Recently as I was reading the scriptures I came again across
1 Nephi 2: 2-4, where it says: “And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my
father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the
wilderness. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord,
wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him. And it came to pass that he
departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his
inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took
nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and
departed into the wilderness.”
This got me to thinking, what is it that I am holding on to
that keeps me from following the Lord as completely as I should? As I thought about it, another scripture came
to mind, where the king of the Lamanites was learning about the gospel. What he
said in his prayer is found in Alma 22:18: “O God, Aaron hath told me that
there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make
thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, that I may
be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day.”
Once again, the example set for me is willingness to give up
whatever sin or habit or thought pattern keeps me from truly knowing the Lord.
I was reminded of the old original computer text adventure
game, known as “Adventure” or “Colossal Cave”. In this game there is a passageway called the “Tight
Spot”, which is so narrow that the player cannot go through unless he leaves
behind everything he has, including even his lamp. You have to be willing to
take the step of faith to leave everything behind and step into the darkness in
order to get past this obstacle in the game. The path is indeed “strait and
narrow”.
I’m now repeating myself, but the obvious question is this:
What am I holding on to that keeps me out of heaven? Am I willing to let go of
it? Do I realize that if I don’t let go, I can’t get there from here?
