No, not that kind of instrument. The kind of instrument I am talking about is becoming an Instrument in the Hand of God. In my Book of Mormon class the past couple of weeks we have been talking about the Abrahamic covenant, what it is and what we are promised if we keep the covenants we make.
Abraham 2:9-11
9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;
11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.
What stood out to me most was that God told Abraham, while telling him of the blessings to him and his seed, that all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessings of the Gospel. As I did the reading a couple other scriptures really stood out to me.
2 Nephi 2:3 "Wherefore, thy sou shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brohter, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. ..."
2 Nephi 3:7-8, 14
7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me; A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.
8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work
14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;
and finally (bear with me, I know it is a lot of scriptures),
Mosiah 26:20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep
The overall theme that I kept seeing over and over again as I was reading all the scriptures about the promises that God grants to his children was, it is a blessing, not a burden or obligation or something undesirable to become an instrument in God's hands. When we are keeping our covenants it is a blessing in our lives. We are blessed to help our friends and family and neighbors to come unto Christ and to make the same covenants that we have made and to receive the same blessings that we have received.
When I think of people who really understood the joy of becoming a tool that God can use I immediately think of the sons of Mosiah. In Mosiah 17 they fast and pray MUCH that the Lord would grant them that blessing, and when they had received it they were overjoyed! They rejoiced! Ammon's words in Alma 26:15-16 "...we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever."
In Elder Nelson's 2011 October Conference talk he explained how important this part of the Abrahamic covenant is. He said,
"Ours is the responsibility to help fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Ours is the seed foreordained and prepared to bless all people of the world. That is why priesthood duty includes missionary work. After some 4,000 years of anticipation and preparation, this is the appointed day when the gospel is to be taken to the kindreds of the earth. This is the time of the promised gathering of Israel. And we get to participate! Isn't that exciting? The Lord is counting on us and our sons -- and He is profoundly grateful for our daughters -- who worthily serve as missionaries in this great time of the gathering of Israel.
I know that one of the greatest blessings we have in life is to be a blessing in someone else's life. I know how wonderful it feels and how much sense of purpose it can give to know that I am here for a purpose, that I can be a blessing someone else's life and how much meaning there is in life as I strive to do this. I know that as we strive to live our covenants we will have opportunities to become an instrument in the hand of God and bless the lives of others and in the process see how much of a blessing it is to us to do so.
Abraham 2:9-11
9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;
11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.
What stood out to me most was that God told Abraham, while telling him of the blessings to him and his seed, that all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessings of the Gospel. As I did the reading a couple other scriptures really stood out to me.
2 Nephi 2:3 "Wherefore, thy sou shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brohter, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. ..."
2 Nephi 3:7-8, 14
7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me; A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.
8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work
14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;
and finally (bear with me, I know it is a lot of scriptures),
Mosiah 26:20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep
The overall theme that I kept seeing over and over again as I was reading all the scriptures about the promises that God grants to his children was, it is a blessing, not a burden or obligation or something undesirable to become an instrument in God's hands. When we are keeping our covenants it is a blessing in our lives. We are blessed to help our friends and family and neighbors to come unto Christ and to make the same covenants that we have made and to receive the same blessings that we have received.
When I think of people who really understood the joy of becoming a tool that God can use I immediately think of the sons of Mosiah. In Mosiah 17 they fast and pray MUCH that the Lord would grant them that blessing, and when they had received it they were overjoyed! They rejoiced! Ammon's words in Alma 26:15-16 "...we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever."
In Elder Nelson's 2011 October Conference talk he explained how important this part of the Abrahamic covenant is. He said,
"Ours is the responsibility to help fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Ours is the seed foreordained and prepared to bless all people of the world. That is why priesthood duty includes missionary work. After some 4,000 years of anticipation and preparation, this is the appointed day when the gospel is to be taken to the kindreds of the earth. This is the time of the promised gathering of Israel. And we get to participate! Isn't that exciting? The Lord is counting on us and our sons -- and He is profoundly grateful for our daughters -- who worthily serve as missionaries in this great time of the gathering of Israel.
I know that one of the greatest blessings we have in life is to be a blessing in someone else's life. I know how wonderful it feels and how much sense of purpose it can give to know that I am here for a purpose, that I can be a blessing someone else's life and how much meaning there is in life as I strive to do this. I know that as we strive to live our covenants we will have opportunities to become an instrument in the hand of God and bless the lives of others and in the process see how much of a blessing it is to us to do so.
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