His children. The second is just the opposite. He tries to manipulate us into
believing that mercy will overthrow justice when we stand before Him on
judgment day. Both are absolute
lies and can place us in danger if we accept them as truth.
Satan’s Deception: God is Ferocious and
Brutal
This
specific deception of Satan’s produces feelings of fury in my heart. It is openly defiling the Lord’s love
for us. Satan attacks God’s love
frequently, and fiercely, because he knows that if we feel even an inkling of God’s
affection our spirits will be sparked.
Our veiled memories of home will remain covered, but will make our
hearts pound, helping us to recognize that we have felt of that love before,
and that we yearn to have it back.
There is extreme power in the Lord’s love. It is a type of strength that Satan could never touch
because he is completely deficient in this area.
Satan
knows that the best way to make us avoid experiencing the love of God is to
have us desert Him. Satan always
encourages abandonment by his followers.
This is because he is an expert at it. The Lord never
departs, this is something I am absolutely certain of. Even when we make sinful choices,
decisions that require the Spirit to depart from us, He is ever watching, ever
waiting. Our Father and Savior do
not disclaim or renounce us, no matter how far we travel in hand with
Satan. What does happen is that we
replace our Heavenly Father with the father of darkness. We become his children, and we become
enslaved to him and his wickedness.
God does not rejoice in sending ill
consequences upon His beloved children, no matter how much wickedness they have
entertained. His experience with
Enoch, recorded in the book of Moses, describes in touching detail how
extremely difficult it is for Him to watch
any of His children suffer.
As Enoch is with God, he is given the opportunity of having a vision of the extension of mortality. Enoch witnesses the great evil and wickedness that spread over the earth. As Enoch is observing these treacherous times, the Lord speaks to Him of the agony it causes Him:
And it came to pass that the God of heaven
looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept, and Enoch bore
record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their
tears as the rain upon the mountains?...How is it that thou canst weep, seeing
thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?
The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy
brethren they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto
them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden gave
I unto man his agency. And unto
thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one
another, and that they should choose me their Father; but behold, they
are without affection, and they hate their own blood…But behold…Satan shall be
their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall
weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not
the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer? Moses 7:28-29, 32-33, 37
I will
never forget the first time that I read that scripture. It was my first experience with feeling
the Holy Ghost while studying the scriptures. It sent a rush of emotion that overwhelmed my heart and I
wept.
Can you
picture our Father, the one who so lovingly and devotedly organized us into
spiritual beings? He stayed with
us, shared in premortal life at our sides, and taught us. When we were prepared He sent us to
earth to gain a body and to obtain the refinement that we so longed for that we
could be like Him. He has given us everything that we
have, and enabled us to be everything that we are. All He asks is that we follow His ways, which safe shield us
from the destroyer, and to choose Him as
our Father. That sentence
nearly breaks my heart in two. They should choose me their Father… A Father pleading for His children to
accept and love Him in return.
Why would
the Lord rejoice in watching His children suffer, for they are the foundation
of His work and His glory. Each
individual has significant importance and each one makes up His heart. The Lord of all, the omniscient One
with omnipotent power, weeps over His
children who choose Satan over Him, and He sorrows
to watch any one of His children experience affliction.
However, He is a just Father. He taught us what we needed to know before we came to this earth, and like many prophets have declared, we were apart of that counsel that decided upon what would be commanded during our mortal experience. We agreed upon them. After passing through the veil, He has given us all we need to recognize the truth and to accept Him. When we elect to follow Satan and choose to discard Him, we acquire consequences because we have neglected the commandments essential for our protection. Those ramifications will be experienced, and not because He is ferocious and brutal, but because He is just. He would fail us as a Father to be any other way.
Satan is
ferocious. Satan is brutal. To desecrate and vandalize such a
purity of love creates severe heartache.
Don’t accept this corrupted and malicious deception.
Mercy Triumphs Justice
If Satan
is not consumed, or is unsuccessful, in manipulating us into believing that God
is a savage being, he gets busy seeking to make us forget that God carries the
attribute of being just at all.
Like most celestial definitions within this telestial sphere, they
become twisted and distorted.
Satan desires that we either neglect to accept justice as a quality of
God altogether, or that we create our own definition of what being just entails. Most commonly that modified description
lacks any truth, and complies to our standard of living, helping us to feel
comfortable in our sinful behaviors, and to rationalize our immoral or slothful
decisions. But in the end our
personally-produced definitions will not change what is real.
We are
taught in the scriptures that Jesus Christ will stand before us on judgment
day. He is a just and merciful
judge, but mercy never supersedes or displaces justice. We will be held accountable for our
unrepentant thoughts and actions.
It does not matter how hard we try to bend or reshape the definition of
justice, it does not alter, nor does it conform to the ways and acceptances of
the world.
We must
look to the Lord for an understanding of His ways. There we will be given truth. We should not look to man whose methods have never been, and
never will be, God’s methods. We
must especially avoid allowing Satan to provide definitions of divine things,
for they will always be polluted and are only provided to bind us to him.
The Blessing of
Understanding Justice
The quality of being just is of significant importance, and
should not be overlooked, but should be treasured. It allows us to have confidence in our Father and Savior’s
love. It empowers us to make
righteous decisions and to accept and follow the commandments which God has
given to assist us while on this earthly journey. It confirms the honesty of every word spoken by the Lord,
and helps us to prepare for Christ’s return to us, or our return to Him if it
precedes.
As time moves forward our ability to trust in earthly things
continues to diminish. Trust is
broken, confidences are lost. But
there is a place where our hopes, faith, and expectations will never be
crushed, and that is with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ. They are consistent, abiding, and
enduring Gods. They can be trusted
in and relied upon. As we
recognize the glory of justice and how it allows us to come closer to Them, may
we seek to acquire such an attribute that we may one day emulate the immensity
of celestial goodness that they demonstrate so perfectly.
