There is so much truth in the story of Moses' interaction with Christ in the Old Testament. What an amazing window into how God sees us! After seeing the earth, and a sliver of God's creations, Moses comes away with some powerful core truths. Not only does Moses recognize that "man is nothing" (undoubtedly a earth shaking mind-shift for a Prince of Egypt) but he also comes away with the truth that even in his "nothingness" state, he is precious in God's sight, made in God's image, and was foreordained to be mightier than many waters. Therefore, as a Son of God, precious to the Lord, and vested with divine purpose, Moses understood his true identity as a Son of God.
Even though Moses "knew who he was" Satan tried to mislead and distract him (like he tries to mislead us about our true identity, and interrupt our purpose, our joy, our peace). After Moses saw God’s glory, majesty and dominion and Moses’ divine role as God’s son, Satan came tempting, then whining to try to convince Moses to “worship him” out of pride and fear. The following interaction is a classic example of Satan trying to convince us to forget, to place our value in falsehood, false idols, false worship:
Moses 1:12-15 reads:
12 And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me.
13 And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?
14 For behold, I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me, and I were transfigured before him. But I can look upon thee in the natural man. Is it not so, surely?
15 Blessed be the name of my God, for his Spirit hath not altogether withdrawn from me, or else where is thy glory, for it is darkness unto me? And I can judge between thee and God; for God said unto me: Worship God, for him only shalt thou serve.
When Satan comes knocking, trying to convince you that you are somehow less than a child of God, or defined by fleeting and temporary things such as your appearance, possessions, popularity, performance, or some other external variable, remember that these things change and are not who you are. My receding hairline is a great example. It doesn't define me and is definitely constantly changing. :) Instead, remember that you are a Child of God; not of man. It is true that your "natural man" tendencies make make you an enemy to God until you yield to the spirit (Mosiah 3:19) and that these temptations exist and can keep us separated from God. BUT, so do your spiritual man/woman tendencies.
Be who you were foreordained to be become by relying on Christ. Atonement based living is about allowing our spirit and body to live in harmony - by allowing Christ to heal the gap between who you were before, who you are now, and who you were (like Moses) foreordained to become. When we don't live consistent with the truths that we know, our hearts war within ourselves. Your natural man is real, and so is your spiritual man. You were before now. You already developed gifts, talents, and characteristics, and this life is a chance to make those spiritual truths manifest in this temporal world. As you fill your temple with light through truthful living, you shine and point others to the true path - following the ribbon of light set before you that leads you on your way to becoming you, and having a personal restorative awakening in Christ.
Comentários