Enduring to the End

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:15 

 Once we have been baptize and recived the Holy Ghost, we must stay in that path. Enduring to the end means repeating all the steps over and over and over for the rest of your life. 

In the picture above it shows how all the parts of the gospel are connected and how the atonement (Christ sacrifice) is the center of it all. If we truly have faith in Jesus Christ we will want to change and repent, when we repent we will want to make more covenants to be saved so we get baptize, after baptism the next step is reciving the Holy Ghost to help stay in the right path, and with that we can endure to the end, and we will see blessings in our lives and feel Gods love so we will have even more faith, and since we are not perfect and keep committing sins, we will keep repenting and instead of baptism we will take the sacrament and that also makes us pure and help us feel the Holy Ghost more and makes us want to start the whole cycle again. Now let's talk a little about what the sacrament represents. 

Before Jesus Christ was crucified, he decided to spend one more night with his apostles. To Jesus Christ, they where his friends, and that night after judas went to betray him, he decided to show them the sacrament.  "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

Mathew 26:26-28 

Today Jesus Christ also makes that same invitation to us, by coming to church every Sunday and partaking the sacrament. In the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we take the sacrament the exact same way Jesus Christ gave it to his apostles. With that we renew our baptismal covenants, and it's almost as if we are being baptized again.  

Now once we keep the cycle going, most likely we will fall short, we all make mistakes and we are not perfect, but let us remember God is in our side. We can always repent, but we must never turn back. In second Nephi 9:24 it tells us "And if they will not repent and believe in his name, and be baptized in his name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it." If we make a sacred promise or a sacred covenant with God, and if we break it, then we will be punished by not reciving those promised blessing we had when we got baptize. 

Now that does not mean we can't ask questions and learn about other beliefs, we just have to remember the covenant we made, and make sure to keep it and not drift from it.

   "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Mathew 10:22 

Before I graduated from high school, becoming a Christian was no longer a popular belief among my classmates. Many born Christians who would go to church in their youth, later became atheist or just became no longer active in their beliefs. It became so prevalent that a lot of my friends decided not to leave on a mission, or go into other religions where they would worship nature or satanism. Christians are being attacked and looked down upon by others. I remember so many times when I had Instagram whenever I would post something about my religion, there was always somebody who would put a negative comment on it. But we are not alone! God always gives us blessings for every commandment he gives us. 

"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."

1Nephi 13:37 

"Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life."

3Nephi 15:9 

One of the best examples for enduring to the end is in acts chapter 7, when Stephen is defending his beliefs in Christ. 

In that video we watch how Stephen died enduring to the end. He did not deny what he believed, he only spoke the truth of what he knew. Are we willing to do the in that situation? Maybe we won't be threaten to have our life taken away. But that gives us less of an excuse to not endure to the end. We must keep working on ourselves, and the more we keep the cycle, the more we get closer to God. Yes sometimes we think there is better things to do, other than go to church and take the sacrament, maybe we don't feel we are ready for baptism. Others might think faith is just to much work, or that you are not ready to begin the cycle. If any of you reading this thinks that way, I invite you to read these two verses. "And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.

For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen." 

2Nephi 33:14-15 

I always know Jesus Christ is with me, even when I am not perfect and sometimes forget the precious gift he has given me, and wonder sometimes, I am not lost. Many of us has family or children that have different beliefs, some of them might not even believe in Jesus Christ. Whatever the situation might be, we have to remember, especially in this Christmas season, that Jesus Christ came and died for us, so that we may live again. We must keep having faith and we must keep repenting, we must be baptize and receive the Holy Ghost to show how committed we are, and after we must partake of the sacrament, to keep the Holy Ghost with us. I want to end saying, that I know God still talks to men, we are his children, and he loves each one of us, and wants us to return to love with him. He sent his son to die for us, and now we have his church again in the world. 

For more information about the Gospel of Jesus Christ please visit https://www.lds.org