This week has been my favorite yet. This church is true and the message of the
gospel of Jesus Christ brings more joy than we can presently comprehend. Elder Ballard and I have seen the miracle of
conversion in action over these last seven days and we are excited to move the
work forward!
Saturday morning I attended a funeral for the second time in
my life. The first was for a neighbor
who passed away after cancer complications.
This one was for a newborn baby girl.
Both were sad occasions for the families and those in attendance. No one wants to see a loved one go.
With death on my mind so often, it makes sense that my
studies and my thoughts have been on the Plan of Salvation this weekend. There is so much joy that comes from knowing
the plan! Everything makes more sense in
context, and in the context of eternal truth death is not the end! Through Jesus Christ we all can overcome
spiritual death, estrangement from God as a result of sin, and physical death,
the separation of the body and spirit.
Death is a necessary part of God's plan.
Not even the greatest of all of us, the Savior of mankind, could reach a
fullness of glory and power without it.
Death must proceed immortality and eternal life. If it was not an essential part of God's plan
for us then the Resurrection would not have been a central tenant of Christ's
earthly ministry. We read in 1
Corinthians 15:20-22 that "now is Christ risen from the dead, and become
the firstfruits of them that slept. For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive."
To paraphrase Linda S. Reeves in the General Women's Session
of this last conference, happy endings come at the end of the play. We do not find them in act one, the
pre-existence, or in act two, life on earth.
Our happy ending will come in the eternities living with God again! As the Prophet Thomas S. Monson testified,
"No one is foreordained to inherit less than all their Father
hath." God's plan for us is to be
sealed as families in the temple for time and all eternity--that is how we live
up to our divine potential and become like our Father. He loves us and wants us to grow up to be
perfect, just like him. This is made
possible through the temple sealing. No
one is foreordained not to have that blessing.
Christ lived, died, and lives again so that we can go to the temple and
make sacred covenants of marriage with our spouses that will unite our families
together forever. Without temple sealing
then we could never become like God, and the Atonement of Christ would never be
utilized to its full extent. The ultimate
end of Christ's sacrifice is that families can be together forever.
I am so grateful for the blessing it has been to be raised
in a home with parents who understand that.
I am grateful for grandparents and great-grandparents who have made the
sacrifices and come to the covenants of God.
I am eternally grateful, in the most literal sense, to live with my
family and all my loved ones forever.
These blessings are real and they are available to all who
live worthy of them. Death is not the
end. If we choose righteously there will
be no end to the joy of our existence.
Have a blessed week you all!
With love,
Elder Cummings
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