Heart scriptures

In Church today, our High Council speaker, Rulon Gardner, asked a question that seemed to me to be worthy of serious consideration and introspection. He said: “What are your 'heart' scriptures?” He defined heart scriptures as those that touch your heart in a personal way. He said that they are probably scriptures that struck you spiritually the first time you read them.

It occurred to me then that perhaps Joseph Smith’s first “heart” scripture was James 1:5-6 (If any of you lack wisdom…). The prophet said: “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine” (Joseph Smith-History:12). So “heart” scriptures seem to me to be those that have a powerful effect on us. They motivate us to take some action or inspire us to live the gospel in a more committed way. Nephi said: “For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them…” (2 Nephi 4:15).

I have written below about some of the scriptures that fall into the category of “heart scriptures” for me, in the hope that you will do the same kind of self-examination of the scriptures and make special note of them.

The Natural Man
The first that comes to mind is Mosiah 3:19:

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, 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.

As I have studied the scriptures, I have made notes in mine. Often they point to other scriptures that support or clarify the concept in the verse. This scripture has the margin next to it filled with other scriptural references – 16 in all. It had an impact on me the first time I read it – I have always struggled with “putting off the natural man.” It is my desire to “submit to all things.” But I have a long way to go.

The Chains of Satan
Another that woke me up is Moses 7:26:

And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.

“He looked up and laughed and his angels rejoiced!” It sends shivers down my spine to think that Satan has that kind of hold on the Earth today, but the earth is indeed wrapped in the chains of darkness.

We can easily be bound by those chains ourselves. … “the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains”… (2 Nephi 28:19). I certainly have felt the grip of those chains at times in my life.

Satan is Fallen
But after the final battle is fought, and after we have won our personal battle with the adversary, after we have cast off Satan’s chains, and after we are cleansed with the blood of Christ so that when we stand before him spotless, both Jacob (quoting Isaiah) and Isaiah himself (2 Nephi 24:12-17, Isaiah 14:12-17) tell us that we will be able to look upon Satan as a fallen spirit, and we will be surprised that he held such power over the earth and its inhabitants:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and shall consider thee, and shall say: Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? And made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not the house of his prisoners?

If we can “narrowly look upon” Satan then, why not now? We can distain his chains now as well as at that future time.

The Lord’s Yoke
Another scripture that gives me hope that I can eventually work out my own salvation is Matthew 11:28-30:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Used as a verb, yoke means to “become joined, linked, or united.” The Savior pleads with us to join ourselves with him; to let him lighten our burden and teach us the strength that comes from unity with Him.. His yoke is easy because He carries most of the load, “after all we can do.” (2 Nephi, 25:23)

A yoke is used to join two animals together for performance of some kind of labor. Inevitably, one is stronger than the other. The yoke spreads and equalizes the load so that neither animal has to do too much of the work. The Savior spoke this simple parable in this way because nearly everyone in His time understood the principle and purpose of the yoke, as follows: The best way to get a new animal to learn is to yoke him/her with an experienced lead who can steady the inexperienced one when it strays or goes too fast or too slow in the beginning. It takes some time for an inexperienced animal to learn to follow the lead, but eventually they work together to shoulder the load.

The Savior is willing to yoke with us to teach us the things of eternity so that we can progress, with His help and support, along the path to eternal life. He is willing to help us accept and pass the inevitable tests that come to us in this life. He is willing to make our burden lighter with his infinite atonement and his eternal and infinite strength and grace. We are the “new animals.” He is the experienced lead.

Trees of Righteousness
Isaiah provides great hope and comfort in Isaiah 61:1and 3, when he says:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Trees of righteousness! The planting of the Lord! What an inspiring vision. What a counterpoint to the adversary’s plots and evil plans; the chains with which he would bind us. By making ourselves trees of righteousness, we give ourselves the power to bind the adversary! By resisting the enticements he offers, we render him ineffective. His chains fall away and we have the freedom of which Christ spoke: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32.) We thwart Satan’s own plans to drag down the valiant spirits who won the right to mortality to his own miserable level. In my mind’s eye, I see the Prophets of this dispensation as giant redwoods, immovable and touching the sky. I see myself as a tiny seedling reaching for the light so that I might grow a little taller before I meet my Savior.

The Master Potter
Being a potter, I am personally touched by words in the scriptures that refer to the Savior as a potter. In fact, he is the master potter, and we are the clay. If the clay is too hard, the master potter cannot shape or center it on the wheel. He cannot create a beautiful vessel because the clay is too resistant to his efforts. It remains – stubbornly – just an unformed lump. Humbleness and meekness on our part makes us pliable and willing to accept the savior’s shaping hands. But he not only shapes us, He transforms us into a new vessel: … “he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21). Isaiah 64:8 explains this:

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Jeremiah 18:1-6 further describes the process:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, … cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand …

There are many more scriptures that are “heart scriptures” for me. It is my plan to begin to mark such scriptures with a little heart in the margin to identify those that touch me. I encourage you to mark your scriptures in the same way. I would be pleased if you would reply to me and identify some of your “heart scriptures” for me.