Offer Whole Soul

                This week in my study of the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ I read some of the last words written by Amaleki; he wrote these words as he was nearing his death and preparing to hand over the sacred records to King Benjamin.  I believe that his words are important for all people who truly want to come unto Christ.

                “And now, my beloved brethren, 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).

                Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offered further understanding of offering our whole souls to Christ.  “So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar.  Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!  Such is the `sacrifice unto the Lord … of a broken heart and a contrite spirit,’ (Doctrine and Covenants 59:8), a prerequisite to taking up the cross, while giving `away all [our] sins’ in order to `know God’ (Alma 22:18) for the denial of self precedes the full acceptance of Him” (“Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness,” Ensign, May 1995).  

                Elder Maxwell spoke on this topic a few years later while speaking to the Priesthood brethren.  “Brethren, as you submit your wills to God, you are giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give.  Don’t wait too long to find the altar or to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it!  No need to wait for a receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging” (“Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign, May 2004).  

                Although none of this information is new to me, I am still impacted every time I read it.  It takes humility to acknowledge that God knows better than we do and that we can trust Him to make us into what we need to become.  As we humbly submit our will to His, we are developing the Christlike attribute of meekness, an attribute that is required for us to become like Christ.