Sunday, July 20, 2014

Building The Kingdom Of God With A Bicycle

A while back as we were cleaning the yard and throwing stuff in the trailer to be taken to the Dump, a bike was thrown in that had been weathered for many years. The tires were both flat, the chain was rusted, and it was very dirty. I would have thrown it away also.

This is the exact same bike but it was yellow.

My brothers and I were expert bicycle mechanic's growing up. We interchanged bike parts to make one bike if needed, and we modified bikes so they had a unique look to them. I also sanded many bikes down to the metal and painted them over to a color I liked. These were fond memories. So without hesitation I took the bike out of the trailer and looked forward to bringing it back to life again.

 I spent a few hours fixing the bike and making it rideable again. I was very pleased with the outcome. I intended to give it to my Nephew, but I was concerned he wouldn't appreciate it and that it would just become another toy. I held onto it for a couple of days and thought I would post it online and see if I could sell it and make a profit. Then a thought came to me: Why not donate it to Deseret Industries and whoever is suppose to have it will get it. I liked that thought so that is what I did.

On the way to D.I. I had another thought: By taking this bike to D.I. I am building up the Kingdom of God. How, you may ask is donating a bike building up the Kingdom of God? Anything that brings real joy and happiness to another is of God. I am counting on some young boy being thrilled when he sees the bike.  

And another thought I had while writing about this in my journal was: I could have sold the bike and made a very small profit. But instead  I gave it to Father and let Him have the "profit" or glory. I made this about Father and whomever would eventually get the bike.

This of course is what Jesus did for all of us in the Council in Heaven. Satan wanted all the glory in forcing us back to the presence of Father, by not giving us the chance to chose. He was only thinking of himself. But Jesus said he would give the glory to the Father and would come to earth and atone for each of us and give us the chance to choose if we would accept His plan. Jesus was thinking about all of us.

I am only comparing myself to the Savior in the giving of a bike. My goal and desire is to be like Him and to be with Him and the Father. I am grateful that I am able to choose the life I want to live and make mistakes along the way without the fear of losing my soul. I am also grateful that Jesus satisfied the demands of justice through the atonement so that mercy can be applied and I can still have a place in a Kingdom that has been prepared for me by the Father and Jesus.