That title sounds like it is about you, the missionary, keeping your commitments, which is very important, but the chapter is more about helping your investigators make and keep commitments.
One thing that was kind of a shock for me was to see that there would be times when people would know, and they would not do. Generally there was some sort of change they did not want to make. It may have just been something social, like not wanting to leave the church they were attending, but it was enough. Sometimes they would act regretful, and sometimes they would be kind of joking and trying to make light of it, and sometimes they got really hard-hearted about it, but the point was, they knew it was right to do something, and yet would not do it.
As a young missionary it was something that surprised me, and it made me sad, but it actually strikes me more now seeing it with people who have already committed to church, and then stop.
I've seen so many people say they were just going to take a break from church, and it turns into a permanent break. Maybe in the back of their mind that is what they want, but I do think some of them sincerely thought they could just take some time off and be okay, and that's never true.
I say this as someone who doesn't particularly enjoy church. My mind wanders a lot, and I don't always get that much out of it. However, I do get something out of putting myself into it. That just showing up, week after week, is more powerful than it appears.
It is really very easy to learn that something is true. Maintaining spiritual knowledge is harder. If you do not live up to the level of good that you know, you end up knowing less, and that can keep spiraling downward. There are a few examples that I am thinking of pretty hard, but I don't want to get into them, because these are real people, and it could be hurtful. They probably wouldn't recognize themselves, because seriously, they do not see it, but I still feel like it would be unfair.
I guess it's like love. When you start to love someone, everything is golden, and you are good to them because you want to me, and it's a beautiful thing. When you treat someone badly, you feel worse toward them. It may have been someone you truly loved, but maybe you got used to them, and your regularly scheduled selfishness intervened, or you held a grudge over something minor, and it just escalates.
Faith seems to have similar rules to love. The feels right. Integrity seems to play along with both.
Thinking about new faith and new love, it is terrible that we let things so precious go dim. Usually people aren't thinking it through. Every individual choice feels like it is just that, and not part of a series, but that's just not how it works. So when Alma asks "if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?", that's what he means. And it's easy for the answer to be "no", but it doesn't mean that the song was never real. And it doesn't mean that the song can't be found again.
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