Alma 31

What Matter's Most

In Alma 31:27, Alma describes the awful wickedness of the people when he said, Behold, O God, they cry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. Behold, O God, they cry unto thee with their mouths, while they are puffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the world."

I wonder how often I allow the things of the world to overshadow the things that matter most. I think it is easy to see these people in the scriptures and think it was their sin, and not relate it back to our day; however, the scriptures for our day. I think the world is is in our lives more than we realize. As I look at my phone, am I crowding out the things that matter most? I often try to remind myself to stay off social media sites while my children are with me, so that I might give them my full attention, or to do the "most" important things prior to indulging in social media. Richard G. Scott said, "Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!" (Richard G. Scott, "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority", General Conference 2014).

There are other things in the world that can overshadow the most important things. I think we have to be constantly diligent in putting God first in order to stay on the straight and narrow. I know that Satan is aware, and he will stop at nothing to tempt us away from the things that matter most. I don't think these people are much different from us. If we are not careful, we will find ourselves indulging in the same sins they found themselves.

At the end of this chapter, Alma offered a prayer on behalf of these people, and the scriptures say that it was "according to the prayer of Alma" (Alma 31:38). To have the faith of Alma, and to pray with such power is my ultimate goal in life. Because of Alma's faith, many of these hardened people came to the knowledge of God.