Feast Upon His Love

Jacob 3:2   O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his ^alove; for ye may, if your ^bminds are ^cfirm, forever.

There are several key elements to this scripture.  

• First, he tells us that he's talking to the pure in heart.  So we need to be obedient and faithful to have pure hearts.  Our desires must be to Him.  The term "pure in heart" is often used synonymously with Zion.  But also consider this scripture in D&C 97:16, referring to the temple:    Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God.  So there is a promise that if we are pure in heart, we may come to the temple and see God.
• Lift up your heads - We are sons and daughters of God.  To devalue a child of God is to criticize the work of His hands.  We certainly should be humble, but to downgrade and criticize ourselves is as if we are saying that the Lord creates inferior sons and daughters!  This is a sin that we need to repent of.
• Receive the pleasing word of God - I've spoken in another post about our responsibility to RECEIVE the gifts God gives us, including His pleasing word.  This requires more work than simply seeing or acknowledging His word.  We must examine and accept and incorporate His teachings into our lives in an active way.
•  Feast upon His love -  The Lord radiates love.  It pours out from Him naturally, but sometimes we refuse it or only allow ourselves to notice it and acknowledge it.  Just like feasting on the scriptures, feasting on His love requires our attention and our time and devotion.  Our hearts must yearn for Him and open to Him.  How do we do this?  Part of it is gratitude, opening our eyes to see the wonders He gives to us every day.  When we realize even a portion of the blessings that we tend to take for granted, our hearts rejoice with gratitude and reverence for Him.
• Our minds must be firm - We must be dedicated and unmovable, steadfast, strong in our convictions.
• We are promised that if we do this, we will have the opportunity to feast upon His love forever. What a joyous time that will be, to be in His presence, surrounded by our family and dear friends!  Forever, worlds without end.