Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Achilles' Heel


I've been thinking about this war that we are in between good and evil. The book of Mormon teaches, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. " 2 Nephi 2:27 Satan wants to undermine God's plan of salvation. His intent is to draw men away from Christ. He is angry that he has lost his salvation, and wants to take as many people with him as possible. "And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell. " Alma 30:60


All of us have weaknesses of some kind or another. We all have weaknesses in our beliefs. We all struggle with something in our testimony and belief. Maybe we need greater faith. Maybe we believe, but haven't mastered ourselves to put in to practice what we know. Some might struggle with lying, or backbiting. Others may be new to the faith and need more education. Whatever the personal struggle we have, we all have an achilles' heel. We all have one weak spot that is vulnerable to attack if we aren't vigilant in strengthening that thing.
The Lord knows our weaknesses. The Book of Mormon records, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. " Ether 12:27 I think anyone who has learned about the AA program will agree with this scripture. Alone we can do nothing, but with the Savior's help, we can overcome our weaknesses, and make that vulnerable place become inpenetrable.
I was thinking the other day that it would be wise for all of us to take a moment and think about our vulnerable areas. If Satan wanted to tempt us today, what area would he attack? When we recognize our weaknesses, then we are prepared to seek the Lord's help to strengthen them.

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