As I was reading in 1st Thessalonians in the Bible, a letter to the saints in Thessilonica, I came across a scripture (1 Thessalonians 4:12) that said, "walk honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing." I've been thinking a lot about what this is trying to say.
In my very non-expert opinion, I interpreted it to be saying that to approach people honestly with the gospel we have to be completely honest with ourselves first. Do I believe in what I'm going to be teaching for two years? When I teach am I going to be spitting facts, or bearing a piece of my soul to them? I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be true to yourself.
This ties in to how personalized the gospel is to each of us I think. The most precious part of the gospel to someone else is probably completely different than what I hold dear. Our task is to find out how the gospel fits into each of our individual lives, and be honest to ourselves about that before we can teach others how to do the same thing.
Sometimes I wish the apostles would write me a letter of advice, as they did to the Thessalonians. I'm grateful for the talks they have given in General Conferences to the church that are available online. Sometimes I feel like they're talking directly to me. I'm still trying to figure out who I am as a member of the church, even though I know it is true. So for all of those people thinking the same thing: You're not alone.
In my very non-expert opinion, I interpreted it to be saying that to approach people honestly with the gospel we have to be completely honest with ourselves first. Do I believe in what I'm going to be teaching for two years? When I teach am I going to be spitting facts, or bearing a piece of my soul to them? I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be true to yourself.
This ties in to how personalized the gospel is to each of us I think. The most precious part of the gospel to someone else is probably completely different than what I hold dear. Our task is to find out how the gospel fits into each of our individual lives, and be honest to ourselves about that before we can teach others how to do the same thing.
Sometimes I wish the apostles would write me a letter of advice, as they did to the Thessalonians. I'm grateful for the talks they have given in General Conferences to the church that are available online. Sometimes I feel like they're talking directly to me. I'm still trying to figure out who I am as a member of the church, even though I know it is true. So for all of those people thinking the same thing: You're not alone.
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