Steve Nash: Man, Myth, Legend

Steve Nash. Point guard for the Phoenix Suns. 2 time NBA MVP. One of the all-time leading players for assists in the NBA. And overall, just a classy guy. A year or two ago I was for some reason or other drawn to the Phoenix Suns. I'm not sure exactly why, their record wasn't super great at the time and they haven't won any championships in a while. I think it was mostly because of Steve Nash. He is known for his ability to see the whole court and to pass the ball to the person who can do the most with it. His best ability is not in scoring, but in being a team player. That is what makes him such a phenomenal athlete, it's not his sheer skill or ability alone, but his ability to bring the best out of other people.

Spiritually speaking, we can all become a "Steve Nash" in our own way. When we enter into the covenant of baptism, we promise certain things, and the Lord promises us certain things in return and helps strengthen us to keep those promises. Part of this covenant states:

"... as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in.... Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized int he name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" (Mosiah 18:8-10)

Jesus Christ wants us to become the best we can be, He wants us to be our very own Steve Nash or MVP. He knows we can become the best player on the court that we can be by serving or assisting others, just like Steve Nash. By being humble, submitting our own skills or abilities to the will of the Lord, and instead choosing to help others, to "mourn with those that mourn" and to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort" we become even stronger and better players than we could be when left to ourselves. We can help bring out the best in other people.  

The world's a court, and everyone's a player.

Do you want to be an MVP or a bench-warmer on the Lord's team?

A Blessing In Disguise

Opposition. Every athlete knows you need it to become stronger. Well, every dedicated athlete does. Without constant training, excercise, and activity, the muscles in the body will weaken and lose their use or effectiveness.
We lift weights, we go running, we get sore. In the end is that such a bad thing?



It is if you do it like this guy....

 Our soreness comes from micro tears in our muscles, seperations you could say, from one end of the muscle to the other. That's why we hurt. The muscles does not have the capability to heal itself with no outside help. It needs nourishing by proteins and other crucial nutirents that come from our bloodstream. Through these vital components and time, the torn, or seperated fibers in our muscles grow back together even stronger than before!!! This momentary seperation in the end is a benefit to our body! It hurts, but the end result is not bad, unless we let the seperation, tears, and pressure increase instead of taking time to heal. This happens when we continue to overwork ourselves instead of resting and healing. After too much continuous stress, or opposition, the seperation builds up until we "pull a muscle", leaving that muscle and other associated ligaments handicapped or useless for a while, making the recovery process even more painful and longer than was before necessary if we would have but given our body the proper time to recover. Surely when we are brought to that point we would choose to rest and recover than to continue straining our muscles even more, by then we see the negative effects of the muscle-fiber seperation.

Our relationship with God is just like our muscles! Let me elaborate. Like the muscle fibers before the workout, Adam was in the garden of Eden with God. God commanded Adam not to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). There were two choices. Adam could stay in the garden and not progress, or Adam could eat the fruit, be cast out of the garden (or seperated from God), and be able to experience opposition. Adam chose to partake, transgressing or breaking a commandment of God, and was cast out. Like our muscles, this situation was only temporary. God provided the necessary growth and healing through our Savior Jesus Christ. If we rest and take time, through faith and repentance,we can "apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins" (Mosiah 4:2). As we allow the nourishing blood of Christ to bring the essential components for recovery to ourselves we can begin to rebuild and recover. We can become stronger through opposition by turning to Jesus Christ or we can overwork our muscles by continuing in sin and choosing to delay repentance. As an ancient-American prophet wrote:

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors... I beseech of you that ye do not procrasinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherin there can be no labor performed (Alma 34:32-33)

Are we going to allow the Fall of Adam to be a bad thing, or just a temporary soreness in our life?

Are we going to be strengthened through the Lord Jesus Christ, or continue to be weakened, torn, and seperated by sin?

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death. according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself (2 Nephi 2:27)

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

OR

The Refiner's Fire

I once heard a story of a group of women who in their Bible study had been reading Malchi 3:2, which reads:
"But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap"
Their interested was awoken. What is a refiner's fire? They decided to go straight to the source.



 They went to visit a refiner to learn more so they could understand this verse. They did not tell the refiner their purpose for visiting, they simply told him they came out of honest curiosity to learn what he does. The refiner started out with a piece of silver. He explained that it was not pure silver, but there were other metals mixed in with the silver, keeping the silver from its purity. The way that they removed the other metals was to hold it in the center of the fire, the hottest part. Slowly the weaker metals would melt and run off until the stronger purified silver was the only element remaining of the original alloy. The refiner explained that the refining in and of itself was not very difficult, the most important part was that you watch the silver, for if it is in the fire too long then it will break, losing the desired result of perfect, refined, and purified silver.

"How do you know when it's been in just long enough?" The Bible study group inquired.

"That's the easy part. I know the silver is just right when I can see my reflection in it."

So it is with our Savior Jesus Christ! He is our Great Refiner. He wants us to be happy as he is. He wants us to experience the joy and hope that comes from Him, and we do so as we become more like Him, as our actions and countenance slowly reflects more and more of the light of Christ. Our trials and tribulations are not given to us as punishment, but as a blessing to "refine" us and make us more Christ-like if we go through them with the help of our Refiner. Listen to the words of a modern-day apostle of the Lord:

    

"The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

When we pluck the roses, we find we often cannot avoid the thorns which spring from the same stem.

Out of the refiner’s fire can come a glorious deliverance. It can be a noble and lasting rebirth. The price to become acquainted with God will have been paid. There can come a sacred peace. There will be a reawakening of dormant, inner resources. A comfortable cloak of righteousness will be drawn around us to protect us and to keep us warm spiritually. Self-pity will vanish as our blessings are counted.

The blessings of eternity will surely come to those who endure refining, as the Lord Himself taught: 'He only is saved who endureth unto the end.' I testify that Jesus is the Christ and the Divine Redeemer. He lives! His are the sweet words of eternal life." -James E. Faust (click here)

I know our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ love us so much. They will always be there to strengthen us. They will never let us sit in the fire longer than is needed! I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.