1 Nephi Chapter 3

3:7 - I will go and do
If we are doing what's right, it's easier to keep the commandments.  If we slip away, it becomes harder and harder to keep the commandments because we are giving control over to Satan.
We need to remain steady on an upward course in order to recognize and avoid sin.


3:7 - I will go and do
President Thomas S. Monson spoke on the attitudes and attributes we should have in order to accomplish this scripture (November 2007 Ensign, Pg. 59-61).  He said we need to have and develop the marks of vision, effort, faith, virtue, and prayer.  Nephi had all of these.  This scripture embodies all of the marks, but especially effort.  "It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we'll make the effort.  It's in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals.  If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled."
It's so true.  Many times we could accomplish great things, but just procrastinate.


3:14-15 - "My brethren were about to return...[but] we will not [return] until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us."
Nephi's brothers were a form of censor for Nephi.  We all have censors, telling us that we can't accomplish great things.  To Nephi's credit, he looked in the Mirror of Christ and accted in Faith.  When we act in Faith, the Holy Ghost can and will guide us to do what needs to be done at the right time.


3:19-20 - Kept the plates in order to preserve the language.
Without reading or writing, the people can easily lose their language.  You can see that with many missionaries as they learn a foreign language, never study it again, and lose the language.  Illiteracy is also a problem linked to not reading/writing.  It's important to keep a journal, and also teach our children how to read and write.