Jesus' Top 20 List: Exercises for Heartburn

GERD

I've felt "off" all week in my spirit ― like I had a case of indigestion.  Frayed and refluxed.

I didn't know why, especially with the beautiful spring weather and the evening walks with my family in the park, enjoying the cherry tree blossoms and fresh air.

Last night I finally realized why I felt bad.  It dawned on me that my spiritual digestive tract was still "processing" the artificial sweeteners and dyes and perfumes that were mixed with the General Conference messages I listened to over the weekend.  (Am I developing spiritual allergies in my old age?)

   For the waters of Nimrim
   shall be desolate:
   for the hay is withered away,
   the grass faileth,
   there is no green thing.

(Isaiah 15:6)

Hay fever?  Was this the reason I was feeling inflamed and puffy?  Why my stomach was bloated and chest felt tight?  Was it because I had ingested the leaven of the Pharisees (Matt. 16:6)?  (I used to be able to handle my gluten much better.)

I wondered to myself, How do I detox from this?  How do I shake off these shadows?  I can't shower or take ipecac to purge from my mind things like "Christian kindness is not a substitute for integrity."

There was only one remedy.  I turned to our Savior's words as an antacid; I gulped down His words like a fistful of Tums.  I spent the evening and early hours this morning trying to settle my stomach with the nourishing word of God.

​O how wide the contrast between the spirit brought by the words of our Savior ― who desires to give us life more abundantly (John 10:10) ― and the spirit contained in man's precepts.

I ended up making a list of the Savior's commandments from the Gospels to re-center myself.  Afterwards, I thought, why not share my list with you?  After all, some of you may be feeling a bit "off" too, and in need of solace.

Not Chicken Wings, but Cow Wings

The Lord has wings.  Not just any wings, but "healing wings."  We read in Malachi (one of my favorite scriptures):

   Unto you that fear my name
   shall the Sun of righteousness
   arise with healing in his wings;
   and ye shall go forth,
   and grow up as calves
   of the stall.

(Malachi 4:2)

I don't think this is referring to bird wings (sorry, Buffalo Wild Wings) ― even though the Lord does compare Himself to a mother hen.  The Lord is no peacock.

In this case the "wings" appear to describe the rays of light that reach out from the sun.

Remember how, in old Christian iconography and artwork, the Lord is depicted with a crown, a golden halo with spokes radiating outwards?

The NIV translates Malachi as saying:

   For you who revere my name,
   the sun of righteousness
   will rise with healing in its rays.
   And you will go out
   and frolic like well-fed calves.

(Malachi 4:2, NIV)

The second part of the verse mentions calves.  Not steers or cows, but young cattle playing in the field under a welcoming sun with nary-a-milk-bucket in sight.

I love it!  Put down your lasso: the KJV calls us "calves of the stall."  That is such an apt metaphor.  We're not homeless, starved, lean cows awaiting the butcher block; we aren't longhorns searching for grass to eat out in the wild at night, fearful of mountain lions.

No, we're kept-calves; the Lord shelters and cares for us with straw and cattle-feed; He brushes our hide and gives us treats to eat from His hand.  Isn't it nice having a stall under His roof?

So putting it all together, this verse is saying God's arms envelope us with the warmth of the rising, morning sun (no worries about getting sunburned).  As children-calves we "frolic," playing in His presence.  I can picture Him smiling, watching us prance about.

​This is the image the scriptures paint of Jesus Christ: a Shepherd; a mother hen; the Sun of righteousness watching over us in His green pasture.  All of these things describe His nurturing, caring, and protective character.  They also capture a taste of His unique warmth, happiness, light, and safety.

Contrast that feeling with the gloom I felt listening to President Oaks brow-beat those who "disclaim" their covenants by not properly, continuously, wearing their temple garments (my lower-back is still sore from the heavy saddle and lash).

Under the sound of President Oaks' voice, I almost couldn't hear my Savior calling:

   Take my yoke upon you . . . 
   and ye shall find rest
   unto your souls.

   For my yoke is easy,
   and my burden is light.

(Matthew 11:30)

"Up On the Housetop, Reindeer Pause"

Someone asked me once who I thought my audience for Owl of the Desert was ― because I was neither "loyal enough" to the Church and its leaders to appeal to mainstream members, nor was I "critical enough" of the Church to appeal to those who had lost confidence in Joseph Smith and his legacy.

(Isn't it funny how we situate everything ― including ourselves ― viz-a-viz the Church rather than the Lord?)

I've said before my audience are the angels, even "those who are not of the world" (to borrow Nephi's phrase).  But then, I also include you in that definition. 

   Wherefore, the things
   which are pleasing
   unto the world
   I do not write,
   but the things which
   are pleasing unto God
   and unto those
   who are not of the world.

(1 Nephi 6:5)

I am not sure how I ended up here in no-man's land.  But I have found this to be one of the best places to find God, in the hinterlands.  There is freedom here, where we are fed by ravens' beak ―  freedom to not partake of the spoils of the world.  That is priceless.

   And the word of the Lord
   came unto Elijah, saying . . . 
   And it shall be that thou
   shalt drink of the brook;
   and I have commanded 
   the ravens to feed thee there.

(1 Kings 17:2, 4)

And so here we are on the housetop (gathered for a Watch Vigil), while those inside eat, drink, and make merry.  Yes, it's tempting to want to join the party, feeling their music reverberate through the floorboards.  But the Lord cautioned:

   And let him
   that is on the housetop
   not go down into the house,
   neither enter therein,
   to take any thing
   out of his house.

(Mark 13:15)

Having made it to the housetop, we might not be able to return again into the dwelling place.  But you might be wondering, What are we doing on the housetop at all?  "Did anyone bring a jacket?  It's brisk up here."  The reason we find ourselves on the housetop is because the Lord has begun to separate us from world as a peculiar people (and sadly, "world" also includes the worldly aspects of our religions).

That is why "Owl of the Desert" is such an appropriate metaphor for this ministry God has called me to:

   I am like an owl
   of the desert.
   I watch,
   and am as a sparrow
   alone
   upon the house top.

(Psalms 102:6-7)

But we are not alone.  We are never alone on the housetop, even if we are few.  Having witnessed the workings of the Lord, we become a bit like Mormon, who stood as an idle witness to the unfolding telestial tragedy of his day:

   I did even as the Lord
   commanded me;
   and I did stand
   as an idle witness
   to manifest unto the world
   the things which I saw
   and heard.

(Mormon 3:16)

The prophet Ether, too, was an Owl of the Desert in his time, and joins us on the housetop ― a nocturnal witness who ventured forth in the nighttime to record what he saw:

   They esteemed [Ether]
   as naught, and cast him out;
   and he hid himself
   in the cavity of a rock by day,
   and by night he went forth
   viewing the things
   which should come upon
   the people.

(Ether 13:13)

That is why I take courage, remembering we have one another; and we have the angels; and we have the Lord Himself (Matt. 18:20).  Even if it is depressing, at times, watching the world march towards its spiritual Cumorah.

And so I continue to write according to the whisperings of the Spirit in me, that those who come after us may know that some few waited, and watched, for their Lord's coming, like the rising of the Sun.

From the housetops.

Explanation of My Methodology

Now to my list.  At the end of the Lord's mortal life, when His soul was weighed down with grief after the Last Supper, He said:

   If ye love me,
   keep my commandments.

(John 14:15)

Yes, there's that word: "commandments."  But I don't shy away from it, not when it comes from the Lord. 

The challenge is to know which commandments Christ was talking about.  During Conference I heard a lot about obedience, about covenants, and about "Think Celestial!"  Is that what He meant?

How are we to discern the living commandments of Christ from the "commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9), which produce sterility and sadness?

Well, I was determined to find out. 

   (1)  First, I decided to limit my search to just the Gospels (and Google), to the sayings directly attributed to Christ, in order to keep things manageable.

   (2)  Second, I found that most of the Lord's "commandments" are found in the Sermon on the Mount.  But I didn't want to just repeat everything verbatim, so I combined Christ's commandments into two categories:

       a.  Commandments to "Be"

       b.  Commandments to "Do"

   (3)  This is not meant to be a checklist.  Clearly, all of the commandments fall under the purview of love (Matt. 22:37-40).

Love is grace-filled; it makes accommodation for differences, for weakness, and for failure.  These things are not one-and-done; they describe a path of discipleship.

There is no "finishing" the things on this list because we spend our whole lives evolving, developing, growing, and transforming into the Stature of Christ.  That's the fun of it!

But I think, reading over this list, we can get a sense of what is truly important to the Savior.

Enjoy!

Jesus's Top Ten Commands to "BE"

-  Be perfect
(​Matthew 5:48)

-  Be born again
(John 3:7)

-  Be at peace
(John 14:27, 16:33)

-  Be virtuous
(Matthew 5:27-30)

-  Be a servant
(Matthew 20:26-28)

-  Be harmless as a dove
(Matthew 10:16)

-  Be as wise as a serpent
(Matthew 10:16)

-  Be fearless
(Matt. 10:28)

-  Be yoked to Christ
(Matthew 11:29)

-  Be childlike
(Matthew 18:3)

Jesus's Top 10 Commandments to "DO"

-  Repent
(Matthew 4:17)

-  "Follow me"
(Matthew 4:19)

-  Ask, seek, knock
(Matthew 7:7-8)

-  Hear God's voice
(John 10:4)

-  Baptize
(Matthew 28:19)

-  Forgive
(Matthew 18:21-22)

-  ​Care for the poor
(Matt. 25:35-40)

-  Love your enemies
(Matthew 5:44)

-  Do not give offense to Caesar
(Matthew 22:21)

-  "Freely" tend to His flock
(Matt. 10:8)