I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about the power of Jesus Christ. Reason being, I’m a seminary teacher for Mormon high school kids. In fact, I’m an early morning seminary teacher.
What this means, is that when most people haven’t even stirred yet to get up, these 14-18 year olds are already showered, dressed, and sitting in chapels across the world – studying the life of Jesus Christ as found in the scriptures (all before beginning their high school day).
It is an amazing experience to work with these kids, to see the light of the testimony of Jesus Christ in their lives. True, some kids struggle to find the Savior in their daily paths, but once found, most grow spiritually in amazing ways.
Well, that’s modern-day people; what about ancient individuals? So many times the “ancient children of Israel” rejected God with outright abandonment (Israel was originally named Jacob who was the son of Abraham; he was faithful, but so many of his descendants were not).
This year in seminary we’ve been studying the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a bit of a quixotic book for many people. Its stories are puzzling, the people’s ways are puzzling, in fact, the choices of many found in Old Testament pages are nothing but puzzling.
Currently the seminary kids and I have reached the stories of Samuel, one of the exceptional examples of righteousness and (as a result) heard the Lord speaking to him as a boy.
What I’m finding in these Old Testament pages is over and over again the power of Jehovah (Jesus Christ) is mighty to save – if the Israelites would just wake up and listen to the Lord’s prophets!
But am I any different today? Or does my faith falter – do I stumble and fall into erroneous ways, just like the ancient children of Israel? To whom do I look … modern idol-types or to the Lord Himself … during my personal times of challenge?
Life can be most frightening at times. Yet the Lord – He who walked on water during New Testament times – has the power to redeem me from all mishaps, mistakes, and miseries. This is the message of the Old Testament and it is a message that is sinking deeper than ever into my heart, as I teach these terrific modern-day youth the Old Testament stories.
But finding the power of Christ requires that I first look. And finding time to look, study, and ponder can be challenging in this world that is spinning by faster and faster each day. I must grab moments of peace and quiet or they will pass me by. How urgent it is that I require of myself study time each day in the scriptures themselves.
Otherwise I might go my whole life and never learn completely the true power of Christ. For it is within the pages of scriptures that His power is most obviously made manifest. Why not learn from history and refuse to repeat the mistakes made by those poor ancient souls who could not seem to learn otherwise – that the power of Christ is sure and can save all those who look and trust in Him. Here is a link to the Old Testament to make scripture study easy!
