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Your Own Wickedness Will Correct You by Autumn Dickson My family watched Treasure Planet last night. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it was awesome sharing it with my kids last night. In the movie, we see Jim, a rebellious and angry teenager. His mom is trying to take care of him on her own because his father abandoned them, but Jim makes it pretty difficult. He is remarkably intelligent, but in the beginning, the image is formed that he has repeatedly gotten into trouble. His mother has no idea how to handle the situation because she can’t protect him by forcing him to choose a life that’s good for him. I don’t know about Jim’s mom, but I feel like I would be yelling at my child, “Why can’t you see?! Why can’t you see that there is a whole life out there worth building? There is so much happiness to take hold of! Please don’t do this. Please don’t throw away your life and enter a cycle that is very difficult to crawl out of.” The movie goes on and Jim has an awesome character arc and figures out his life and ends up taking care of his mother, but I can’t help but think about beginning-of-the-movie Jim. It doesn’t matter that he’s smart. It doesn’t matter that he has a home and food. It doesn’t matter that his mom loves him. It doesn’t matter that he has everything he needs to build a life worth living. Jim is headed towards his own destruction. He’s a step away from Juvenile Hall, and that doesn’t bother him. He’s too angry to make the kinds of choices that will build a worthwhile life. And in real life, we often find that kids who are choosing trouble have a hard time getting out of it later. Their life becomes plagued with addiction or past legal records that prevent them from moving on even when they want to. Needless to say, it was a very different experience watching this movie as a child in comparison to watching it as an adult. As a child, I empathized with Jim. As an adult, I obviously empathize with the mother. As I read the chapters for this week, my mind circled back to Jim and his mom again. I realized that Heavenly Father empathizes with Jim’s mother as well. In many ways, Israel is a rebellious teenager. They’re bent on choosing a path towards their own destruction, and Heavenly Father won’t force them to choose what’s right. Rather, He gets to sit and watch while His children reject the home, food, love, and blessings He has offered to them. Here is something He asks Jeremiah to tell them. Jeremiah 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. Your wickedness will correct you. My fear is not in you. Let’s talk about those phrases in reverse order. The fact that they don’t have the fear of God in them once again reminds me of Jim’s mother. Jim did not see the wisdom of his mother’s words. He didn’t see her sacrifices. He didn’t see how hard she was working to take care of him and how his choices were deeply affecting her. He didn’t fear her. In modern language, he didn’t respect her. I think he loved his mom, but that awe and attunement to her wisdom was absent. And because he didn’t respect her, he didn’t listen. Movies are movies, and they often turn out differently than real life and so I will probably stop using Jim as an example at this point. In real life, that lack of respect means that we ignore God and His warnings, and eventually, that lack of respect is going to lead us into choices that will punish us. It will lead us to choices that will bring about our own destruction. Our wickedness will teach those difficult lessons. We see this with Israel, and more relevantly, we see this in our own society. There are a million examples of how ignoring the words of the Lord can lead to heartbreak, and yet, we don’t fear Him. We think we know what we’re doing. We think we can handle it. Everyone who is pushing for the Lord’s words is just judgy, and the world suffers for it. I give one example. I went to a wedding that had alcohol a few years ago. The wedding was nice. Everything was fine. The reception started afterwards. And at first, it was still all fine. I absolutely LOVE dancing, and I got to dance like crazy. It was a ton of fun. But by the end of the night, I started to see some weird things happening. Married spouses were dancing a little too friendly with each other. One of those married spouses tried dancing a little too close to me, and I dipped out. I didn’t see anything happen that would likely break up a marriage in a night. But I did see very skewed boundaries. I saw a lot of people making decisions that they wouldn’t make otherwise. I saw behaviors that would breed worry and distrust. I honestly haven’t been around alcohol much in my life despite growing up in Texas, and so this was really the first time that I saw how alcohol can affect a person firsthand. I understand that there are a million marriages out there that are fine despite two adults drinking alcohol. I also know that a majority of my personal friends (I suppose I can’t speak for every single one of those friends) have had at least one deeply difficult experience happen to them under the influence of alcohol. And dare I say it… they were destructive experiences. There were stupid situations that would have never happened without alcohol. Despite the fact that they didn’t enter their evening with malicious intent and despite the fact that they’re wonderful, incredible human beings, and despite the fact that those experiences shouldn’t have happened, those destructive experiences did happen. Surely we should be able to go out into the world 100% vulnerable, but that is not the world that we live in. The Lord is wise. He knows this. He knows the danger. He tries to protect us. When we don’t recognize His love and omnipotence, when we don’t respect Him and all that He has to offer in our lives, when we ignore His warnings and protective barriers, then it is more likely that we will find difficult and destructive experiences. That is not to victim-blame. If you’ve had alcohol and found yourself in that kind of destructive experience, you didn’t deserve what was coming to you. I sincerely believe that. You’re not morally abhorrent. You didn’t ask for it. Rather, I use these principles to warn those who come after. Listen to the Lord. He knows what He’s talking about. You can do everything right, and bad things can still happen, but those protective barriers keep out much of the harm. I will preach what could potentially prevent harm. Listen to Him! He’s not trying to boss you around for fun. He’s not bossing you around because He’s a narcissist. He doesn’t punish you because you offended His ego by not listening. He is trying to protect you against very real, negative influences in the world. He’s trying to prevent pain that isn’t necessary to your growth. I testify that the Lord loves you. He is watching you. He is watching the situation of the world around you. He seeks to protect you. Following Him has been nothing but a blessing in my life. I am so, so grateful for His wise counsel. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

What is the “acceptable year of the Lord?” by Autumn Dickson In Isaiah 61, we find a mission statement for Jesus Christ. In those verses, Christ talks about the reason His Father sent Him here to the earth. There are many prophecies about Jesus Christ, but He chose this prophecy specifically when the time came for Him to announce His divine Sonship and mission during His mortal life. Isaiah 61:1-2 1 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; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; There is one phrase in particular that I want to talk about: “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” I did not understand what this specific phrase meant until this study. The year is not a calendar 365 day year. Rather it is a word to describe a season of God’s grace, redemption, and favor. It is acceptable because it aligns with God’s merciful will for His children. Christ’s life was that season of grace. It also holds allusions to a very specific ritual in the Law of Moses: the year of Jubilee. This was a radical social and economic practice that is detailed in Leviticus 25. Essentially, every 7th year was a Sabbath year where the land would rest and not be farmed, and debts and slaves were given relief. After 7 cycles of 7 years (the 50th year) on the 10th day of the 7th month, a ram’s horn would blow. With that blow of the ram’s horn, some incredible things would happen. Any land that had been sold or leased or lost due to debt or poverty would revert back to the original family owners. The land belonged to God, not individuals. This prevented permanent loss of family inheritance and cycles of generational poverty. Individuals could not actually sell their land permanently because they believed the land belonged to God; they could only lease the land and the right to harvest the crops. The year of Jubilee would end all leases so when people were leasing out the land to cover financial hardship, they would agree on a price depending on how many harvests were left before the Jubilee. Going along with the land debt reversion, Hebrew indentured servants (people who had to sell themselves in order to service to pay debts) were set free and returned to families and ancestral lands. You couldn’t lose your inheritance or yourself. There was also a land reset. The land would rest for a second year (the normal 7th year cycle and then the 50th year); there was no sowing, reaping, or harvesting. This signalled deep trust in God’s provision. People ate what naturally grew from the fields, and there was a promise of bountiful harvest in the sixth year to cover the needs of the people. First of all, what a cool concept. What incredible protections for His people. They could work hard and keep their dignity and take care of their debts, but they couldn’t permanently lose everything. That is definitely a year of Jubilee, an acceptable year of the Lord. Unfortunately, the people didn’t really follow this part of the Law of Moses. It was never regularly or successfully implemented in ancient Israel. However, Jubilee can be applied on the most important level whenever we desire. It can happen spiritually. When we observe the mortal life and mission of Jesus Christ, we can see why the announcement of the beginning of the Lord’s ministry would also be called an acceptable year of the Lord. Because of Jesus Christ, we do not have to permanently lose our ancestral inheritance for ourselves or for future family members. We are given new opportunities to live lives that are as rich as anyone else’s. Permanent loss was completely prevented even if there were seasons of hardship and servitude and repentance; you can’t permanently lose everything. And because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, our families are protected as well. We see spiritual poverty amongst families all the time. The children suffer because of what their parents lost. In a world without Christ’s atonement, justice would still take everything from these children despite the fact that they were set up for failure. The atonement allows Christ to judge mercifully and circumstances into account rather than holding hard, fast lines of justice. Indentured servants were freed. Not only could you not lose your inheritance, you didn’t have to lose yourself. You could be your own steward again. No one could keep racking up debts against and keep you indentured forever. Think about what that meant for a person who went through these celebrations of Jubilee. You walk away from that indentured servitude, hopefully grateful to God for setting up a society that prevented you from being a slave forever. Hopefully, you walked away with the understanding that God’s foresight and planning allowed for you to come home. Hopefully, you recognize His grace, rejoice in His goodness, and work to be a good steward. You look at your freedom compared with your servitude, and you choose to do something worthwhile with that freedom. And then, of course, the land reset. We rejoice in the freedom offered to us. Every Jubilee year, the poor would theoretically (since it wasn’t really fully implemented) be given this deep sense of awe and gratitude at the Lord’s mercy. However, it’s not just the poor who rely on the Lord. Even the rich need the Lord, and the land reset would have given them an opportunity to learn that same lesson: their deep dependence on the mercy of the Lord. In a year of no sowing, reaping, or harvesting, they had to trust that the Lord would do exactly as He promised. He would provide for them. I testify that the acceptable year of the Lord has come. Because of Christ’s mortal ministry, servants are freed, inheritances are restored, and none of us need be in permanent poverty. We have a deep dependence on the Lord regardless of whether we spend entire sabbatical Sabbath years allowing the land to rest. Recognizing that deep dependence is a blessing for us. It gives a safety net in a world that can take everything. I am so grateful for what Christ paid to bring about this Jubilee. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Isaiah 58–66 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Fasting is Not Just About Food by Autumn Dickson Do you feel like you’re doing everything right but find yourself overwhelmed with your own burdens? Do you feel like you’re doing everything the Lord wants you to do, but He is silent and not noticing? Because the Lord has a response for you chapter 58. There are many ways that the Lord responds to these kinds of questions and feelings, so internalize this message with wisdom. He may be speaking to you, or maybe He sent this message to me this week because it was exactly what I needed to hear. So the Lord starts out Isaiah chapter 58 with a plea to Isaiah. He asks His prophet to call the people to repentance. They “seek (Him) daily” and “forsook not the ordinance of their God.” In other words, they do what the gospel tells them to do. They go through the motions and ordinances of the gospel. But despite this, the Lord had commanded Isaiah to preach repentance to them. The people don’t like that very much so in verse 3, we find a response from them and then another response from the Lord. Isaiah 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. The people are like, “Hey! We fast! Why don’t you notice that? We suffered, and you refuse to see it.” And the Lord responds with, “On your fasting day, you’re still seeking after your own pleasure.” The chapter continues on calling them out for fasting and purposefully suffering or for seeking themselves. That is not the fast the Lord has chosen. He didn’t ask us to fast so that we could afflict our souls. He asks us to fast to change us. Isaiah 58:6-7 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? The Lord didn’t ask the Israelites to fast for funsies. It’s not about making His people suffer. As always, the Lord’s commandments are FOR us, not to punish us or make us appear righteous. The Lord asked them to fast to inspire them to be better. He wants them to see what it’s like to be hungry and take care of other people. When we fast correctly, the Lord is proud of us, but it’s more than that. We don’t go through the motions and look up for a pat on the head. The idea is to fast, let it change us and help us see the world through an entirely different perspective, and then gratitude springs up spontaneously for the opportunity to see through His eyes. It’s not about suffering enough so He can tell us we can finally go play. It’s about soul-deep satisfaction coming from more important aspects of life. This message is not just about fasting. It is an example of a bigger problem for the Israelites. I’ve gotten really caught up in my own problems lately. I am hyper-focused on the stressors we’re facing, and my worries have definitely been dragging down. I keep trying to have faith, and while I think the Lord is pleased with me for that, it hasn’t always been effective. I still end up worried again after my mini-spiritual breakthroughs where the Lord assures me. On Sunday, the Spirit whispered to me thatI was doing it wrong. Instead of focusing on trying to be okay with my own stress, I simply need to focus on someone else. My eyes should be looking for others who need encouragement. One of the most effective ways to free myself from carrying the burden of my own problems is to focus on helping someone else carry theirs. I know this but seem to forget it often. So I pleaded with the Lord to send someone for me to serve. I didn’t want to focus on me anymore. I wanted to change and turn outwards because I wanted to be like Him. Despite everything on my plate that already feels like it’s swallowing me whole, I asked for more service. That’s when the Lord opened my eyes a second time. I didn’t need new service opportunities. To be perfectly honest, a majority of my life is spent in service right now between mothering, being a wife, sharing my testimony online, and regular church service. I have plenty of service opportunities already. I have plenty of people who need me already. Like the Israelites, I was seeking Him daily, and I wasn’t forsaking the ordinances. Unfortunately, I was simultaneously fixated on myself. I was still seeking after my own pleasure in the midst of “fasting” and doing everything I was supposed to be doing. I feel like He sends me this message a lot. You would think I’d learn my lesson, but I take comfort in the fact that He repeated this lesson to Israel and they struggled with it too. This is not the fast that He chose for me. He chose a fast where I am legitimately investing myself into others, not just checking off a list. I find it especially powerful that the Lord states at the end of those verses, “hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” Heaven knows I’ve been doing everything required of me, but I’ve also been sneaking away and hiding in my room to try and get a grip on my own stress and worries. I was literally hiding from my own flesh to try and get a break! That’s not to say it’s not appropriate to take breaks or that we should completely lose ourselves. The true difference is that we need to stop seeking after ourselves. That path gets us nowhere. It doesn’t help anyone. Nobody feels better including yourself! My kids can feel that I’m distracted and trying to hide from them, and I get wrapped up in my own problems. This is not the fast that He chose for me. It could be easy to say, “He wanted so much more FROM me,” and to feel more overwhelmed. I think it is just as accurate to say, “He wanted so much more FOR me.” I testify that Christ wants us to invest our hearts. He gave us commandments and fasting and ordinances, but not as an end-product. He gave us those things so we could change and find joy. I testify that everything Christ gives is to bring about His ultimate purpose of our eternal joy. Follow Him! Lose yourself in service to Him and others. It is so joyful. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Isaiah 58–66 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

He Has Done Much More With Much Less by Autumn Dickson Are you feeling completely torn down? Are you feeling discouraged about what you have to offer? Do you feel hollowed out after a time of refining fire? Isaiah includes many warnings to Israel. The Lord allowed them to be smitten and scattered and left without anchor for a while in order to turn them back to Him. These warnings are good reminders for us in our day as they can contribute to our desire to repent. We can observe patterns and try to avoid the same traps. But Isaiah also includes many words of comfort about the Savior. Isaiah reminds Israel of the promises that were made to them so long ago. These words of comfort and promises are equally applicable in our lives. Isaiah 51 is one of these chapters filled with promises and encouragement from the Lord. Israel is finding itself completely torn down, discouraged, and hollowed out. They are not a mighty people any longer. They have been scorned and trampled on. Here is where the Lord starts to lift them up again. Isaiah 51:1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. The rock in scripture often refers to the Savior, but in this particular chapter, the Lord is referring to someone else. Isaiah 51:2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. The rock and hole of the pit are Abraham and Sarah. Why is the Lord telling Israel to look unto Abraham and Sarah at this particular point in the timeline? Surely they were good examples of righteousness, but the Lord’s encouragement is a bit more purposeful than that. He is essentially telling Israel, “You feel hopeless about Israel? Look at where you came from! Abraham and Sarah were one couple, just one! They were completely alone, separated from family and any society they had known, but I chose them. They were childless, but I turned them into a great nation. If I can work with them, scorned and downtrodden and alone, then I can work with you. If I can multiply them into a mighty nation, then I can multiply whatever I need to with you.” Isaiah wants Israel to remember that their entire nation came from something that the world would have labelled as “nothing.” How can we take Isaiah’s advice? How can we look unto the rock from whence we have been hewn? We can look directly at Abraham and Sarah, but there have been many mighty miracles performed on behalf of the Lord’s fallen, bereft people. There are examples all throughout the scriptures of the Lord taking care of His people and making something from nothing, but there are also stories in our personal and family histories that we can look to for comfort, encouragement, and hope. There was a time when Conner and I found ourselves in some financial trouble. We had just made a significant investment and within a couple of weeks of that investment, found ourselves with some unexpected bills. We were in a rather large deficit every month, and we had no idea how we were going to make it work. We explored all of the options we could think of with little success. I talked to my sister during that time period, and she told me some of those miraculous tithing stories from our own family. My parents couldn’t afford their electric bill and a clerical error meant that they didn’t get an electrical bill for several months; the gigantic bill hit right when my father got a commission. My sister couldn’t pay one of her bills until someone felt a huge prompting to hand her an envelope of money with almost exactly how much she needed. My sister told me something profound alongside these miraculous stories, “The Lord’s math is not our math.” He calculates things very differently and has an abundance from which to bless us. Just look at what the Lord can do with so little. Now, I used financial examples, but this goes for anything you feel lost on. There have been times in my life where I swear the Lord has paused the clock, and I have found myself with extra pockets of desperately needed time. I have found this to be true in terms of my abilities, strength, endurance, and faith. His math has not been my math. He can make a mighty nation from a forlorn, childless, lost couple. He can make me whatever I need to be. 1 Nephi 17:50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. If God commanded me to do ALL things, I could do them. Don’t look at your lack. Look at God’s abundance. This is all very easy for Him. That doesn’t mean He’s going to make it easy on you because that would take away from His eternal purposes of turning you into something glorious, but don’t be afraid of having nothing to offer. He can work with nothing but humility and a desire to follow Him. What is wonderful about the specific example of Abraham and Sarah is that the Lord blessed them according to their desires. They wanted posterity so desperately. This wasn’t just about multiplying them for His own purposes. He multiplied them and gave them according to their deepest hopes and dreams. He started with a rejected husband and a barren wife and gave them enough posterity to fill the entire world. I testify that it doesn’t matter what kind of deficit or fragility or brokenness you bring to the table. The Lord can turn it into a mighty nation. He can turn you into a “mighty nation.” He can multiply and multiply and multiply and fulfill your deepest desires and hopes and dreams. You don’t need to fear having nothing. He can work with that if you turn to Him. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Isaiah 50–57 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

As If He Nailed Himself to the Cross by Autumn Dickson In Isaiah 50, we find a profound message of Christ’s voluntary suffering. Not only does He suffer for us, but He does so completely willingly. There is a very careful message being given. The words are meticulously chosen so that we can understand the exact nature of what Christ truly did for us. In the beginning, Christ rebukes Israel and declares that He never sold them out. He has only ever been loyal to them. He demands that they show Him the proof that He supposedly left them. He then goes on to talk about His majesty and power. His hand is not shortened. He can redeem and deliver. He can dry up the sea and rivers. He clothes the heavens. He is God. After declaring how powerful He is, He declares the following. Isaiah 50:6-7 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Here, the Lord says He gives his back to the smiters. He gave His cheeks to those who pulled out the hair. He didn’t turn away from shame or spitting. This is significant placement. The Lord is literally telling us, “I am so incredibly powerful, but I gave myself over to this humiliation and torture. I gave it, and only I could give it because I am so powerful. It could not be taken from me.” In verse 7, the Lord knows He is not alone or confused; He knows exactly what has been asked of Him. This phrase also clues us in: “I set my face like a flint.” In other words He is saying, “I’m not a victim. They attack me, but I am not a victim. I have power, and I am resolute. I insist on doing this.” This is the very definition of voluntary suffering. For all intents and purposes, He basically walked into the hands of the Jewish temple authorities and put the cuffs on by Himself. He whipped Himself. He put the crown of thorns on His own head. Everyone was so weak and powerless against Him that it was as if He nailed Himself to the cross. I do not say this to excuse the guilty parties; I merely point out the fact that Christ’s suffering and death were voluntary. Think about what that means for a moment in terms of Judas. Judas betrayed Him, but Christ wasn’t tortured and killed because of Judas. Imagine for a moment, what is truly going on in Christ’s heart. I can’t be sure because His mind is not my own, but I wonder if some of His thoughts included, “Why are you doing this Judas? I am choosing to suffer and die on behalf of the world. This is not because you actually held any power. But despite my own insistence on suffering on behalf of the children of God, it hurts that you would betray me. I loved you. You were my friend. You betrayed me.” Judas had no true power to hurt Jesus other than the emotional damage he caused by his betrayal. Now we’re going to change course here, and it may feel abrupt but stick with me. In Christian traditions, Isaiah 50 is a prophecy about Jesus Christ. This makes sense, and this is how we study this chapter. However, in Jewish tradition, it is believed to be a prophecy about the Israelites. The Israelites are the servants of the Lord who have access to His power but fall under oppression anyway. Because Isaiah’s words often have dual meanings, we can explore both traditions. This prophecy is about Christ, and yet, can it also be about us as a type of Christ? There are three parts of this sacrifice that I want to talk about in relation to our following Christ’s example: willingness, love, and salvation. The first aspect is willingness. Are we willing to suffer on behalf of another person? Are we willing to let go of our selfishness? I think there are many forms this can take. If the world looked at the relationship between the Savior and any of us individually, they would describe the relationship as toxic. Christ would be encouraged to cut us off, to not put up with that kind of disloyalty anymore. But what if the world were a bit more patient with each other? Obviously there are appropriate times to step away from a toxic relationship. Christ would temporarily step away from Israel when they refused Him. Christ encouraged Nephi to leave his brothers. However, I think that line has been brought over too far in our modern society. The world has refused to tolerate flaws and mistakes in the name of fairness and self care. We mock and belittle instead of reaching out with love to try and reach someone who is capable of changing. I think the willingness to suffer a bit in the name of helping somebody change has greatly diminished. Sometimes that suffering comes in the form of patience when you have your own stuff to worry about. Sometimes that suffering comes in the form of continuing forgiveness while the other person figures things out. Christ was willing to suffer for us despite our not deserving it. Are we willing to follow Him and offer others the same grace even at the expense of ourselves? The second one is love. This one is actually critical because suffering at the expense of another person is not about developing a martyr complex. Sometimes love looks like turning the other cheek, letting go of demanded progress, or continually forgiving. Sometimes love looks like pointing out things that are not right. Love can help determine how to react in any given situation, and it can also prevent and heal bitterness. When we think we’re constantly sacrificing ourselves, it can lead to resentment. I have found that love, not martyrdom, is the answer to that resentment. True love that you feel in your bones, not just acting like you love someone. Love is key. The last one is salvation. The definition of salvation can mean different things. It can be expanded or narrowed down. Traditionally, we think of salvation as Christ offering us grace and living with Him again. I tend to expand that definition. Salvation is all of the joy that Christ offers. Christ is the only One who earned salvation, and yet, would salvation be salvation without His family? If He had refused to suffer on our behalf, would He have gotten lonely and missed us? When we choose to be selfless and truly loving (not just going through loving motions), we are offering others salvation and we are also offering that salvation to ourselves. Not in the sense that we can pay for our own salvation but in the sense that we find an enlightened life full of the things that Christ wants for us. This way of life, following Christ’s example, helps us receive the joy and peace that Christ has always tried to offer us. I testify that Christ was willing to suffer. I testify that His willingness to suffer saved us and brought Him joy in the sense that He got His loved ones back. I testify that He is all-powerful, not a victim. I testify that following His example can help to save others by offering them the grace of Christ, and I also testify that following His example can bring us joy. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Isaiah 50–57 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.