More Holiness Give Me

In the Bible dictionary holiness  is defined as “ things or places were holy that were set apart for a sacred purpose; the opposite of holy is therefore common or profane; Similarly a holy person meant one who held a sacred office. The Israelites were a holy people because they stood in a special relationship to Jehovah. The word holy therefore came to refer to moral character” (704). Sanctification is the removing power or sins and the stains that they cause, enabling us to become as "white as snow." We need both to be holy, but we also need the sanctifying power of Christ to help us with those mistakes that we will make. 

Jehovah commands his followers to be holy so they are worth to obtain the blessings that he has in store for them. When we follow the commandments and do what we are asked to do we are proving ourselves worthy to the Lord and showing Him that we are trying our best to remain worthy to keep our side of the covenant and that we are trying to remain worthy to be able to receive the blessings He has in store for us. The Lord wants us to be able to become more like Him. He repeatedly states, “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” He is the ultimate example and wants us to become like Him.

In today’s world there are many things that distract us and can harm us from obtaining the blessings the Lord has in store for us. It is our responsibility to make sure that we don’t allow these distractions to take hold of our lives and bring us down. The ways of the world are strong and they beg for our attention, but we have to make sure that our goals and lives are in line with the commandments of the Lord. It has been said that it is easier to be righteous 100% than 98%. 

The following is a list of commandments found in Leviticus. The green highlighted ones are ones that I personally think that the world is struggling with today. Some more than others, but I think that a lot of the world doesn’t recognize commandments and strive to follow them. The ones highlighted in blue are the ones that I feel like I need to do better on. I realize that tithing helps out the less fortunate, but I feel like there is more that I can do. I also need to do better on judging and gossiping and being able to love everyone.

Obey they mother and father

Do not worship any idols or other gods

Do not lie, cheat or steal

Do not use the Lord’s name in vain

Do not fraud your neighbor

Extend charity to the less fortunate

Judge righteously

Love one another

Do not commit adultery

No cuts or markings on body

Do not prostitute your daughter

Keep the Sabbath day

Do not seek our wizards and such

Do not commit homosexual acts

The follow is a clip from Jeffrey R. Holland that talks about being sanctified and about being holy and worthy.

Sanctify Yourselves

Seeing God

From Joseph Smith’s translation corrections of the Bible and through Joseph Fielding Smith we come to the knowledge that indeed man can see God “face to face” and live. It is through the experience of Joseph Smith being able to see the son and Father that the world first began to realize that indeed there is a God and He is of flesh and blood and also that He is a distinct and separate being from His son, Jesus Christ. We also learn that man can come face to face with God and live. In different scriptures in the Bible it states that man cannot see God and live, but Joseph Smith corrected those same verses adding that “except them who believe.”  Joseph Fielding Smith stated, “There are too many passages which declare very definitely that God did appear, ‘face to face,’ with his ancient servants. Therefore, passages which declare that no man has seen him, must be in error. For instance, the passage in John 1:18, . . . is likely due to the fact that a translator in more recent years did not believe that God was a Personage and therefore could not be seen. This notion has come down to us since the introduction of the Athanasian Creed in 325 A.D…” From both of these great men we learn that indeed if a man is willing, believes and is a righteous person they can indeed see God face to face and live.

 

Saved

The children of Israel were both physically saved and spiritually saved by fire and water in their exodus from Egypt.  It is clear that by walking through the sea on dry land they were saved from their captors.  The Lord sent a pillar of fire as well to shield the children of Israel from the Egyptians that were pursuing them. Thus we see that fire and water physically saved the children of Israel. In a more spiritual sense we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1-4, “1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” Through these verses we come to the knowledge that through this escape the children of Israel were baptized by the saving water of Christ and were also saved by the fire of the spirit. Back in Exodus in chapter 14 verse 31 it reads, “And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” It is through this verse we see that this experience was a testimony to the children of Israel that the Lord will save those righteous, and contrastingly he will destroy the wicked that fight against him. This experience strengthened the children of Israel’s testimony of the Lord and spiritually save them as well. 

Marriage in the Covenant

In Genesis chapter 24, we read that Abraham was worried about his sons marrying outside of the covenant.  Abraham knew that if his sons married outside of the covenant they would lose their reward and “crown” as Brigham Young warned. He was worried for their eternal salvations while they were only worried about their temporal happiness. Prophets speak about this same problem that is taking place today. Spencer W. Kimball talked about how hard it is to raise children when the parents differ in religion. He talks about all of the promised blessings that we forfeit when we do so and also the heartache that comes with it.

Contrastingly, we see the example of Rebekah. She was a hard worker fair, a virgin, charitable, loving, compassionate and obedient and most importantly she was born under the covenant (Gen. 24: 15-67). When Rebekah’s sons are looking for marriage it troubles her that they might marry outside of the covenant and lose the great blessings that the Lord has promised them.

In Genesis 29 we see the ultimate example of love and hard work. Jacob works for 14 years to marry Rachel. “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen. 29:20). As I read this about Jacob I realized that we should be willing to do whatever it takes to marry inside of the covenant.  I know from experience that this is harder said than done. All of my close guy friends happen to be nonmembers and I find that a lot of the members here aren’t the best examples of the church. I have come to realize that in order for me to marry in the covenant I would have to most likely leave here to find someone to marry. I do know that like Jacob I would be willing to do whatever I have to in order to marry in the covenant and be able to be worthy of those blessings both for myself and my future family. 

King of Righteousness

Melchizedek was a man of faith who sought after righteousness. He reigned as the king of Salem. Having received the priesthood through the lineage of his father’s down until Noah. Melchizedek exercised mighty faith while ruling an evil people. With great faith and priesthood power Melchizedek was able to preach repentance unto his people in a way that they understood and listened to. His people were now restored into a more holy people and he was now called the Price of Peace.


Being a man of great stature and a king of righteousness the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God was renamed out of respect to the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was one of the greatest high priests. It is said that no high priest was greater than him.

A Meeting Of Abraham And Melchizedek