Last week I talked about seeing spiritually. Today I will discuss what exactly it is that we
see. That is, the nature light itself. Firstly, spiritual light is the same as spiritual
law. "The light which is in all things, which giveth life
to all things, which is the law by which
all things are governed..." (D&C 88:13, emphasis added). The light that illuminates our spiritual eyes
enables us to judge between right and wrong (see Moroni 7:16-18). We see that there are certain things in our
lives that are not in harmony with God.
Herein is the great moral
contradiction that each man or woman must deal with thousands upon thousands of
times in their lifetimes, the mismatch between what we did and what we should
have done. There are only two options that
a person can take when they discern a contradiction between themselves and
divine law: They may acknowledge that they
are in error, or they may deny the integrity of the light by lying to
themselves about its identity, existence, or authenticity. The first option is more humbling because it
requires us to accept that we are wrong and that we must repent, but the second
option shuts off the indicated person from further light and truth.
The greater a person's
ability to see, the more light they receive.
Thus any contradiction between that person's actions and divine law will
be more pronounced, as will the lie they would have to tell themselves in order
to avoid incriminating themselves. Therefore,
"he
who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater
condemnation" (D&C 82:3) because the
rejection of the truth is greater.
Jesus Christ is the light. He said, "I am the light which shineth in
darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not" (Doctrine & Covenants
10:57-58). In other words, He is the
light that we receive or reject. For
this reason, spiritual light is called the Light of Christ.
With this understanding, even
decisions that seem to have no bearing on Christ personally, such as whether we
accept Thomas S. Monson as a prophet, seer, and revelator, are fundamentally
reducible to a choice between accepting or rejecting Christ himself. The Light bears witness that President Monson
is His authorized servant on the earth today, and if we reject that truth we
reject Him because He is the light. That is why He can say, "He that receiveth
you receiveth me" (Matthew 10:40).
Those that reject the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in favor of another church that purports to worship
Him are ironically rejecting Him. It is
my opinion that many times, if not always, those who do so have first lied to
themselves about a standard of righteousness that they have not kept but have
excused themselves from for some reason. If Christ is the light, and light is spiritual
law, then Jesus is literally the spiritual law by which all things are governed
(see 3 Nephi 15:9; D&C 88:5-13). Consider
what this means in terms of the following scripture: "That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law,
but seeketh to become a law unto
itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and
altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law"
(D&C 88:35). Those that reject the
light, and abide not by spiritual law, seek to become a law unto themselves through
self-deception and cannot be sanctified by Christ. They seek to create their own standards of
morality and truth instead of accepting those of the Savior.
Deep down, all of us know what is true
and what is not, but depending on the amount of light we have accepted, our
spiritual eyesight might not currently be strong enough to tell the difference
in some cases. Those that sin against
light and knowledge damage their own ability to perceive light. The only remedy is repentance, or acknowledging
the hidden sin and turning the heart once more to God.
On my mission one of my favorite
scriptures was 3 Nephi 7:24, "Now I would have you to remember also, that
there were none who were brought unto repentance who were not baptized with
water." In other words, all those
who truly repent embrace the Gospel and are baptized. This is because all those who repent clear
their vision, accept the light, are redeemed by the Lord, and can once again
see what is truth and what is not.
I know that as each of us learn to repent and fill our lives with light, we will become more like it. We will become conduits by which the light can shine into the lives of others. Person by person, we can begin to cast darkness out of the world around us, bathing those we love in the iridescent gleam of life and truth.
"Night Light," by Susanne Nilsson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
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