What does this mean, a mighty change of heart? Is it when you go to the hospital and replace
your heart with another one? Or are we
talking figuratively? What will a mighty
change of heart do for us? How do we go
about getting a mighty change of heart?
Do we only need to do this once in our lives? These are some of the questions that I will
attempt to answer this morning.
A mighty change of heart.
This implies that something needs to change. Could it be that our thinking processes need
to change? or, is it the way we feel
about life? Aren't we okay as we are?
Many of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints are converts. We obviously
thought that there was more to life than what our parents and those around us
taught us. We wanted to be closer to God
and have God in our lives the same way that the prophets of Old Testament times
and the apostles of New Testament times did.
They gave us examples that most people thought impossible to live
because technology had gone much further than the prophets and apostles lived
with. We have more free time because our
work days are now 35 to 40 hours long instead of from when the sun rises to
when the sun sets. We have more wealth
than our ancestors who struggled to feed and clothe their families. We can travel faster and farther in a day
than our ancestors with either their horses or their own two feet. Yes, our lives have more efficient tools,
more education, and more recreation than our ancestors ever dreamed of. We have a tendency to spoil our children by
giving them almost everything they want. And, when we do this, we wonder
why they don't appreciate the sacrifices that we make for them.
Do we ever think to thank Heavenly Father for the blessings
of being born into the world at this time?
We know that because of the way we've grow up, we would find day to day
living very hard if we were suddenly transported back in time to 200 years
ago. Some of us would find it difficult
to live the way life was even just 50 years ago. We depend on all the conveniences that we
have acquired over the years. I admit
that I am extremely hooked on my laptop and being able to find the information
that I want on the internet. I seriously
think that I wouldn't know what to do with myself without the internet.
So, back to the mighty change in heart. As I mentioned earlier, we chose to join this
Church because we saw that we had the opportunity of living a life that is
close to Heavenly Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We were baptised and expected to feel
differently right away. We learned that
we need to learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We grew to our present level of understanding
bit by bit. We should be continuing to learn
until the day we go home to Heavenly Father.
When I mentioned that we are converts, I think about the
conversion process. We had to learn the
First Principles of the Gospel before we could make any informed decision about
whether we wanted any part of it. The
missionaries that taught us gave us the information that we required. We had to learn about the worldly sacrifices
that we needed to make. We felt that the
Church was important enough to make these sacrifices. We learned about the temporal laws. We agreed with the principles because we may
have previously come across them in the scriptures and questioned why did our
parents not follow them. We knew that we
needed the Church and its teachings in our lives in order to live the life that
we wanted.
Then came the day when we actually joined the Church, the
day of our baptism. We began to follow
what the scriptures had been teaching us that our world was not following. We began our conversion process. We began to have a "Mighty Change of
Heart". We began to live a life
that was in accordance with the teachings of the prophets and apostles.
We also learned that there was more to the "Mighty
Change of Heart". We began to
change our attitudes with regards to the spiritual laws, and repent of the
things that we had been doing which we shouldn't be doing. We had learned right from wrong while growing
up, but also learned about the different shades of gray. If it's right, it's right. If it's wrong, it's wrong. We needed to learn to have this in our
lives. Most of us still have some
problems with this and how to cope with it.
This is where repentance comes in.
Because we are striving to become a God-like people, when we make a
mistake, we begin to feel like we can't do it.
We are supposed to be good. But
our Saviour has told us that He will help us.
All that he expects of us is that we do our best. Not our second best, but our best. He will help us to succeed. All we need to do in return is do our best,
and realize that He is helping us and to be grateful that we have the help that
we need. This is the way that we become
converted.
In 2013, I went to see the movie "Les Miserables"
with a friend. At the beginning of this
movie, one of the main characters, Jean Valjean, had been convicted for
stealing a loaf of bread because his nephew was starving. He ended up serving time for 19 years and
turned into a very bitter man. Upon his
release, his paperwork stated that he was dangerous and not to be trusted. Near the beginning of the movie, Jean Valjean
experienced prejudice against him because of the notations on his paperwork and
was blessed to be able to spend the night in a religious institution. He repaid the hospitality given him by
stealing the silver. When Jean Valjean
was caught and taken back to the church, the priest told the officials that he
had given Jean the silver and added two more pieces to the things already
taken. Jean was set free. The priest gave him the silver on the
condition that he make something of his life.
Because Jean was given a chance to improve his life by the
priest, he felt obligated to do so. He
raised money from the silver and kept a couple pieces for a reminder. He used the money wisely, and helped others
so that they would not end up in the same circumstances that he found himself
in at the beginning of the movie.
In this story, we can relate it to the Gospel. Jean had sinned when he had stolen the
bread. At the time, he had thought that
he would not have to worry about such a little matter, but the punishment
lasted years. When we sin against God
and our fellow man, we could be paying for it throughout eternity. For God cannot have any unclean thing in His
presence. The little things are the things
that will condemn many of us. This list
includes dishonest, selfishness, pride, anger, impure thoughts, and
disobedience among other things.
When the priest supported Jean Valjean in his claim that he
was given the silver, it made Jean think.
It made him realize just what he was doing. It made him realize what kind of life that he
was about to embark on after being in prison for so long. And it also made him realize why he was doing
this. Jean had hated the situation that
put him into prison. Even more, he hated
the guards and the system that he thought condemned him by blowing the
situation out of context and forcing him into a life that he did not want to
live. The silver gave him a chance to
think about what to do. He changed his
name and destroyed the paperwork that was destroying any chance of an honest
life.
When Jesus Christ worked out the Atonement for us in
Gethsemane, He gave us the chance to have the type of life that we look forward
to for the eternities. He gave us the
chance to return to our Father in Heaven.
The only thing that he requires from us is that we accept Him as our
Saviour, take His name upon us and obey His commandments. He has given us the chance to think about our
eternal lives and how we want to live them.
He has given us the opportunity to take a look at the direction that our
lives were taking without the Gospel and why we were doing what we were
doing. The Atonement that Christ
provided for us gives us the opportunity to change the direction that our
mortal lives are going so that we will be able to live the eternal life that we
want.
When Jean Valjean made his decision to use the silver in
the way that the priest wanted him to use it, it changed his outlook on
life. He became a man who sought to help
others, to care about the conditions that they were forced to live in, and to
deal with those he helped with fairness.
He had a "Mighty Change of Heart". He took his hatred and changed it into
something that would benefit not only himself but others, too.
When we were baptised and confirmed members of the Church,
we started on the road to increasing our faith and developing our
testimonies. We changed our lives so
that not only we benefited from the change, but others also benefited through
the service that we perform. Those of us
who learned to give service to help others rather than what we would gain from
it also experienced a "Mighty Change of Heart".
Should we only experience one "Mighty Change of
Heart"? Did Jean Valjean experience
only one "Mighty Change of Heart"?
The answer to both questions is no.
Jean Valjean became concerned and distracted when it looked
like his past caught up to him. He
thought that the police official was in his office to arrest him. However, the official did not fully recognize
him until Jean helped free a man who had been trapped under his wagon. Jean learned that a vagrant had been arrested
and accused of being Jean Valjean and was about to be sent to prison for
failing to keep his probation. Jean
worried about the situation, because if he gave himself up, his employees would
lose their jobs and their incomes, but if he didn't, the man would lose his
life. Jean wanted the truth to come out,
not only about the life that he was leading but also about the length of time
that he served for what he thought was a small matter.
During this time of distraction, one of his employees was
let go because she wanted to keep her modesty.
Because she was let go, she ended up in a situation that was not
good. She had a daughter whose life was
at stake and she tried to make good choices but was finally convinced to make a
bad choice, one that she paid for with her life. Jean tried to rectify the problem by
providing medical care and then promised her that he would look after her
daughter. Only when Jean took
guardianship of the girl, did he learn to love.
He developed this love because the girl was dependent on him for love
and support. Jean had another
"Mighty Change of Heart". He
learned to love.
As we go through our lives, we have the things that we need
to sustain us. We have the Gospel in our
lives. But do we live the Gospel
fully? Have we learned to love as the
Saviour loves us? Do we go out of our
way to help others that desperately need our help? Do we pray, study our scriptures, attend our
meetings, and do all the things that the prophets have taught us? Do we honestly try to become more
Christ-like?
We are taught that we must endure to the end. If we do not progress in our learning after
our baptism and confirmation, are we enduring to the end? The Gospel has principles that we need to
learn about and to learn to incorporate into our lives. These principles will replace the principles
that Satan would have us follow. These
principles will teach us to love not only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but
each other as well.
It may be hard to learn the things that we need to learn,
but we have the time. The best way to
learn is "line upon line and precept upon precept". We will not be able to master all of the
principles at the same time. This
learning will take time. That is why we
have been given this time for our mortal lives.
This is where we can make our mistakes.
Because we have been baptised does not mean that we cannot
sin. We are not a perfect people,
yet. We will still make our mistakes and
we will still commit sins. However, we
have been given a gift through the Atonement.
We have the opportunity to repent when we make our mistakes and commit
our sins. We have the opportunity of confessing
our sins to the Lord and others if necessary and redressing the wrong that we
have done to others, by restitution if possible. Often, we will remember what we have
done. The scriptures do not teach us
that we will forget our sins, but they teach us that the Lord will forget our
sins if we repent. Sometimes, the Lord
will have us remember what we have done so that we learn to avoid doing it
again. Once we have learned our lesson,
the memory will fade.
As we increase our faith in Jesus Christ, we learn to
accept His will. We learn to trust that
the Lord knows what is good for us and what we need to help us to grow
spiritually. We may think that we do,
but as time passes by, we realize that we know nothing of the kind. Life was not meant to be easy. We often learn the most when we have
challenges to overcome. It is our
challenges that help us grow and develop in the way that we are meant to
develop. If we use these challenges in a
positive way, we will grow closer to the Lord.
Rather than thinking of them as challenges, we can think of them as
opportunities. As we grow closer to the
Lord, our hearts will change in ways that will be phenomenal. Only as we look back on our lives will we be
able to see how far we have come. Only
the Lord knows how far we need to go yet.
If we will follow the Lord and do his will, we will be
blessed and our children and posterity will also be blessed. We will become humble, confident, eager to
please God, grow in the capacity of love for Christ, others and ourselves, and
become a Christ-like people. We will
have more "Mighty Changes in Heart" throughout our lives as we do the
things that we should be doing in the manner and attitude that we need to
have. After all, once in the Celestial
Kingdom, we will have great works to do.
We need to prepare for the eternities by following the Gospel in our
mortal lives.
Let us let the Lord perform the operation of replacing our
hearts of stone for hearts of flesh. Let
us keep our hearts of flesh healthy by assessing them periodically to be sure
that we are on the right path and that we continue to grow in the Gospel and in
the love of Christ. Let us endure to the
end so that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
Will we be like Jean Valjean and have numerous "Mighty
Changes of Heart" as we live our mortal lives or will we not grow but
stagnate instead?
