All It Takes

By Fourth Nephi, all of the Nephites and Lamanites are converted to the Church of Christ.  It took a great deal of time, effort, and teaching for their conversions to come to pass. Once converted, though, the Nephites and the Lamanites had become truly united. Because of their righteousness, their was no contention in the land, only love. The 16th verse reads, "and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."  To me, that seems like quite a strong statement--which tells us just how righteous and united this group of people was at that time.

However, in the 201st year after the birth of Christ, after the passing of the second generation, there became a small group who became prideful and placing importance on the fine things of the world.  After hardly any time at all, more and more people became more and more unrighteous, as they sought to get gain and actively denied Christ. Not long after this, all groups were wicked except for the disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we are not careful, a relatively small transgression can easily become a large one. It's much like a slippery slope--the first few steps we are fine, but before we know it we experience a loss of control. We must adhere closely to the commandments of the Lord, as they are there to protect us. We truly become free and the happiest people when we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our Advocate

If you ever read the 17th chapter of 3 Nephi, you will be able to experience the personal experiences that the Savior has with the people, and that He can have with each of us.

In this chapter, you can see that Christ seeks to spend individual time with the people, not to help Himself, but to help the people. The same can be said about us today; the Savior wants to spend time with us individually, but we must first seek Him! Also in this chapter, the people when they became saddened by Christ's leaving, He says to them, "my bowels are filled with compassion towards you." This illustrates the care and concern that He has for the Lord's children.

This, to me, is an especially great testimony builder--knowing that our older brother, Jesus Christ, is our advocate. In everything. This is one thing that I know without a doubt.

Come Unto Christ

It's amazing and a serious testimony builder to know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is so personal and so individual. In Chapter 11 of 3 Nephi, Christ comes to the multitude and tells them, one by one, to feel of the prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet. This is how He invites us to come unto Him in his gospel. We must experience for ourselves the gospel and His Atonement to truly understand it. And, because of His great love for us, He wants us to spend that individualized, one on one time with Him so that we might know of a surety that He is our Savior.

I know for myself that only when I applied the Atonement in my own life did I really begin to understand and appreciate His sacrifice for me and feel this deep gratitude like I have never before felt. Never before have I known so clearly that He loves me individually and has sacrificed His life for ME.