Hi Reader,

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Daryl, struggling to lose weight, seemed unable to keep himself from eating goodies whenever he saw them. It was like they were magnetic. He couldn't keep them out of his mouth.

One day, he cried unto the Lord, saying "Why can I not stop eating these gummy bears? I want to, but I feel so weak."

The spirit came to him and told him he was loved no matter what, but continuing to eat gummy bears was not healthy or helping him. In fact, for him, the Lord whispered it was a sin, and he immediately thought of Doctrine and Covenants 1:31: "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;" and it was clear to him, that sinning by eating gummy bears was the same in God's eyes as cheating on his wife.

I immediately said, "That's a bit extreme, my friend." He begged me to hear him out. If God had given him a commandment to not eat the gummy bears, and he still did, it was just as bad as disobeying any of God's other commandments. For all sin is wickedness. He said, "For you, it's not a sin, but God was clear with me, that if I looked at it this way, I would be able to overcome."

And overcome he did. He lost over 100 pounds and is still keeping it off today.

Sacrifice truly does bring forth the blessings of heaven.

His focus was to attach deep spiritual meaning to every sacrifice he had to make. Not eating gummy bears was seen as a symbolic sacrifice he was making to Christ.

Sacrifice

From the days of Adam to Jesus Christ, the children of God were commanded to make sacrifices of animals as a symbol of the great and last sacrifice of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

They willingly brought forth animals and made sacrifices of these unknowing beasts to represent the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

When Christ gave himself as that last great sacrifice, it ended the need for the shedding of blood as a sacrifice, for that law was fulfilled in Him.

Part of what made that sacrifice different was that His was the first voluntary sacrifice by blood. He willingly sacrificed Himself so that we could all rise again.

In 2012, then-Elder Oaks said, "Jesus Christ endured incomprehensible suffering to make Himself a sacrifice for the sins of all. That sacrifice offered the ultimate good—the pure Lamb without blemish—for the ultimate measure of evil—the sins of the entire world."

Unfortunately, we are often unwilling to sacrifice that which we hold most dear.

Each time we receive increase, we are asked to sacrifice 10% of that as tithing. Each month, we are asked to sacrifice two meals and fast and give money to help the poor.

As we said in the mission field, "Fasting without purpose is just hunger."

Fasting with purpose is attaching spiritual meaning to the sacrifice.

Honestly, tithing and fasting/fast offerings is a simple sacrifice, easy to plan into our lives and make adjustments around.

Much like the Pharisees of Christ's day, it is easy to become complacent and not attach spiritual meaning to our sacrifices.

Because we do it so often, we need a renewed effort to attach that spiritual meaning to our sacrifices.

Are You Willing to Sacrifice Who You Are for Who You Could Be?

Our purpose for Lent is to sacrifice something for just the forty days and attach deep spiritual meaning to it.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not here to make us feel good. The gospel is here to help us become like Him.

Christ asks us to sacrifice all for His sake.

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26.

Joseph Smith added, "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. … It [is] through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life." Lectures on Faith (1985), 69.​

We must be willing to sacrifice all that we have.

Lent provides a great way to practice that.

We give up something for forty days, and we attach spiritual meaning to it.

And the whole point here is to become like Christ.

That's why we are doing it.

When the end of the forty days comes, we can tell God through our prayers that we have sacrificed to become more like our Savior, and God accepts the willing sacrifices.

Be Bold, my brothers and sisters.

Make a real sacrifice. Think of what is holding you back from being like Him.

How to Get a Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit

Sacrifice.

Most likely, if you are reading this, you are ready to sacrifice all for Christ.

But there's something that you're holding on to today. What is that thing that you just don't want to give up?

Put it on the altar before God. Tell Him, "This is my sacrifice."

Again, be bold. Gummy bears might be bold for you.

It might be social media, or movies, or books. You are a unique son or daughter of our Heavenly Father, and your weakness might be someone else's strength.

I will end this email with this story from President Oaks' talk:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and like this young man, we are willing to sacrifice all that God asks us. But unlike the lambs in the Old Testament, we are already like Christ, in that we have the choice to offer our own lives as a sacrifice.

So, what are you sacrificing?

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