In my Book of Mormon class this week we read 3 Nephi 15-21. These chapters are the words that Christ spoke to the Nephites when he came to them and so when I read them before I thought I studied them well, but there is always something more you can get out of them.
What I learned this time comes from 3 Nephi 18:1 “And it came to pass that Jesus commanded his disciples that they should bring fourth some bread and wine unto him.” In class we talked about how Jesus gave them this commandant but didn’t tell them why, and it probably seemed like an odd thing to them. Why would Jesus need bread and wine and the answer is he doesn’t, but we do. Jesus often doesn’t tell us why we need to do something, just that we should and we must take the leap of faith and act on it anyway. They didn’t know why they needed to get bread, but they did anyway because they were commanded.
This also reminds us that commandments aren’t for Jesus, he doesn’t need anything from us, he doesn’t command us to do things because he needs us to, but because we need to. Commandments are for us – we need them, we need to follow them.
This reminded me of a time when we were discussing commandments in seminary. My teacher had the phrase “Commandments are…” written on the board and we were supposed to fill it in. I don’t know what he was hoping for, but I answered without thinking and said commandments are like seat belts. After I said it he wanted me to explain and at first I couldn’t explain what I meant, but then I thought about it.
Commandments are like seat belts in the fact that they keep us safe and are really not that difficult to use. Many people think seat belts are restrictive or unnecessary and don’t use them, when in reality all they do is help. Anything that needs to be done in a car can be done while wearing a seat belt and that is the same with commandments. Anything we need to do in life can be done while following the commandments. Also applying it to what I just learned, seat belts are for us, they don’t affect the car – the way it drives or parks or anything, they just protect us and benefit us.
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