"...ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope..." (2 Nephi 31:20)

I love looking up definitions from my big, fat, red dictionary I got in college many years ago. I use it frequently. So, the other morning I looked up a few definitions from one of my favorite scriptures which reads:

  "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 

2 Nephi 31:20

I love the admonition to "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ". "Press" means "to act with steady force". In cycling, when going up a hill, if I stop pedaling I will fall over and crash or I can turn around and go back down the hill, but only if I turn quickly enough and this defeats the purpose of getting to the top. In order to make it to the top, I must act with steady force, or press forward and keep my legs pressing in a forward movement. Steadfastness means: "firm, fixed settled or established; not changing, or fickle, or unwavering; constant". Think of this with "pressing forward"- unwavering and constant. It is so effective in cycling. In life, it is also effective when we press forward, unwavering in making good choices, choosing the right. It might be a lot of work, or perhaps a long hill. But if we are pressing forward and don't turn around or stop pedaling and are steadfast, we will make it to the top. And WOW! does that feel awesome!!!

As I looked up definitions, the one that intrigued me the most was "brightness". It says: "shining with light that is radiated or reflected". "Having a perfect brightness of hope" or a prefect shining with light that is radiated from us and that light is Christ. Christ is our hope. We hope in His eternal sacrifice. Hope in His power to heal us. Hope in His eyes to see, because we can't and don't see what is over that hill that we are in the middle of climbing and it sometimes feels like we have been climbing it forever! Hope, a perfect brightness of hope, so bright it reflects in our countenances (see Alma 5:14, 19) because we hope in the perfect Atonement made for us. 

The hope is, even when we can't see over the top of the hill, that Christ sees and knows all that is over the hill. And Christ does know and sees beyond the current hill we are climbing (see Matt. 6:8; 2 Nephi 2:24). As we "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a prefect brightness of hope" we can make it through, up, and over all the challenging hills, valleys, and rides of life. Christ is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). We don't have to wait to get to the top to have a Christ-like life as we "endure to the end". A Christ-like life, is eternal life now. 

Have a "prefect brightness of hope"- He knows all, sees all, and loves us beyond measure and we have nothing to fear (see 2 Tim 1:7; D&C 98:14). Just keep pedaling, or as the scripture says, "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ". Life is good, even when it's hard and seems all up hill. This I testify.