Accord

A few Sundays ago, I found out something that shocked me. There is hardly any information on Zion in the Bible! That means that Christians all around the world don't know that much about Zion. I guess the best scripture on Zion is Moses 7:18:

18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

When I hear accord, I think of "a chord" - as in a musical sense. A cord is a couple of notes that when played at the same time create a lovely sound. The notes are all different, but when they act as one they create music. I also like this analogy because music is a form of worship, and when we all worship as one I'm sure it is music to God.

Accomplished

What came to mind while I read these scriptures is what it means to be finished. In President's Uchtdorf's talk from last conference "Two Principles for Any Economy", he said

Now, a word to us seasoned brethren: retirement is not part of the Lord’s plan of happiness. There is no sabbatical or retirement program from priesthood responsibilities—regardless of age or physical capacity. While the phrase “been there, done that” may work as an excuse to avoid skateboarding, decline the invitation for a motorbike ride, or bypass the spicy curry at the buffet, it is not an acceptable excuse for avoiding covenant responsibilities to consecrate our time, talents, and resources in the work of the kingdom of God.

There may be those who, after many years of Church service, believe they are entitled to a period of rest while others pull the weight. To put it bluntly, brethren, this sort of thinking is unworthy of a disciple of Christ. A great part of our work on this earth is to endure joyfully to the end—every day of our life.

I think that we never are finished, and this is why. In these four verses on "accomplished" - they only spoke of one task that was accomplished - the Atonement. When Christ looked to Heaven and said "It is finished" - He knew what he was talking about. This lack of mention of other tasks, along with a modern prophet's words, alludes to the fact that we may reach check point and we may complete a job good enough for our standards - but for the things that are really important our work is never done.

Access

The past couple of mornings I've had trouble motivating myself to read my scriptures. Maybe I've been feelings tired, maybe I've been feelings lazy - most likely a combination of the two. Imagine how I felt when I opened this topic to find only two scriptures. Pretty lousy - but moving forward!

I've put some thought into how other people view Christians - motivated by a few instances. One was that there are signs around for a local Christian group addressing the negative interactions people have had with Christians. Another last night when a neighbor got upset at a friend that had parked in our parking lot for a Sunday night get together. I know it would be silly for that neighbor to associate her negative feelings about one less parking spot for a couple of hours with the fact that we're Christians, but I know that it happens. What is more important, is the negative feelings people associate with Christians because of actual negative things Christians have done. Sometimes Christians have to be more outspoken, but I think if we focused a bit more on living and rejoicing in Christ's message, then there would be fewer real reasons for people to think ill of us. I like how Romans 5:2 says it:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Acceptable

In the For the Strength of the Youth, it goes over some things that have to do with what is acceptable, and what is not. What is acceptable dress for Sunday meetings, what is acceptable dating behavior, what is acceptable behavior and attitudes in general. This could be boiled down to what are the standards God has given us, with the follow up question of why it matters.

In Proverbs 10:32, it gives an argument that one way to define righteousness is by these standards of acceptableness:

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

and again in Romans 12:1-2, it makes this point even more clear:

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I heard a story about a girl who attended a fireside with the Prophet, and at the end of it she joined the other youth in line to meet him. When it was finally her turn, she held her program up against her chest to try and cover how low cut it was - because she felt embarrassed having the Prophet see her in something like that. We shouldn't base our decisions on trying to avoid being embarrassed, but it is something to keep in mind. Even if we can't give a direct reason or logical argument for the standards given us, I think that we all have the Light of Christ inside of us that can help us to feel what is right.

For a final word on trying to follow the standards, here is Mormon 7:44 on what following the standards can help us become:

44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

Accept

We are now in the "ac"s!

Something that stuck out to me, was there are 11 verses all talking about God accepting us, and then there is one solitary verse in Luke 4:24:

24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

Sometimes we think of Christ as being surrounded by followers and his apostles, but how often do we think of him as being alone? Though he had friends, they didn't really understand the weight that was on his shoulders. Though he had followers, they were strangers as far as Christ's earthly life. When Christ took upon himself all of our sins, pains and afflictions, he really felt what it was like to have a crummy life. But how often do we just focus on that part of "he understands what I'm going through" and forget about the fact that he actually lived through a lot of lonely times himself.

Abundantly

These two scriptures are mostly about the main two things God give out abundantly to us. The first is forgiveness, the second is the Holy Ghost. That is something I hadn't really thought of before, that the Holy Ghost really is a gift. I know that we call it "The Gift of the Holy Ghost", but I never really thought that having it in our lives is a gift from God. The Holy Ghost has always seemed to me very much like another "person" in my life, so to speak, then really just a feeling or a thought. Because of this, I sometimes forget that He isn't just going to wander around willy-nilly because He feels like it, but He's bound by the laws of Heaven too.