I love the way Alma describes what brings him joy in Alma
29:9, “I know that which the Lord hath
commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that
which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may
be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and
this is my joy.”
A couple of important points:
1.
He served in a position of power as chief priest,
but that wasn’t directly responsible for his joy.
2.
I’m guessing that they did well enough as a
family financially because he was able to leave his “employment” many different
times to preach the gospel in different lands. Yet, his money wasn’t the source
of his joy.
What is your/my
source of joy?
Depending on how you just answered, how much time are you
putting into your “source” of joy?
If our answer is that your joy is in the Lord, well then, how
many times a day do you pray, ponder, and search His will for you?
If your answer is your family, how much time do you invest
in your family?
Here is what the Lord has to say about “Joy”:
D&C 18:15: “And if
it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this
people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy
with him in the kingdom of my Father!”
D&C 42:61: “If
thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon
knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things – that
which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”
Alma 19:6, speaking of King Lamoni who lay prostrate, “…he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was
being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which
was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness –
yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul..”
