Alma 24

Burying Our Sins

Yesterday, as I was reading chapter 24 in Alma, I cried. I cried for the sacrifice that these people made in order to be clean. As the Anti-Nephi-Lehies saw their brethren coming to kill them, they knelt down and prayed, an in this position the Lamanites began to kill them. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies no longer wanted to fight. They wanted to remain clean; therefore, they wouldn't defend themselves. They felt that if they lifted the sword--even in defense--they would again feel the pain of sin. In an effort to maintain a covenant with God and themselves, they buried their weapons of war. The king said to his people, "Since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean" (verse 15). The scriptures further describe this sacrifice in verse 18 when it says, "And this they did, it being a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of many's blood; and this they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands." So, that is what they did. They laid down their lives' for their beliefs. The mother and the father knelt in prayer, and they sacrificed not only themselves, but their children.

Two lessons keep running through my mind. First, they buried their weapons, or--in other words--they buried their sins. Do I have sins that I need to bury? As I read this, I keep evaluating my own life. What is it that I could do better? What is keeping me away from my Father in Heaven? Second, they loved God more than themselves, more than their families, more than their children for they were willing to sacrifice it all for their beliefs. I truly believe that our hearts need to be as pure as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. We need to love God above all else.

I would like to think that my heart is as pure as these people; however, I know that it is not. I do try my best in all things; however, I know my heart still has more to change. I do not know if I could watch my children die. I think I could die for my belief, but I am not sure I could allow my children to die. As I read these verses in the scriptures, I cried. My soul ached at the thought. God's purposes were served as more people were converted. What a perspective this has offered me. What am I willing to do for my beliefs? What should I be willing to do for my beliefs? Do I have the faith to trust in God's purposes no matter what?

After I was finished writing a verse from Moroni was present in my thoughts it states, "Come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God" (Moroni 10:32). This is the formula to become like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.