Looking Forward With an Eye of Faith

One December when I was serving as a bishop, I shared three Book of Mormon scriptures with the members of my ward during tithing settlement. Those three scriptures all included the phrase, "with an eye of faith." I think they are worth reading and pondering.

Alma 5:15:

"Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?"

Alma 32:40-41:

"[I]f ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.

"But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life."

Ether 12:19:

"And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad."

Several members of our ward thanked me—some more than once—for sharing these verses with them. For some, I know the message of faith in these verses enabled them to hope for a more glorious future than they had been seeing before.

Those who look forward with an eye of faith are able to see things others do not.

The scriptures become more than just words on a page. They become windows to wisdom and personal revelation.

Prayer becomes more than just an internal monologue or an upward cry for help. It becomes continuous communication and communion with heaven.

Even dreams become less confusing and more meaningful.   

Life becomes more joyful, because you can hear, feel and dance to the music of the gospel. You can't not dance!

You discover that literally all things, everywhere you look, bear witness of God!

"And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me" (Moses 6:63).

Not long after tithing settlement ended, I attended a stake priesthood leadership meeting where our stake president, whose family was in my ward, quoted one of the scriptures I had shared about looking forward with an eye of faith. President Sheffield taught us that the temple, more than anywhere else, is where we look forward with an eye of faith while participating for ourselves and our ancestors in the saving and exalting ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I share my witness that these things are true. By looking forward with an eye of faith, I have received understanding, peace, purpose and direction. By faith, my hope in (i.e., assurance of) the promised fruits and blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ continually increases. I don't have to wait until the next life to experience many of those fruits and blessings. I am experiencing them all along my way.

For "[t]hat which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day" (Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).