"Doubt not, but be believing" (Mormon 9:27)

This being the New Year and looking forward with great hope to the future I was somewhat startled at what I need to learn personally, but I am so grateful I can learn. I think there are many of us who are trying to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but we, for whatever reason, don't think we are going to make it to the celestial kingdom (see D&C 76:70; 1 Corinthians 15:40-42). This is not the Lord's problem, but ours. I realized this is a problem of faith. This is directed to all of those faithful followers of Jesus Christ who always think they aren't doing enough; even their very best isn't enough. This is filled with love, and understanding. I am right there with you. We all ask the Savior, "Increase our faith" (Luke 17:5).

Let me see if I can explain what I was taught through a story in the New Testament. It is the story of the Ten Lepers. It is found in Luke 17:11-19. Ten lepers met Jesus and "stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us" (Luke 17:13). They all believed that Jesus had power to cleanse them of their leprosy, a physical aliment. And Jesus did have mercy on them and told them to go and show themselves to the priests and "as they went, they were cleansed" (Luke 17:14). What is interesting to me is that only one of them "saw that he was healed" (Luke 17:15). He had spiritual eyes to see what had really had taken place. Then he turned back and "with a loud voice glorified God. And fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks: and he was a Samaritan" (Luke 17:15-16). He showed his belief in the Savior's power by his actions. The single leper worshiped Him. He had spiritual eyes to see the real healing that was taking place. Christ responds to the Samaritan by asking, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine" (Luke 17:17)? He had healed ten. Notice, it was healed. Then Christ tells the Samaritan the key for all of us, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made the whole" (Luke 17:19). The key is faith to be made whole. The Samaritan leper was made whole because of his faith in the Savior, not just healed physically.

We can be healed, but we have to have faith in Jesus Christ that He can and will make us whole, whole meaning perfect and complete. That is the purpose of the atonement, to make us whole, perfect, complete not just healed. To be made whole includes making all our short comings whole; all our hurts repaired, whether we inflicted them or they were inflicted upon us. This becoming whole is a two step process. First, we must recognize that Jesus is the Christ and has all power to do all things (Mosiah 4:9). He has the power to heal us and make us whole. The Samaritan recognized that Jesus was the Savior when he returned and gave thanks and glorified God. We too, praise and worship the Savior when we are "willing to take upon [us] the name of Christ, by baptism" (2 Nephi 31:13) and "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ...and endure to the end" (2 Nephi 31:20). We show our thanks by keeping His commandments and serving others. 

The second step is to "doubt not, but be believing" (Mormon 9:27) to the extent that faith replaces fear. When we say that we will never be enough and won't make it to the highest kingdom when we are doing all we can (see 2 Nephi 25:23), then the problem is ours, because really, we don't believe what He is telling us. Or simply put, it is called, lack of faith in Jesus Christ. That is a harsh one to hear. We don't really believe the Savior can make us whole, therefore, we lack faith. I think sometimes we mix up the concept of worth and worthiness. Our worth is infinite. Sometimes in our weakness we forget who we are, we forget our worth. We need to remember our worth through our worthiness so that we can be strong. Elder Russel M. Nelson said, "How you deal with life's trials is part of the development of your faith. Strength comes when you remember that you have a divine nature, and inheritance of infinite worth. The Lord has reminded you, your children, and your grandchildren that you are lawful heirs, that you have been reserved in heaven for your specific time and place to be born, to grow and become His standard bearers and covenant people. As you walk in the Lord's path of righteousness, you will be blessed to continue in his goodness and be a light and a savior unto His people" (Face the Future with Faith).

We aren't going to be perfect in this life. No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, we aren't going to be perfect and therefore we need a Savior. The real question is, do we believe Him? Do we believe Him when He says, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luke 17:19)? Or are we as the other lepers who were healed and go on our merry way and don't even recognize His power in our lives, the fact that His grace is ever effective in us, changing us, making us perfect as we worship Him daily by keeping our covenants and do our best to "come unto the Lord with all [our] heart, and work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling before Him" (Mormon 9:27). The kind of fear that is "equivalent to reverence, awe, worship, and is therefore an essential part of the attitude of mind in which we ought to stand toward the All-holy God" (Bible Dictionary). Not the kind of fear "spoken of as something unworthy of a child of God, something that 'perfect love casteth out'" (1 Jn. 4:18) (Bible Dictionary). That kind of fear keeps us from exercising full faith in Jesus Christ and really believing Him as He calls to us, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

This is a New Year. We can "doubt not, but be believing" (Mormon 9:27), "looking forward with an eye of faith" (Alma 32:40) to the future with the assurance that Christ will heal us and does make us whole. We can and are, through His infinite grace and mercy, because we "believe in Christ" and we are "reconciled to God" (2 Nephi 25:23), able to make it to the celestial kingdom. This I testify.