Each week in a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint ward, a different member of the congregation is asked to speak on an assigned topic. I was asked to give a talk a couple of weeks ago and this is the talk I prepared.
Unfortunately, the speakers that went before I did took up all the time, so I only gave a quick summary of key points. You get to read all that I prepared.
Living a Consecrated Life
When we speak of consecration I often think of the consecration of material possessions. However, do we ever consider the act of truly living the Gospel of Jesus Christ a process of consecrating ourselves?
The simplest way to define consecration is “to make holy” and God’s plan of salvation is a model of this very principle.
God created this earth which he described as “without form” (Moses 2:2). He then refined the earth to make it habitable and pleasing for us.
We are now here to be tested and to “putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint” (Mosiah 3:19). We are in the process of consecrating or making ourselves holy in preparation for Christ’s eventual return when we and the earth will be further consecrated and the earth will once again receive its paradisiacal glory (Article of Faith 10), and we will receive our eternal glory.
Taking Our Spiritual Temperature
Regularly evaluating our personal consecrated life with a spiritual thermometer allows us to see within our own lives the areas of greatest need for improvement.
Whether our spiritual temperature is hugging the bottom of the bulb in need of the application of some serious gospel heat, or our temperature is so high that one more degree will bring us into the realms of becoming a translated being.
Each of us can identify areas of weakness wherein we can improve such areas. The typical primary and Sunday school answers are a great place to start. They include daily prayer, regular scripture study, church attendance, sabbath day observance, paying a full and honest tithe, and attending the temple.
Let’s look at two areas.
Daily Pray
I’ll give you an insight into my home life. Every morning after I get ready and dressed in our bedroom, I’ll head to our living room and I’ll put my shoes down on the floor next to a couch. As I’m bending down with my shoes I’m also kneeling for prayer. Once I’m done with my prayer I hop up onto the couch to put my shoes on and I’m off for the day. It is such a habit that I don’t even have to think about it, I just do it.
Daily prayer even if it’s only once a day opens us to communication with the divine. Beginning the day with a prayer invokes blessings seen and unseen throughout the day. ComeUntochrist.org has an article entitled “Prayer” which states,
“Whether we pray aloud or pray silently in our hearts in fleeting moments of need, prayer is a personal form of communication where we can speak directly with our Father in Heaven. He knows each of us by name and loves us. He hears our prayers and He answers them with wisdom, empathy, and compassion. Sometimes those answers come in very direct, concrete ways, but other times they come more subtly, through impressions, promptings, or feelings of peace. We can go to our Father with desperate questions, with humble confessions, or with gratitude; we can pray to better understand Him and His plan for us.”
As we pray, receive answers, and act accordingly we consecrate our communications with the Lord.
In the April 2019 General Conference Elder Brook P. Hales said,
“One aspect of that perfect love is our Heavenly Father’s involvement in the details of our lives, even when we may not be aware of it or understand it. We seek the Father’s divine guidance and help through heartfelt, earnest prayer. When we honor our covenants and strive to be more like our Savior, we are entitled to a constant stream of divine guidance through the influence and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.”
The scriptures teach us, “For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him,” (3 Nephi 13:8), and He “knoweth all things, for all things are present before [His] eyes.”
Elder Hales later continues,
“Brothers and sisters, sometimes our prayers are answered quickly with the outcome we hope for. Sometimes our prayers are not answered in the way we hope for, yet with time we learn that God had greater blessings prepared for us than we initially anticipated. And sometimes our righteous petitions to God will not be granted in this life.”
Scripture Study
Scripture study can quickly be swept aside as we live in a world of never-ending entertainment and immediate gratification.
I had such a struggle a couple of years ago when I resolved to do my scripture study on my phone. Occasionally, at the start of my would-be scripture study time, my finger was drawn a quarter of an inch to the left so I could catapult birds at pigs instead of reading, and my scripture study was lost for the day.
Over time my scripture study suffered more frequently until I had a moment of honesty with myself and resorted back to print for my scripture study thus eliminating the temptations of the other seemingly more enticing things to do on my phone.
If your scripture study is lacking, a reminder of two simple habit-building tactics are – first to set up a regular time and second to make it a priority. You have then begun dedicating your time each day to consecrating your soul.
The Lord declared in D&C 26:1 “Behold, I say unto you that you shall let your time be devoted to the studying of the scriptures”
He further stated in D&C 33:16 “And the Book of Mormon and the holy scriptures are given of me for your instruction; and the power of my Spirit quickeneth all things”.
I liked Elder Stephenson’s analogy given at General Conference about the scriptures being a playbook. He says, “In team sports, plays are developed for certain game situations and compiled into a playbook. Athletes learn their specific assignments for each play. Successful players study the playbook so thoroughly that when a play is called, they know exactly, almost instinctively, where to go and what to do.”
“In a similar way, we holders of the priesthood (and all members) also have a team (a quorum or family) and a playbook (the holy scriptures and words of modern prophets).”
“How well have you studied your playbook?”
Primary Answers
It’s simply amazing that such primary and Sunday school answers and applications are also the answers to living a consecrated life. It’s no wonder we are teaching children these things so early in life.
Elder Maxwell has stated,
“Only by aligning our wills with God’s is full happiness to be found. Anything less results in a lesser portion (see Alma 12:10–11). The Lord will work with us even if, at first, we “can no more than desire” but are willing to “give place for a portion of [His] words” (Alma 32:27). A small foothold is all He needs! But we must desire and provide it.”
So many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God, we lose our individuality (see Mosiah 15:7). What we are really worried about, of course, is not giving up self, but selfish things—like our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions. No wonder we are instructed by the Savior to lose ourselves (see Luke 9:24). He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is not a question of one’s losing identity but of finding his true identity!”
“Those sincerely striving for greater consecration neither cast off their commitments nor the holy garment. They avoid obscenity, keep the law of chastity, pay their tithes, and love and serve their spouses and children. As good neighbors, they “bear one another’s burdens,” “mourn with those that mourn,” “comfort those … in need of comfort,” and valiantly “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” (Mosiah 18:8–9.)”
“Increased consecration is not so much a demand for more hours of Church work as it is for more awareness of Whose work this really is!”