And when [Jesus] had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. When Christ was tempted, he found strength in the words of scriptures. Referring the book of Mormon, President Ezra Taft Benson stated,
There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life” (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. (See https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1986/10/the-book-of-mormon-keystone-of-our-religion.) For me, hungering and thirsting after the words of Christ in the scriptures is a life-long process. Let me explain with an analogy. Due to some health difficulties acquired during my mission in Argentina, there are some days when I am not hungry even though it's meal time. My appetite is just not there. Other times, I am working away on a project and I forget about eating because I am so engaged in the task at hand. Finally, there are times when all I want to do is eat. Say it's Thanksgiving, for example. A delicious meal is before me and I'm secretly hoping that Dad says a short prayer so I can get a bite of the green been casserole. Likewise, there are some times where I lack the "appetite" to study the scriptures. On these days, I have to make a conscience effort to get out my Book of Mormon or Bible and read. If I can "no more than desire" to study the scriptures, I must "let this desire work in [me]" until I am able to study and gain understanding from the scriptures (Alma 32:27). Other times, distractions get in the way of scripture study. Facebook. Friends. News articles. Homework. Or a plethora of other activities. I have to be constantly aware of these distractions and schedule time for scripture reading. Other times, scripture reading comes naturally to me. I may have a question that I'm seeking an answer too. Or I may just be in the habit of reading the scriptures, so it's not as hard. Maybe I had a spiritual experience recently while reading the scriptures, so I'm more motivated to study them. At these times, I remember how much I love the scriptures. I remember why I read them. At these times, the word begins to "enlarge my soul." "And and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me" (Alma 32:28). My goal is for the scriptures to be delicious. I seek to have a constant appetite and to not let distractions get in the way from scripture study. I seek to savor the word just as I savor the green bean casserole on Thanksgiving day. But just as Thanksgiving dinner is no fun to enjoy alone, I hope to share the delicious nourishment of the Gospel with others. In this way, I can give thanks to Christ for his enlarging, enlightening Gospel.
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For anyone interested, I have a professional blog titled The Instructional Designer's Toolkit where I share tools and inspiration for instructional designers and e-learning developers.
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