Moroni 8 & 9

Mindful of you

One of my favorite scriptures is Moroni 8:3. My father would sometimes begin his letters to me by quoting this verse. “I am mindful of you always in my prayers.” Whenever I read those words, I think of my father kneeling by the kitchen table and humbly praying to our Father in Heaven for me. I often kept that image and thought in my mind when I was serving as a missionary.

Baptism

Mormon teaches that little children must not be baptized because they are innocent in Christ, meaning they cannot sin. When they reach the age of accountability, then they should be baptized. D&C 68:25-28 teaches us that the age of accountability is eight years of age. We also learn from D&C 68 that parents are to teach their children the doctrine of the gospel and to pray.

Labor Diligently

In Moroni 9:6, Mormon exhorts Moroni to never cease to labor teaching the Nephites to repent. We too must never cease to labor, but to diligently labor. We must not serve in spurts and then “rest” a bit. Rather, we must be steady in our service to others. I remember Elder Ballard discussing this topic recently in a General Conference. He taught, “While there may be times when our Church callings require more intense effort and unusual focus, we need to strive to keep things in proper balance. We should never allow our service to replace the attention needed by other important priorities in our lives. Remember King Benjamin’s counsel: “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength” (Mosiah 4:27).” (M. Russell Ballard, “O Be Wise,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 17–20)

Mormon Chose to Hope

Despite mentioning all the horrendous things the Lamanites and Nephites were doing, Mormon still had hope. Mormon’s words to his son ring full of hope. “My son, be faithful in Christ … may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hop of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.” (Moroni 9:25)