Editor’s Note: For further discussion on these topics, see Elder Bednar’s April 2019 address “Prepared to Obtain Every Needful Thing”.
I recently had the sacred privilege of escorting a friend through one of our exquisite temples as she received her endowment. A few weeks later, I listened to a well prepared and beautifully delivered church talk focused on covenants. Both events prompted me to further study and more fully appreciate my temple covenants. Here I share some reminder words about our cherished covenants of the temple endowment.
When we are gifted with the power and peace of the temple endowment, we pledge a lifetime of covenant keeping for the following five covenants:
- Law of Obedience
- Law of Sacrifice
- Law of the Gospel
- Law of Chastity
- Law of Consecration
No doubt lofty, these covenants are also incredibly lovely. Let us pause to remember and reflect upon them.
First, the Law of Obedience:
Here we covenant to obey the Lord and His laws. Some of us need time and experience to grow into Nephi-like obedience (no delay, no murmuring) but that’s the aim here. If ever there was a mortal outstanding example of obedience, it would have to be Nephi.
He obediently left Jerusalem with his father, and then just as obediently, he made the treacherous and long journey back there to secure plates and join Zoram to the ranks. Recognizing the voice he had grown to trust, Nephi obediently slayed Laban. He obeyed without delay in making another written record when commanded by the Lord. He built a ship. When the Lord gave the command, he separated from Laman and Lemuel and those that followed them.
He very literally lived by these words: “…for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey.” 1 And so he did. Again and again and again. All his days.
If we need any help at all in improving our obedience, Nephi provides a stellar pattern for us to study and follow. Nephi lived many hundred years before the Savior appeared in the flesh, but his obedience was analogous to the Savior’s.
“Ofttimes our obedience to the commandments of God,” said William Oswald, “becomes the very armor that protects us from evil.” 2 This is truth, and I testify of it!
Second, the Law of Sacrifice:
In the Guide to the Scriptures, it defines sacrifice this way: “…It [is]…to give up or suffer the loss of worldly things for the Lord and His kingdom.” 3 I love that the Lord asks something of us! How else could we prove our faithfulness? Our discipleship? Our commitment? Our willingness? We cannot obtain the power of the temple endowment or the blessings of membership in God’s kingdom without needful sacrifice on our part. Joseph Smith declared:
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. 4
The sacrifice of all things. Why? To cultivate and grow unending faith in Christ – the kind that throws us on His grace and merits and mercifully, eventually exalts us.
I remember on my full-time mission (I served stateside; my living circumstances were pretty comfortable) having a few experiences that made me physically uncomfortable (proselyting in pouring rain, having food thrown at us, getting doors slammed in our faces – nothing serious). In those moments, I remember feeling grateful that I was being asked to offer some sort of sacrifice that disadvantaged me physically. I felt it was a privilege, and I was glad to have been called upon to offer sacrifices for the cause of Christ.
In the end, any sacrifices we make for Jesus and His gospel turn out to be no sacrifices at all when compared to the joy of following Him and when considering what is in store for the faithful.
Third, the Law of the Gospel:
When Jesus came, he fulfilled the Law of Moses and so elevated Christian living to a higher plane. The law of the gospel is the higher law instituted by Jesus. It comprises many laws that together make up the gospel law. It is good to live any one law, but it is best to live all such laws under the protecting umbrella of gospel law.
I have steadily observed over the years that while living the laws within the Law of the Gospel have not spared me entirely from the human struggle, they have spared me from additional human struggle brought on by disobedience. For example, I struggled mightily for years with major depression, but because I was true to the Word of Wisdom in that struggle and did not turn to alcohol or drugs to cope, I was not laden with another burden. In this way, the Law of the Gospel kept me bound to God through those years of darkness and uncertainty.
Fourth, the Law of Chastity:
I knew girls and boys in high school and men and women in the military who shared sexual intimacy outside of marriage. I saw the havoc those decisions wrought upon their emotional and mental states – let alone their relationships. I saw girls struggle with the feelings of desertion and self-esteem because of their choices to engage sexually before marriage. I saw lust triangles built on points rather than love triangles built on bases, and then I saw them come crashing down in no time at all. It all appeared so dreadfully sad to me.
My good parents intensely and boldly taught me and my siblings the Law of Chastity and I believed it, loved it, cherished it. I wanted to live it.
Some years ago, while serving on active duty in the United States Air Force, I was stationed at Malstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, USA. My assignment was in the Family Medicine clinic. Down the hall was the optometry clinic. One of the Airmen in that clinic had his eye on me, and we had, over the course of a few days, exchanged a few pleasantries via emails and in person communications.
He had invited me to travel to Canada to watch a hockey game with him that upcoming weekend. Having previously crossed over into Canada and found it a delightful place and having never seen a hockey game, I intended to go with him, though I did not know him well.
Later in that day as I was tidying things up for the evening and preparing to leave the clinic, a civilian co-worker from the afore-mentioned optometry clinic tapped on the door of the patient room in which I was working, opened the door, and walked towards me. In a few brief sentences, she clearly let me know that this Airmen had no good intentions and intended to take sexual advantage of me that weekend. I had been clueless! I thanked her profusely, and she left.
I closed the door and near breathless, dropped to my knees – unable to control the warm tears that profusely fell down my cheeks. I trembled as I realized I had been saved from a morally devastating and dreadful crisis. I had been warned about a snare into which I was sure to have been entangled had I gone to Canada with that man. I was rescued, and I didn’t even know I was in trouble!
Why the protection? Because I desired to live the Law of Chastity. Desire matters everywhere in the gospel but especially here with the Law of Chastity. If you desire to live it, my witness is that God will send the Holy Ghost to warn you – or through the Holy Ghost, send others to warn you – when you may be morally threatened.
Fifth, the Law of Consecration:
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the farmer’s chicken and pig. In a lively discussion, the hen solicited some pity from the pig for daily being expected to produce eggs to feed the farmer. The pig acknowledged her small sacrifice. Putting things into a more proper perspective, the pig then remarked that the offering required of him was “total commitment.” Viewed in this way, we might conclude that the Law of Consecration requires that we offer more than just eggs.
This law involves total commitment.
It calls for all of us. Our time. Our talents. All with which we have been blessed. All with which we may be blessed. Jesus condescended below it all. We are simply invited to join with God in covenant and use the Atonement of Jesus Christ to overcome earthly things. In the process, we become consecrated, sanctified, newly born creatures capable of celestial living.
These temple endowment covenants do not create a hum drum relationship with God. No! They create a deeply binding covenant relationship with Him. This feels different than just a verbally pledged relationship. We are not simply just committed to Him. We belong – in covenant – to Him. We are fastened and cemented to one another. We are His! And we can trust that He is our faithful God!
President Nelson said that when we “make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever.” 5 He also taught that “all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy called, in the Hebrew language, hesed.” 6 How desperately we need the covenantal love of hesed! How beautiful that His mercy flows from His hesed, and how grateful we are that both flow through the covenants of our temple endowment.
The laws of the temple endowment provide us with safety. They offer us protection from the enemy of our souls. They help us progress on our homeward journey. In a speech to BYU students, President Nelson made this assuring statement: “…As you abide by God’s laws, you are progressing toward exaltation.” 7 Abide and progress. What a glorious pattern!
A lifetime of covenant keeping hardly seems enough to offer our good God who agrees to give us more than we can comprehend with our finite minds for enduring to the end in covenantal love. Dear friends, let us be found fiercely faithful to our covenants of the temple endowment: the Law of Obedience, the Law of Sacrifice, the Law of the Gospel, the Law of Chastity, and the Law of Consecration.
How – oh how – can we offer anything less?
References:
- 2 Nephi 33:15
- Oswald, W., “Obedience: The First Law of Heaven,” Liahona, January 2008, 10.
- Guide to the Scriptures: Sacrifice
- Smith, Joseph., Lectures on Faith: Lecture 6:7
- Nelson, R., “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022.
- Ibid.
- Nelson, R. (2019, September 17). The Love and Laws of God. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/russell-m-nelson/love-laws-god/
