Come, Follow Me Alma 39-42: Insights By Gogo Goff

I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come Follow Me Alma 39-42 (If you missed last week’s insights for Come Follow Me Alma 36-38 click here). Save this pin to read later.

What Do You Seek For?

“Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you” Alma 39:14

This is the famous Law of Chastity chapter in the book of Mormon, but this little nugget is tucked in there. What are you seeking for? Alma cautions against seeking for the “vain things of this world” Things we can’t take with us into the next life. So what can we bring to the next life? FAMILY.

Everything we do in the Gospel is to build eternal families, eternal families are why we build Temples. Eternal families are the ultimate goal of the Atonement because eternal families are the crowning characteristic of Eternal Life. Truly God is rich because God has the Eternal Riches of Family. So… “‘What seekest thou?’…wealth, worldly honors, praises, riches, and honor, or the eternal riches of the soul.”
Spencer W Kimball

Prophets

“Therefore, there is a time appointed unto men that they shall rise from the dead; and there is a space between the time of death and the resurrection. And now, concerning this space of time, what becometh of the souls of men is the thing which I have inquired diligently of the Lord to know; and this is the thing of which I do know.” Alma 40:9

When I was a missionary I loved using this verse to show the difference between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Often times the Bible was written decades after the events. The Book of Mormon was more of a journal format. It was a personal exchange.

Alma, as a father was speaking to his son, explain that he, as the Prophet had even wondered about these things. And that he had to inquire diligently to get an answer, but an answer he got.

That is how Prophetic revelation happens, the Prophet asks a question and inquires diligently of the Lord, and once an answer is received he, the Prophet/President teaches it to the Church. That is the pattern, and how it works. President Harold B. Lee once said:

“Do you suppose that when the Lord has his prophet on the earth, that he is going to take some round-about means of revealing things to his children? That is what he has a prophet for, and when he has something to give to this Church, he will give it to the President”

Happiness.

“Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.” Alma 41:10

The purpose of life is to find eternal happiness, the great question is what is happiness and how do I obtain it? There is a difference between pleasure/fun and happiness/joy.

Sin is often times very “fun” and it is front-loaded with pleasure, and backloaded with guilt and shame, if it was not so, and the guilt and shame came immediately with no fun/pleasure no one would sin.

Righteousness is frontloaded with obedience, but the joy and happiness that comes are eternal. There is not a way to be happy and wicked, so remind yourself, if I am righteous I should be happy!

In the words of Elder Perkins, “If you are not happy living the Gospel, you are not doing it right” Happiness is contagious, and as members who know the Plan of Happiness, we should be the happiest people on earth. If you are not happy, then decided to make someone else happy, along the way you will find happiness!

“Happiness is a condition of the soul. This joyous state comes as a result of righteous living.”
~Elder Benjamín De Hoyos

Death.

“But behold, it was appointed unto man to die…”
Alma 42:6

Often times we view death as evil, as a world we view it as an “end” instead of a door. When a loved one dies our entire world can seem to fall apart. In my life, I have been acquainted well with death. All four of my grandparents have passed away, an aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew, and also half a dozen others outside my family including a best friend who committed suicide.

When death comes to the doors of life it can be hard to keep moving forward, but in times when death seems to steal away the joy in life, remember that Christ has stolen the sting of death! Life must end but in the words of Neal A Maxwell an Apostle, “Death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!”