Sunday Sentiments: On Covenants

I’m a day late, and at the rate I’m going, it might be Tuesday before I get this posted, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to share a bit of my testimony and study this week. Last week I studied a lot of different topics and didn’t really have anything stick out as The Thing I Should Write About on Sunday, so when the Sabbath rolled around, I was a bit stumped. I started several different posts, and never found my flow. Then today, I thought of something quite simple to share.

Last week I wrote about an experience I had teaching the youth. As I prepared for that experience, I read a lot about covenants (and I mean a lot). I kept thinking, “What are some of the simplest things I can say about covenants to a group of teenagers?” 

As I studied, I started to notice two themes emerging from almost every resource:

1. When we make covenants, we forge a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

2. Covenants give us access to Christ’s power

Pondering God’s Promise

The words relationship and power (and synonyms) kept appearing over and over in everything I read. 

Here are a few examples:

“Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples - and keeps them - has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ.” -Russell M. Nelson

“Throughout the Old Testament, you will frequently read the word covenant. Today we usually think of covenants as sacred promises with God, but in the ancient world, covenants were also an important part of people’s interactions with each other. For their safety and survival, people needed to be able to trust each other, and covenants were a way to secure that trust.

So when God spoke to Enoch, Noah, Moses, and others about covenants, He was inviting them to enter into a relationship of trust with Him.” -Come Follow Me

“God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy… Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.” -Russell M. Nelson

“We become His disciples and represent Him well when we intentionally and incrementally take on ourselves the name of Jesus Christ through covenants. Our covenants give us power to stay on the covenant path because our relationship with Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father is changed. We are connected to them by a covenantal bond.” -Dale G. Renlund

“Making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier!... The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power - power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way…” -Russell M. Nelson

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These are the two simple things I taught the youth and hope they walked away with (though we did a sword activity, and it’s possible that they left knowing more about Glamdring than they know about covenants). If nothing else, it will stick with me, and I’m excited to listen for these truths as they are reiterated in general conference next month.