Ye Must Be Born Again
DAVID A. BEDNAR
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My boyhood home in California was located relatively close to large orchards of apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, and other delicious fruits. We also lived near fields of cucumbers, tomatoes, and a variety of vegetables.
As
a boy I always looked forward to canning season. I did not like
scrubbing the canning jars or working in our hot kitchen. But I did
like working with my mom and dad. And I loved eating my work! I am
sure I ate more fruit than ever made it into any of our canning jars.
My
memories of time spent in the kitchen with Mom and Dad are stirred
every time I see a bottle of home-canned cherries or peaches. The
basic lessons I learned about temporal self-reliance and provident
living while picking and canning produce have blessed me throughout
my life. Interestingly, simple and ordinary experiences often provide
the most important learning opportunities we ever have.
As
an adult I have reflected upon the things I observed in our kitchen
during canning season. This morning I want to discuss some of the
spiritual lessons we can learn from the process by which a cucumber
becomes a pickle. I invite the Holy
Ghost to
be with us as we consider the significance of those lessons for me
and for you as we come unto Christand
are spiritually reborn.
Cucumbers and Pickles
A
pickle is a cucumber that has been transformed according to a
specific recipe and series of steps. The first steps in the process
of changing a cucumber into a pickle are preparing and cleaning. I
remember many hours spent on the back porch of my home removing stems
from and scrubbing dirt off of the cucumbers we had picked. My mom
was very particular about the preparing and cleaning of the
cucumbers. She had high standards of cleanliness and always inspected
my work to make sure this important task was properly completed.
The
next steps in this process of change are immersing and saturating the
cucumbers in salt brine for an extended period of time. To prepare
the brine, my mom always used a recipe she learned from her mother—a
recipe with special ingredients and precise procedures. Cucumbers can
only become pickles if they are totally and completely immersed in
the brine for the prescribed time period. The curing process
gradually alters the composition of the cucumber and produces the
transparent appearance and distinctive taste of a pickle. An
occasional sprinkle of or dip in the brine cannot produce the
necessary transformation. Rather, steady, sustained, and complete
immersion is required for the desired change to occur.
The
final step in the process requires the sealing of
the cured pickles in jars that have been sterilized and purified. The
pickles are packed in canning jars, covered with boiling hot brine,
and processed in a boiling-water-bath canner. All impurities must be
removed from both the pickles and the bottles so the finished product
can be protected and preserved. As this procedure is properly
followed, the pickles can be stored and enjoyed for a long period of
time.
To
summarize, a cucumber becomes a pickle as it is prepared and cleaned,
immersed in and saturated with salt brine, and sealed in a sterilized
container. This procedure requires time and cannot be hurried, and
none of the essential steps can be ignored or avoided.
A Mighty Change
The
Lord’s authorized servants repeatedly teach that one of the
principal purposes of our mortal existence is to be spiritually
changed and transformed through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ.
Alma declared:
“Marvel
not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds,
tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed
from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness,
being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
“And
thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in
nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah
27:25–26).
We
are instructed to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and
deny [ourselves] of all ungodliness” (Moroni
10:32),
to become “new creature[s]” in Christ (see 2
Corinthians 5:17),
to put off “the natural man” (Mosiah
3:19),
and to experience “a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we
have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”
(Mosiah
5:2).
Please note that the conversion described in these verses is mighty,
not minor—a spiritual rebirth and fundamental change of what we
feel and desire, what we think and do, and what we are. Indeed, the
essence of thegospel
of Jesus Christ entails
a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible
through our reliance upon “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the
Holy Messiah” (2
Nephi 2:8).
As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed—to be
spiritually reborn.
Preparing and Cleaning
Just
as a cucumber must be prepared and cleaned before it can be changed
into a pickle, so you and I can be prepared with “the words of
faith and of good doctrine” (1
Timothy 4:6)
and initially cleansed through the ordinances and covenants
administered by the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood.
“And
the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of
the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel;
“Which
gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism,
and the remission of sins” (D&C
84:26–27).
And
the Lord has established a high standard of cleanliness.
“Wherefore
teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent,
or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean
thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence” (Moses
6:57).
Proper
preparing and cleaning are the first basic steps in the process of
being born again.
Immersing and Saturating
Just
as a cucumber is transformed into a pickle as it is immersed in and
saturated with salt brine, so you and I are born again as we are
absorbed by and in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we honor and
“observe the covenants” (D&C
42:13)
into which we have entered, as we “feast upon the words of Christ”
(2
Nephi 32:3),
as we “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart” (Moroni
7:48),
and as we “serve [God] with all [of our] heart, might, mind and
strength” (D&C
4:2),
then:
“Because
of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of
Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath
spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed
through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have
become his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah
5:7).
The
spiritual rebirth described in this verse typically does not occur
quickly or all at once; it is an ongoing process—not a single
event. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost
imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds
become aligned with the will of God. This phase of the transformation
process requires time, persistence, and patience.
A
cucumber only becomes a pickle through steady, sustained, and
complete immersion in salt brine. Significantly, salt is the key
ingredient in the recipe. Salt frequently is used in the scriptures
as a symbol both of a covenant and of a covenant people. And just as
salt is essential in transforming a cucumber into a pickle, so
covenants are central to our spiritual rebirth.
We
begin the process of being born again through exercising faith in
Christ, repenting of our sins, and being baptized by immersion for
the remission of sins by one having priesthood authority.
“Therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”
(Romans
6:4).
And
after we come out of the waters of baptism, our souls need to be
continuously immersed in and saturated with the truth and the light
of the Savior’s gospel. Sporadic and shallow dipping in the
doctrine of Christ and partial participation in His restored Church
cannot produce the spiritual transformation that enables us to walk
in a newness of life. Rather, fidelity to covenants, constancy of
commitment, and offering our whole soul unto God are required if we
are to receive the blessings of eternity.
“I
would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel,
and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea,
come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him,
and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as
the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni
1:26).
Total
immersion in and saturation with the Savior’s gospel are essential
steps in the process of being born again.
Purifying and Sealing
Cured
cucumbers are packed into sterilized jars and heat processed in order
to remove impurities and to seal the containers from external
contaminants. The boiling-water-bath procedure enables the pickles to
be both protected and preserved over a long period of time. In a
similar way, we progressively become purified and sanctified as you
and I are washed in the blood of the Lamb, are born again, and
receive the ordinances and honor the covenants that are administered
by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
“Nevertheless
they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in
their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto
the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the
purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which
sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto
God” (Helaman
3:35).
The
word sealing in
my message today does not refer exclusively to the ordinance of
eternal marriage performed in the house of the Lord. Rather, I am
using this particular word as explained in the 76th section of
theDoctrine
and Covenants:
“This
is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall
come forth in the resurrection of
the just—
“They
are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his
name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried
in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which
he has given—
“That
by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from
all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the
hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;
“And
who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,
which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true”
(vv.
50–53).
The
Holy Spirit of Promise is the ratifying power of the Holy Ghost. When
sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, an ordinance, vow, or covenant
is binding on earth and in heaven. (See D&C
132:7.)
Receiving this “stamp of approval” from the Holy Ghost is the
result of faithfulness, integrity, and steadfastness in honoring
gospel covenants “in [the] process of time” (Moses
7:21).
However, this sealing can be forfeited through unrighteousness and
transgression.
Purifying
and sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise constitute the culminating
steps in the process of being born again.
“In the Energy of My Soul”
My
beloved brothers and sisters, I pray this parable of the pickle may
help us to evaluate our lives and to better understand the eternal
importance of spiritual rebirth. With Alma, “I speak in the energy
of my soul” (Alma
5:43).
“I
say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea,
to preachunto
my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land;
yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea,
I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising
generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born
again” (Alma
5:49).
I
witness the reality and divinity of a living Savior who invites us to
come unto Him and be transformed. I testify His Church and priesthood
authority have been restored through the Prophet Joseph
Smith.
Through faith in Christ, we can be spiritually prepared and cleansed
from sin, immersed in and saturated with His gospel, and purified and
sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise—even born again. In the sacred
name of Jesus Christ, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment