Jesus Frees Us from the Puppeteers

Jesus Frees Us from the Puppeteers

(Image Source: genius.com)

It is interesting that in today’s world puppetry is so prized. We are born children of the Highest, with the opportunity to follow Him and have eternal possibilities and inheritances available to us. Yet sometimes we choose to forego the treasures of the kingdom for the fading glitter of the world.

Jesus opens the door to our Heavenly Father's kingdom for those who list to obey Him. We need to offer more than lip service. We need to do more than merely say we believe in a higher power source. We need to accept Jesus as our Personal Friend, and we need to become friends with Him. He spoke these words:

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 

lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

He also spoke these words:

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever 

I command you” (John 15:14).

And these:

“If ye love me, keep my 

commandments” (John 14:15).

We owe all that we have to our Father and His Son. Everything. “Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3). Yet some people scoff and call His followers sheeple. Should we not feel it a glorious blessing to have a Righteous Shepherd? One who will never lead us astray, but who will share with us in His glory!

And here we live as His human offspring, awaiting the day of our immortality. Whom we choose to follow now will determine who will receive us in that great day. 

King Benjamin words, found in Mosiah chapter 2, are good for us to remember at this Thanksgiving time and always, because our worship must begin with humility and gratitude:

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, 

who has spent his days in your service, and yet 

has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks 

from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render 

all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has 

power to possess, to that God who has created you, 

and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye 

should rejoice, and has granted that 

ye should live in peace one with another—

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him 

who has created you from the beginning, 

and is preserving you from day to day, 

by lending you breath, that ye may live and move 

and do according to your own will, and 

even supporting you from one moment to another—

I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls 

yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you 

is to keep his commandments; 

and he has promised you that if ye would 

keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; 

and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; 

therefore, if ye do keep his commandments 

he doth bless you and prosper you.

This is a tricky day that we live in. Modern times are really repeats of the failings of past civilizations, but the evil designer has had many millennia of preparation in presentation. Yet we have been warned about avoiding his darkness and his worldly sophistry; we have been warned about not becoming his pawns:

“And there are also secret combinations, even as 

in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, 

for he is the founder of all these things; yea, 

the founder of murder, and works of darkness; 

yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, 

until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever” 

(2Nephi 26:22).

So here we are, somewhat like Pinocchio. We have a Creator who has offered us an inheritance with Him. He has made us real and given us the opportunity to become like Him, but sometimes we would rather be puppets, never reaching our potential, but controlled by the masses who have also chosen puppetry. Remember Pinocchio’s plight and that it is by far better to be a sheep of the Good Shepherd who will lead us into Life Eternal than to be a donkey. 

Another Year 2015

Heidi 

22 October 1961

19 1/2 inches long

7 lbs. 2 oz.

I recently had a birthday. My birthday is four days after my mother's. So I was in Utah with her this year. Both of our birthdays passed rather uneventfully. We knew that her days were truly numbered, and her greatest desire was to move on in her journey. 

I am still her baby daughter, and I miss her so much. I am thankful for the life that she gave me and the love that I have always felt from her and from my father. It seems that one's childhood is not truly over until his or her parents have passed on. 

I believe that my parents' generation is one of the very best. They were the workers. They gave us everything that we've built upon and we take credit for it. Yet, without them, we are nothing. 

So now with a broken heart, I need to take the torch and carry on. Some have asked me how I am doing. I'm doing well, and I'm not doing well. In fact, I am broken. But I know from past experience, it is when we are broken that the Lord can do the most good with us. So I hang onto that hope, knowing that one day I'll see my mother again, my sister and my brother, my son, my Nana, and my Oma; and all the rest of my family, those in heaven and those still here currently. 

I pray that I'll have the desire to use my energy wisely and do some good in this world, and love the living of it.