I want to tell you about someone named Abinadi.
I may not do justice to this great man's story, but I sure can try.
Abinadi was a faithful servant of the Lord, and like most servants of the Lord, he wanted to share what he had found in knowing the Lord and His goodness -- he wanted to share the joy that can only come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, those the Lord needed him to share the gospel with were not so keen on gaining said joy. They didn't want to hear this craziness about how they were an iniquitous people and how they would suffer if they did not repent. They were prideful. They thought they were on top of the world where nothing could touch them. They weren't doing anything wrong. They were just perfect the way they were.
Shortly thereafter, their oh-so-great-but-not-actually-so-great king, King Noah, heard about this blasphemous Abinadi and his preposterous prophecies. He more or less took an "Off with his head!" sort of approach to the situation. Abinadi fled, but a couple years later came back in disguise to continue his efforts to help these people. The people continued to stick up their noses at him and continued in their desire to have him killed. To add fuel to the hate-fire, Abinadi added to his prophecies that their "perfect" king would experience death by fire. That was no beuno in the eyes of the people. They brought this man to the king and told the king of his irreverence.
The wicked king and the evil priests of his court showed no mercy. They interrogated Abinadi. They sought to make a liar out of him. They sought to make him dig himself into a hole from which he could not escape.
They did not know who they were dealing with.
The priests barely got a moment to get their hole-digging shovels ready. Having the Lord on his side, Abinadi knew what these guys were up to. So, he turned the tables on them. He questioned them about the doctrine they were supposed to be teaching their people. He scolded them for not leading by example. He told them about all the ways they were walking their people down a path that will lead to nothing but destruction.
They knew he was right, so of course they didn't want to listen. They tried to seize him to finally end all this talk of their failings. They couldn't touch him, though. The Lord was not done speaking through him. He continued to tell them of their wrongdoings, but he also told them about this wonderful thing, this wonderful person that they were denying their people the honor, the privilege of knowing -- the Promised Messiah.
He quotes the words of Isaiah:
He spoke of many more beautiful things that I encourage each of you to read, but his story ends shortly thereafter. Once he was finished speaking with love and warning in his voice, King Noah ordered for his execution by fire, but a remarkable thing happened.
Before Abinadi was to face the flames, one of King Noah's priests, Alma, spoke up. He pled with the king that he may have mercy upon Abinadi. Unlike the other priests, Alma had opened his heart to the words of Abinadi and had felt the warm confirmation of their truth through the Holy Ghost. King Noah just became angrier, of course, and ordered Alma to be slain as well. Alma got away luckily, and Abinadi proceeded to his execution with the same boldness of faith he had had in facing his executioner.
I have been thinking a lot about Abinadi as I have been preparing for my mission. It would seem not much came of his efforts. That is the farthest thing from the truth. In his short life, in this short mission he embarked on, Abinadi turned the heart of Alma. It is because of Abinadi that Alma had a change of heart and was able to turn the hearts of so many afterward. It is because of Abinadi that Alma became a great prophet and that his son, Alma the younger's story of miraculous repentance came to be. It is because of Abinadi that Alma the younger too became a great prophet, as well as many after him.
Abinadi affected a life that affected and continues to affect the lives of so, so many.
For some reason I have heard a lot of people lately talking about their greatest fear being not leaving some sort of impact on the world. I like to think our very existence leaves an impact on the world. We will have countless amounts of acquaintances and so many friends throughout our lives. Each of those friends and acquaintances take something from knowing us, and we from them. We give those somethings to others and they give those somethings to someone else and so on and so forth. Heavenly Father places each person that is in our lives in our lives for a specific reason. He knows each of us perfectly and knows who we need and who needs us. He placed bold and brave Abinadi in the lion's den that was King Noah's court because He knew his lost sheep, Alma, needed to hear Abinadi's witness of the Lord's love. He knew Alma needed to hear and know so that so many others could hear and know. He did not intend Abinadi's death to be for nothing.
I myself have feared not being able to turn the heart of someone, anyone to Christ while I am on my mission, but even before or after my mission. I have feared my lack of impact, but in rereading Abinadi's story I have reached this new reality of understanding. I have come to understand that both on my mission and in my everyday everyone is there for me to impact. The passing stranger with their head hanging low will be impacted by my smile, the stressed out friend will be impacted by my listening for longer than my heavy eyelids want me to, the lost sheep I will come across in my mission will be impacted in some way by my reaching out to them and boldly, lovingly telling them of Christ as Abinadi did.
My impact might not seem as great as one that stems from martyrdom or baptizing 204 souls at a time as Alma did upon escaping the courts of King Noah, but I know those simple somethings that I pass on to others and that they pass on to me are a part of the greater something that is our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. They are a part of His bringing us back to our heavenly home if we let them be. If we choose to make those somethings somethings that uplift and encourage; somethings that bring others and ourselves closer to the joy and peace that only Christ can bring.
It is my greatest wish and my most earnest prayer that my impact of somethings will be one that Heavenly Father will be proud of; one that will evoke the words we all wish to hear some day...
I may not do justice to this great man's story, but I sure can try.
Abinadi was a faithful servant of the Lord, and like most servants of the Lord, he wanted to share what he had found in knowing the Lord and His goodness -- he wanted to share the joy that can only come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, those the Lord needed him to share the gospel with were not so keen on gaining said joy. They didn't want to hear this craziness about how they were an iniquitous people and how they would suffer if they did not repent. They were prideful. They thought they were on top of the world where nothing could touch them. They weren't doing anything wrong. They were just perfect the way they were.
Shortly thereafter, their oh-so-great-but-not-actually-so-great king, King Noah, heard about this blasphemous Abinadi and his preposterous prophecies. He more or less took an "Off with his head!" sort of approach to the situation. Abinadi fled, but a couple years later came back in disguise to continue his efforts to help these people. The people continued to stick up their noses at him and continued in their desire to have him killed. To add fuel to the hate-fire, Abinadi added to his prophecies that their "perfect" king would experience death by fire. That was no beuno in the eyes of the people. They brought this man to the king and told the king of his irreverence.
The wicked king and the evil priests of his court showed no mercy. They interrogated Abinadi. They sought to make a liar out of him. They sought to make him dig himself into a hole from which he could not escape.
They did not know who they were dealing with.
The priests barely got a moment to get their hole-digging shovels ready. Having the Lord on his side, Abinadi knew what these guys were up to. So, he turned the tables on them. He questioned them about the doctrine they were supposed to be teaching their people. He scolded them for not leading by example. He told them about all the ways they were walking their people down a path that will lead to nothing but destruction.
They knew he was right, so of course they didn't want to listen. They tried to seize him to finally end all this talk of their failings. They couldn't touch him, though. The Lord was not done speaking through him. He continued to tell them of their wrongdoings, but he also told them about this wonderful thing, this wonderful person that they were denying their people the honor, the privilege of knowing -- the Promised Messiah.
He quotes the words of Isaiah:
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.
He spoke of Christ's healing, saving Atonement. He spoke of the lost people we would be if Christ was not coming. This was before Christ's time, but he spoke of Him in the present. He spoke of how the coming Atonement should be just as much a part of their lives in that time as it would be in the moment of its happening. He spoke of the joy that we can experience because of this humble, loving Christ if we follow His teachings.
He spoke of many more beautiful things that I encourage each of you to read, but his story ends shortly thereafter. Once he was finished speaking with love and warning in his voice, King Noah ordered for his execution by fire, but a remarkable thing happened.
Before Abinadi was to face the flames, one of King Noah's priests, Alma, spoke up. He pled with the king that he may have mercy upon Abinadi. Unlike the other priests, Alma had opened his heart to the words of Abinadi and had felt the warm confirmation of their truth through the Holy Ghost. King Noah just became angrier, of course, and ordered Alma to be slain as well. Alma got away luckily, and Abinadi proceeded to his execution with the same boldness of faith he had had in facing his executioner.
I have been thinking a lot about Abinadi as I have been preparing for my mission. It would seem not much came of his efforts. That is the farthest thing from the truth. In his short life, in this short mission he embarked on, Abinadi turned the heart of Alma. It is because of Abinadi that Alma had a change of heart and was able to turn the hearts of so many afterward. It is because of Abinadi that Alma became a great prophet and that his son, Alma the younger's story of miraculous repentance came to be. It is because of Abinadi that Alma the younger too became a great prophet, as well as many after him.
Abinadi affected a life that affected and continues to affect the lives of so, so many.
For some reason I have heard a lot of people lately talking about their greatest fear being not leaving some sort of impact on the world. I like to think our very existence leaves an impact on the world. We will have countless amounts of acquaintances and so many friends throughout our lives. Each of those friends and acquaintances take something from knowing us, and we from them. We give those somethings to others and they give those somethings to someone else and so on and so forth. Heavenly Father places each person that is in our lives in our lives for a specific reason. He knows each of us perfectly and knows who we need and who needs us. He placed bold and brave Abinadi in the lion's den that was King Noah's court because He knew his lost sheep, Alma, needed to hear Abinadi's witness of the Lord's love. He knew Alma needed to hear and know so that so many others could hear and know. He did not intend Abinadi's death to be for nothing.
I myself have feared not being able to turn the heart of someone, anyone to Christ while I am on my mission, but even before or after my mission. I have feared my lack of impact, but in rereading Abinadi's story I have reached this new reality of understanding. I have come to understand that both on my mission and in my everyday everyone is there for me to impact. The passing stranger with their head hanging low will be impacted by my smile, the stressed out friend will be impacted by my listening for longer than my heavy eyelids want me to, the lost sheep I will come across in my mission will be impacted in some way by my reaching out to them and boldly, lovingly telling them of Christ as Abinadi did.
My impact might not seem as great as one that stems from martyrdom or baptizing 204 souls at a time as Alma did upon escaping the courts of King Noah, but I know those simple somethings that I pass on to others and that they pass on to me are a part of the greater something that is our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness. They are a part of His bringing us back to our heavenly home if we let them be. If we choose to make those somethings somethings that uplift and encourage; somethings that bring others and ourselves closer to the joy and peace that only Christ can bring.
It is my greatest wish and my most earnest prayer that my impact of somethings will be one that Heavenly Father will be proud of; one that will evoke the words we all wish to hear some day...
Well done thou good and faithful servant.
