Friday, July 26, 2019

Standing as A Witness

Integrity #5

I am an attorney. I have experience working with witnesses and preparing them to take the witness stand. So my perspective on "Standing as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" has a bit of a different taste. Sometimes being a witness is scary. Often, the credibility of a witness will be an issue if they have not lived an honest life. Often there is an opposition waiting to tear a witness apart. But the job of witness is critical to bring about justice.

As a witness for God, I must share my testimony with others. I do this both verbally and in my actions. I must live an honest life and develop a reputation for being truthful. I try not to exaggerate or embellish my feelings or my stories. I want people to believe me when I share my experiences.

Witnesses also share their personal accounts, not the accounts of others. So if I want to be a witness, I need to be striving to have personal spiritual experiences of which I can witness. I need to always be deepening and widening my testimony by study, faith, prayer, and experimentation upon the Word of God. I need to be striving to live more close to the Spirit.

And I need to take every opportunity to share my experiences and testimony with others so that they may know He lives. He is our Father. He loves us. He loves us so much He sent His perfect Son to live among us to show us how to live and He let bad men torture and kill that Son. He let that perfect Son suffer for the sins and pains of all the rest of us so that it would be possible for us to return HOME to Him. This church is His Son's church. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. He has restored His power on earth to make covenants that will be bound in Heaven through His prophets in His church. He restored this power to Joseph Smith and it continues today. We have a living prophet who leads and guides our church under the direction of the Savior. Of these things I testify in the name of my Savior and Redeemer.

Integrity #4

What does Integrity mean to me? I think of the integrity of a bridge. If a bridge has integrity it will stay strong and firm and do what it was built to do. People can pass over it with faith and confidence that it will be there to hold them up over the divide.

The Savior is our ultimate example of integrity. He came to the Earth and did what He was sent to do.  We can have faith in Him to hold us up and get us back to our Heavenly Father. We can feel safe stepping onto his supportive trusses and following His example as we walk the covenant path.

I want to be like the Savior. So if I want integrity, I need to do what I was meant to do. What was I meant to do? Learn, Grow, and Return Home. So I need to be working on doing that and I need to have Faith in the Savior and follow the Covenant path living my beliefs and trusting in the Saviors atoning power to make even one as flawed as I worthy to be in the presence of our Father once more.

I will do what I was made to do.