Good Example of Knowledge

Last week I had the chance to get to talk to and get to know a guy in my business class, Ken, (he knows about my blog and this post so all is good ;), a little better and can I tell you something? He is pretty amazing. Not in the sense that I know that much about him or that many details about how he has become who he is. Confused? Let me esplain. I should define why I think he is amazing huh? I say he is amazing because he has a desire to seek for truth and has been able to find some of it on his own. He is actively searching for knowledge which always impresses me. Still confused? Read on, hopefully it will clear itself up *grin*

I'll first have to tell ya more about me before I tell you more about him.

I have been actively living the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for almost 9 years or so. Again, I grew up in the church, but in my youth being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was more a habit than testimony. Going to church because it was expected, not because I wanted to. As a child I loved going to church though and I don't discredit my lack of pursuing truth and knowledge then, I was a kid and didn't know how. However, I feel after my baptism, where I had made covenants with God, I was old enough to know how to seek out what I wanted and the Gospel sadly wasn't always in my view. I don't count it as an active time of living the Gospel. Active to me includes pursuing truth and knowledge and I wasn't doing that until my early 20's.

Since then however I feel differently about myself. I know I am doing better, hence my previous knowledge post about recognizing I need to study and search The Book of Mormon to increase my knowledge and understanding of God more. I have seen my progression over the last 8 years as moving upward not just standing still. I realized from the previous post that even though I know I need to increase my study of the BOM to gain further knowledge, I have been really blessed to have more resources than most people to gain knowledge about God and Eternal perspective.

I not only have The Holy Bible (If you would like a free copy of the KJV, click here) to learn about Christ and the Plan of Salvation, but I have many many other sources to glean that knowledge from. I have The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ (If you would like a copy of the BoM, click here), I have modern scripture through the current and past Prophets of this dispensation (aka General Conference twice a year). I have the written revelations of Joseph Smith in The Doctrine and Covenants, along with the revelation and translation of the words of Moses, Abraham, and Matthew in The Pearl of Great Price. I even have the footnotes in my scriptures that connect different passages that are related. I have the Bible Dictionary that defines historical things and even beautifully and simply defines such things as charity; the pure love of Christ. I have had Institute classes and the manuals created for them: Old and New Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, Eternal Marriage, etc.

I have church manuals that are put out for my learning during Sunday School and Relief Society classes. I have teachers’ manuals that have lessons which have been designed especially for little children to understand the doctrine of Christ which means that I have had the chance to learn how to be a teacher of His doctrine. We have The Family: A Proclamation to the World and many other resources to help us gain deeper understanding and knowledge of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I have my own Patriarchal Blessing that is revelation given to me about my own life, about where I came from, what I can accomplish in this life through faithfulness. It also tells me how to prepare for this journey through mortality. Most importantly I have had the Temple, The House of God to learn in for almost 5 years now, a place where uninterrupted learning from on high can take place.

We truly do have UNLIMITED resources to the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we choose to use them!(Which I have even more humbly realized are at our fingertips as I've linked all of these resources to this post)

Here is the tie in with Ken.

He has had only The Bible to study (don’t worry, I've tried to remedy that ;) That man however, knows so much about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but in our conversations he knew things that I had been studying for years through all of the above mentioned sources. He only has had the Bible! How sweet it is to know that those who seek knowledge truly do find it and that Christ will give us the light we need, His light as we search diligently to find the answers we have searched for. He is an amazing example of 'the believer".

I know I wouldn’t have as much knowledge (which I humbly realize isn't that much) without having read and studied The Book of Mormon and other resources over and over and again, I know I need to study harder to learn more. I am thankful however for all of the resources we have to learn more of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the Holy Bible and that the truth contained in it can be felt by everyone if they but diligently seek. I truly wonder if I would even know a part of what I know now if I only had The Bible though? I am thankful the Lord knows each of us and what we need to know and how we are able to learn it.

I just realized that even though life can sometimes seem harder because we choose to follow Jesus Christ, because of the great responsibility placed on us and all of the opposition that comes from Satan. I am so thankful for that responsibility because it means I am CHOOSING to be chosen. Heavenly Father hasn't asked us to do any of this alone though. He hasn't asked us to face mortality without His guidance and instruction being available to us. How sweet it is to know that no matter where I am, I have the resources around me I need to be the best me. I hope that by being the best me I can help to better this world by testifying and by being a representative and a disciple of Jesus Christ.

How truly thankful I am for good people and good examples in my life. Thank you Ken for the amazing insight and amazing conversations!