True Prophets

A few weeks ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held it's 180th Semi-Annual General Conference at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  (Archives of the conference can be found here.)  Listening to General Conference was a peaceful way to spend eight hours of my weekend.  Questions I had been pondering were miraculously answered, and subtle points of confusion were made clear as I listened to God's prophets share His message for the world.

A couple weeks before General Conference, I was at a gathering of LDS Single Adults in New York City.  I attended a break-out session discussing sacrifice, and there was some discussion regarding the differences between laws of sacrifice and consecration.  After that break-out session I had been contemplating what consecration really means and seeking a clear explanation.  During the first two-hour session of General Conference, Elder Todd D. Christofferson, one of the modern Twelve Apostles, gave a talk entitled "Reflections on a Consecrated Life."

In his talk, Elder Christofferson explained and clarified things I had been pondering for quite some time.  He said, "our life on earth is a stewardship of time and choices granted by our Creator.  The word stewardship calls to mind the Lord's law of consecration, which has an economic role, but more than that, is an application of celestial law to life here and now.  To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes."  Then Elder Christofferson listed five elements of a consecrated life: purity, work, respect for one's physical body, service, and integrity.

When I first learned about the law of consecration, I viewed it as limited to the United Order--essentially an economic welfare system.  Later experiences taught me that consecration can involve more than money, but also time and talents.  But Elder Christofferson's talk helped me understand how the law of consecration is inextricably linked with the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  To live a pure life, we must follow Christ's example and rely on the healing power of the Atonement through repentance.  Work frequently stretches me as an individual and requires me to rely on the Atonement to grow and develop in ways that I would not be able to on my own.  Respect for our physical bodies stems from an understanding that through Christ's Atonement and resurrection we too will be resurrected and our spirits will be reunited with the physical bodies we possess on this earth.  Christ's Atonement was the ultimate act of service, and as we perform service for others our characters are changed to become more like Christ's perfect character.  By living a consecrated life we continue to change and develop to the point where our integrity is perfect. The gospel is a gospel of change.  Gospel means good news.  Changing from our human and imperfect states to a Christlike one is the best news.  And it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that this change is possible.

The power and beauty of change was further highlighted to me in President Boyd K. Packer's talk, "Cleansing the Inner Vessel."  Though President Packer explicitly addressed the dangers of pornography and other forms of immorality that threaten the family, I realized the truth of one of his statements as applied in so many contexts.  He said, "Some suppose that they were preset and cannot what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and the unnatural.  Not so!  Remember, God is our Heavenly Father."  He continues to discuss agency and Paul's instruction to the Corinthians that not one of Heavenly Father's children will be tempted beyond his or her capacity to overcome that temptation.

Many people who heard or read this talk applied this quote specifically sexual sins, and understandably so considering the context of the talk.  However, the truth of President Packer's statement resonated as I noticed the subtle ways in which Satan is currently attacking the idea of agency.  I was in Barnes & Noble where I read the cover of Scientific American Mind: "The Making of a Psychopath, Why They Don't Care: They Can't."  Later this week I was reading The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.  He stresses over and over that people are the product of their environments, insinuating that our actions and reactions are outside our individual control.  These more subtle attacks on the supremacy of personal agency are incredibly dangerous. How grateful I am for an apostle of the Lord who through modern revelation made it clear that agency is a real and true principle, that we are each free to choose what we will do.


President Packer's remarks resonate with a statement made several years ago by the prophet, Ezra Taft Benson.  He said, "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."  


About a year ago I saw someone I had worked with a couple years prior.  She made a comment about the type of person I was when we worked together, and the description was by no means flattering.  I realized that I had changed significantly in those years.  That my Heavenly Father had carefully directed me toward experiences and challenges that helped my character to develop for the better through reliance on the Atonement.  I was still me, but I was also a different person.  The same is true today.  The experiences of the past year have challenged me, caused me to fall to my knees in humble prayer and plead for the help to become a changed individual.  And in that change, that growing to be more similar to my Savior, I have been surprised that I am still an individual.  Too often we define ourselves or allow others to define us in terms of our negative qualities or what we lack.  Everyone possesses some degree of imperfection.  Everyone struggles with something that will undoubtedly be heart-wrenching and heart-breaking at some point in time.  I believe that everyone's trials at some point will have a "make-it or break-it" potential when it comes to being faithful to God and receiving the highest degree of His glory.  The whole point of this life is to stop defining ourselves by our negative characteristics or those temptations that have the potential to hold us back.  As we do that, and as we rely on the Savior's Atonement, we can focus on our gifts, talents, and unique characteristics that allow us to be more perfect and live a more consecrated life.  I thank God for prophets who preach the doctrine of the Atonement and fill the world with truth in a time of doubt and darkness.