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Helaman 7-12

Funny how my spell checker wants to change the word ‘unwearyingness’ as I type to ‘unwillingness,’ which is literally the opposite. If you look up the word ‘unwearyingness’ online, Google will politely ask if you meant another word. One site, which pulls examples of a word used in sentences, pulled four references from the Book of Mormon and from nowhere else.

Here’s one possible definition of the word:

unwearyingness: Nephi’s dedicated, never tiring efforts of teaching repentance and establishing the Kingdom of God among the hard-hearted.

This is how the Lord uses the word:

Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word [repentance], which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. (Helaman 10:4)

This verse has me questioning myself, “do I always speak up when I should”?

“Do I have enough love to speak up”?

Cliché or Powerful Message?

Nephi’s primary message was repent or be destroyed. Considering all the massive destruction that later took place, it must have been easy for the Nephites to ignore Nephi.

Cliché means an expression or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original impact, even to the point of being trite or irritating.

Possible discussion: Is the idea of repentance and righteous living treated the same now as it was in Nephi’s time? Is it a cliché?

Admittedly, ‘repent’ is one of those Sunday School topics that gets a lukewarm reaction. To be realistic, we probably don’t sit on the edge of our seats when the topic comes up in Relief Society or Elders Quorum. Yet, repentance is one of the most joyful, soul-scrubbing, rejuvenating experiences we can pass through. To repent means literally to turn back to God again.

Repentance brings resolve, restores our personal power and is pivotal to success in the gospel.

Shawnie Cannon ~ Divine Code

Mormon inserts some commentary about Nephi’s message in Helaman 12:

23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.
24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works. (Helaman 12:23-24)

Sprinkling some of the most basic gospel elements into our ‘everyday’ exalt us. They are 1) listening to the Lord, 2) good works and 3) plenty of repentance.

Grace for Grace

‘Grace for grace’ is a beautiful gospel concept. To compare, it’s a lot like ‘line upon line,’ except it refers to our personal traits. Repentance restores us to a better version of ourselves and adds grace for grace.

Here, King Benjamin lists the graces of a child we need to be restored to:

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord [repentance], and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)

Takeaway

Verses Helaman 12:24 and Mosiah 3:19 are linked together in my Gospel Library app because they illuminate each other. Summing the two verses up is simply this: we need to repent and be restored to the graces of a child. May we all embrace Nephi’s message of repentance and make that journey to grace now. As President Nelson says: “Time is running out.” (April 2019)

If you would like to watch a short video on the same topic, click below: