Do You Feel so Now? Part II

Alma continues in verse 26, “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”

This last question always stings a bit. “Can ye feel so now?” Do I still feel that change of heart that I had? Do I still feel the power of the atonement in my life? Do I remember on a day to day basis what Jesus Christ has done for me? Sadly, I haven’t. I don’t. I try and I do my best. I want to feel that MIGHTY change of heart all the time. So now the question is, “how do I do that?”

Well first and foremost, pray to our Father in Heaven! Pray to feel this mighty change and partake of the sacrament. Our covenant is to “always remember Him.” I would also suggest to read the scriptures. Study Christ’s life and read the Book of Mormon. Attend church and keep the Sabbath day holy. These small and simple things will help you in the long run. They will help you remember your Savior.

Another thing that is keeping us from remembering our Savior is our own pride. The Nephites/members of the church were super wicked and not doing what God commanded them to do. This is all centered on pride. In later verses Alma asks, “Behold, are ye stripped of pride?...who is not stripped of envy?”  We are prideful. We constantly want to do what we want to do. We don’t want to listen to the commandments God has given us. So how can we be stripped of pride?

President Ezra Taft Benson said: “The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness (see Alma 7:23). … Let us choose to be humble. We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. … We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement. … We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us. … We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service. … We can choose to humble ourselves by going on missions and preaching the word that can humble others. … We can choose to humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently. … We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God. … We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 6; or Ensign, May 1989, 6–7). This talk is AMAZING. It's titled "Beware of Pride." You can read it here.

Once again, this is a process. We can’t just be humble overnight, but if we do what Pres. Benson states here, our pride will slowly start to melt away. We will CHOOSE to be humble. We will ACT and move forward on the path to eternal life.

I know that we all can do this. We can have this mighty change of heart. We can ALWAYS remember our Lord and Savior. I know that we can. He is the only way. Just like Alma states later, “there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness. (Alma 38:9)” I know this be true! We all can humble ourselves and depend on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.