Baptism is the first formal covenant Mormons make.

A covenant is a two-way promise between God and man. God sets the terms, but if we keep our part of it, God will always keep his part. They’ve been a part of God’s relationship with mankind from the earliest days. The Old Testament is filled with stories of covenants God made with His people and the results that came about when people chose to obey or disobey the covenant.

You don’t have to be Mormon to make a covenant with God. Throughout the Bible, we find many places where God has asked us to do something and told us what He will do for us if we obey. As you read the Bible, begin marking those verses and recording them in a notebook. Be sure to record both the commandment and the promise. Then, as you pray, make a personal covenant with God to honor His request.

For instance, the Sermon on the Mount offers these possibilities for covenants:

 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

  8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (See Matthew 5.)

In verse seven, we have the two parts required for a covenant. Your job is to be merciful. Your reward is to obtain mercy for yourself. In verse eight, you are asked to be pure in heart. If you do this, God covenants that you will see Him.

If you chose verse seven as your personal covenant, you would probably first want to find out what it means to be merciful. You might click on the word merciful if you went to the online verse I linked to. It would give you a link to the topical guide. If you click that, you get a list of scriptures related to the word merciful. The first scriptures are from the Old Testament. These are followed by New Testament verses. The remaining scriptures are from LDS-specific books. The Bible verses are from the King James translation, which is a very standard version of the Bible.

To begin you study on mercy, you would read each of the scriptures from the books of scripture you want to study. As you do so, you’ll record in your notebook what is expected of a merciful person, why it matters to God, and what God will give you if you are merciful. You may want to note people in the Bible who were merciful to use as role models.

As an example, you will encounter this scripture:

21 He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he (Proverbs 14:21). This tells you that mercy includes being kind to the poor. This aspect of mercy even comes with a whole new promise, making it a covenant all its own. If you are compassionate toward the poor, you will be happy.

You can see this covenant study will not be as simple as you expect. Now that you’ve learned that mercy includes your treatment of the poor, you will need to study the scriptures to learn how God wants you to treat the poor.

Of course, you don’t have to know or master everything about mercy in order to get started. You can choose the first thing you encounter and start living that. As you learn more, you can add to your commitment to living God’s commandments, gradually improving your ability to live the law of mercy.

You will find that the commandments tend to interconnect. Over time you’ll discover that your study of mercy will have you living many other commandments as well. This means that you can start perfecting yourself with just one covenant, but that it will spiral out until you are living all of them. God has told us the extreme importance of keeping the commandments. “21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” The process of making a covenant with God will help you to be a doer, not just a sayer.

Making covenants is a sacred experience. It must never be made lightly and it should not be made for the reward. Covenants are a sign that you love God and want to obey Him and that you trust Him, even when it comes to making hard choices. Making a covenant with no thought of reward, knowing the reward might not even come until the next life, is a sincere act of love and faith. After all, when you love someone on earth, you are willing to change your life and to make sacrifices for that person. Your willingness to do this for God should be even greater.

As long as you’re keeping a notebook that contains your research, why not also record your experiences with the covenant? What are your thoughts about what you’ve learned as you’ve researched? What actions did you take to carry out your end of the covenant? How did those choices change you as a person? How did they change the lives of others? What blessings have you seen in your life as a result of living that covenant?

As you monitor the miracles and pleasures that come with obedience from love and faith, your faith will increase and you’ll find it easier to make the next covenant or to move to keeping that covenant at a higher level. Your commitment to the covenant will increase.

God has asked us to make certain formal covenants in prescribed settings and under guidance from those in authority. Those are also important to make and although everyone makes them, they are entirely personal, made between you and God. For instance, in the Old Testament, God made a covenant with Abraham. This was a formal covenant, entered into in a prescribed way. For Mormons, these covenants are made at set times, such as baptisms and in the temple, but they are regularly renewed.

We need strong Christians who can persevere against hardship, who can sustain hope through tragedy, who can lift others by their example and their compassion, and who can consistently overcome temptations. We need strong Christians who can make important things happen by their faith and who can defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism.

What is the source of such moral and spiritual power, and how do we obtain it? The source is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him. A covenant is an agreement between God and man, an accord whose terms are set by God (see Bible Dictionary, “Covenant,” 651). In these divine agreements, God binds Himself to sustain, sanctify, and exalt us in return for our commitment to serve Him and keep His commandments.

We enter into covenants by priesthood ordinances, sacred rituals that God has ordained for us to manifest our commitment. Our foundational covenant, for example, the one in which we first pledge our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ, is confirmed by the ordinance of baptism. It is done individually, by name. By this ordinance, we become part of the covenant people of the Lord and heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.

Other sacred ordinances are performed in temples built for that very purpose. If we are faithful to the covenants made there, we become inheritors not only of the celestial kingdom but of exaltation, the highest glory within the heavenly kingdom, and we obtain all the divine possibilities God can give (see D&C 132:20). (See D. Todd Christofferson, “The Power of Covenants,” Liahona, May 2009, 19–23.)

Elder Christofferson, in the talk referenced above, suggests three important benefits that come from making formal covenants with God.

The first is that we are strengthened by the gifts and benefits that come from making and keeping sacred covenants. Each time we keep the commandments, we are blessed by God for what we’ve chosen to do. The more commandments we keep, the more continual the flow will be. This doesn’t mean you will have a trial-free life. No one gets that because trials are part of the purpose of life. It does mean you’ll feel God’s presence more continually as you reap the benefits promised to us for each commandment.

The second benefit is to enjoy increased faith. Alma, a book of Mormon prophet, taught that in order to develop faith, we only need to have a desire to gain faith. From this we can begin to act like a person with faith. As we do this and we see how God blesses us, our faith grows. Each time we keep a commandment, our faith increases because we begin to understand the purpose behind the commandment—commandments are not random assignments—and that increases our faith in God’s wisdom and power.

Finally, he suggests we are strengthened with the power of Godliness as we keep our covenants. God promised us the presence of the Holy Ghost when He was gone from the earth. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead who does not have a body. His purpose is to testify to us of truth and to help us make wise choices and to remain safe. The Holy Ghost can’t be where wickedness is, so in order to enjoy His presence and His help, we need to obey the commandments and keep our sacred covenants. This leads to a wonderful circle of blessings because the more the Holy Ghost helps you, the easier it is to keep your covenants, and the more you keep them, the more the Holy Ghost helps you.

As Elder Christofferson says, “Divine covenants make strong Christians.”

Prayer is an important part of developing faith.

In addition, they kept the poor out of the church. Wealth was, in their minds, proof of their specialness, proof that they had been chosen and all others were doomed. Alma, encountering these poor, realized they had been humbled through their trials and longed to be allowed to worship. He decided not to bother with the arrogant wealthy people and instead to preach to the poor.

In this sermon, he gave one of the greatest sermons on faith ever written. The people were upset about being kept out of the temple because they believed this meant they were unable to worship God. Alma assured them you don’t have to be in a church building to worship. Worship was not a once a week event, but a way of life.

Alma explained that signs were not the way to gain faith, because if you know something you don’t need faith and faith is important. “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true (Alma 32:21).”

He then points out something many people did not understand, which is that God doesn’t just give His knowledge and wisdom to men, but He also gives it to women. Even young children can receive a testimony of faith.

Alma challenged his listeners to try an experiment: Do the things Alma asks and see what happens. This is one way to gain faith of something. He assured them that if they could do no more than want to believe it would be enough to get them started on the path to a testimony.

28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Alma is telling them how to take the first small steps to a testimony of Jesus Christ, in whom the Zoramites did not believe. He told them that their desire for a testimony was like a seed they could plant in their hearts. If they nurtured that seed, they would begin to feel something special, a swelling in their hearts that would enlarge their souls and lead them to understand more about the Savior. This will tell them they have planted a good seed.

However, this is only a first step. If that seed were to grow to the size of a tree, they would need to nurture it. A neglected tree will not grow properly. How do you nurture a brand new faith?

Alma began by reminding them they do not need to be inside a church building to worship. Even if they were barred from the church, they could worship on their own elsewhere. They should also not squeeze all their worship into a single day. Worshipping God should be a part of everyday life.

Next he talked to them of Jesus Christ. He reminded them the scriptures testified of Jesus and if they read and believed those scriptures, they also had to believe in Jesus Christ, their Savior. He assured them if they made true worship a part of their lives and developed their testimonies of Jesus, their newly beginning seed of faith would develop into a tree.

This sermon applies to us today, as well. We can take a mere desire to know what is true and turn it into a testimony the size of a tree. First, as Alma taught, we have to want to know what is true and to be prepared to accept it even if we don’t like the answer. We must be willing to put God’s truth and His will before our own. The greater our faith, the easier this will be.

Once we have a desire for faith, we can begin to develop knowledge. The poor people of the Zoramites stopped their work and listened as Alma and his companions taught the gospel. Those of us today who want to know what is true need to study the Bible and the Book of Mormon to find out what they really say, not just what others have told us they say.

A person wanting to know if the Mormons have the truth will read this book with a sincere desire to know God’s will. He will pray prior to his study each day and will pray again afterwards—and even in the middle as needed. He will tell God what he thinks and ask God to confirm it for him. A swelling in the heart of peace and joy comes from God. Satan cannot bring true peace or joy. He can only give us a worldly sense of pleasure.

This process can take time, moving from study to prayer and back to study. For some, it is the process of an hour. For others it can take months or even a year or two. The speed of our confirmation from God has nothing to do with our worthiness or how much God loves us. It is simply that God has a timetable for each of us and the process of slowly gaining a testimony can actually be very beneficial.

Our responsibility is to learn the gospel and to experiment by trying to live it the best we can. In that way, we can find out if it enlarges our soul, as Alma put it. If it does, and if God confirms to our heart that we are doing good, we will know what we need to do. But when we ask God to tell us what is true, we must be prepared to act on the answer, even if it’s hard. The answer may not be what we hoped for, but doing what God asked us to do is our responsibility.

There is a great joy that comes from knowing we are following in God’s ways, even when it’s hard. The blessings are eternal, while the sacrifices are only temporal and not worth grieving over.

Experiment on the word. You might be surprised to find out what happens.

The people had built a synagogue, used only one day a week for their official service. In this synagogue, they had built a tall platform. They took turns climbing up onto it, putting them above the others, and there they recited a prayer. Each person gave the exact same prayer. This was the prayer they offered:

 15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.

  16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ.

  17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.

  18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen. (See Alma 31.)

The prayer, in short, was nothing short of a bragging session. These people believed in predestination, that they had been chosen for exaltation from the beginning and that only they could be exalted. No one else had any hope of achieving God’s grace. They felt they were better than everyone else and “holy children.” In addition, they did not believe in Jesus Christ, who had not yet been born.

Once they’d finished this arrogant task, they went home and did not pray or worship again, or even mention God, until the next Sabbath day. They felt no special obligation to God in any way and did not feel anything else was required of them other than to show up once a week to brag about how special they were. Alma noted that they came dressed up in expensive, elegant clothing and fancy jewelry, probably befitting, in their minds, their special status in the world.

Certainly their wealth was a factor in deciding who was predestined to be saved. Those who were not wealthy and didn’t have expensive clothing or lifestyles were not allowed to enter the Zoramite temples.

1 And it came to pass that they did go forth, and began to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their synagogues, and into their houses; yea, and even they did preach the word in their streets.

  2 And it came to pass that after much labor among them, they began to have success among the poor class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel—

  3 Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren as dross; therefore they were poor as to things of the world; and also they were poor in heart.

  4 Now, as Alma was teaching and speaking unto the people upon the hill Onidah, there came a great multitude unto him, who were those of whom we have been speaking, of whom were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world.

  5 And they came unto Alma; and the one who was the foremost among them said unto him: Behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men because of their poverty, yea, and more especially by our priests; for they have cast us out of our synagogues which we have labored abundantly to build with our own hands; and they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty; and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do? (See Alma 32)

Alma was thrilled when he heard these words. He saw that they, though their lives had been terrible, had been humbled by their trials. They longed to worship God in the synagogues, which they had helped to build but were not allowed to enter. They were excluded because the Zoramites falsely believed that poverty was a sign of unworthiness.

Alma then turned his attention to the poor in this community, deciding not to waste his time on those who lacked the humility and love to accept the message of Jesus Christ, especially since they didn’t believe in him. In the next article, we’ll learn what Alma taught them.

The Zoramites made several mistakes in their choices of worship. They presumed, first of all, that their mere presence and a single ritual was all that was required of them. The rest of the week, God was out of their minds and hearts.

Their service offered nothing personal. Each one recited a single prayer and the prayer was not about God. It was really only about their own glory and superiority.

In other words, there was nothing worshipful about the method of worship they had chosen. Contrast their meetings with this description of a Mormon Sacrament Meeting, which is the basic worship service held each Sunday: “Each member of the Church bears responsibility for the spiritual enrichment that can come from a sacrament meeting. Each should sing with a grateful heart and respond with an audible “amen” at the conclusion of a prayer or a testimony. We personally ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We reflect upon the significance of His suffering at Gethsemane and His Crucifixion on Calvary. At this time, each of us is to “examine himself” (1 Cor. 11:28) and reflect upon personal covenants made with the Lord. At this time, we meditate upon the sacred things of God (Russell M. Nelson, “Worshiping at Sacrament Meeting,” Ensign, Aug 2004, 24–28).

Worship is internal, but it is influenced during services by the things going on around us. Merely reciting pre-rewritten words as the entire service can lead to meaningless repetition. A worship service is meant to help us learn more about God and Jesus Christ and to increase our commitment to living a life of loving service. It is a time to worship God, not ourselves. It can be a humbling experience, not one in which we announce we are better than everyone else, particularly when the measuring stick is a worldly and meaningless one.

The Zoramites felt they had met their duty to God simply by showing up and saying their script. During the week, they neglected God. As we study the Bible and the words of Christ, we come to understand that religion should be something that fills every part of our day. Even when we’re at work or doing mundane chores, we should have the Savior in our minds and hearts and be focused on worshipping Him and measuring our thoughts and actions against the way He taught us to live.

The A to Z index on LDS.org says: To worship God is to give Him our love, reverence, service, and devotion. The Lord commanded Moses, “Worship God, for him only shalt thou serve” (Moses 1:15). He has also commanded, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him” (D&C 59:5). Worship not only shows our love for God and commitment to Him, it gives us strength to keep His commandments. Through worship we grow in knowledge and faithfulness. If we place any person or thing above the love of God, we worship that thing or person. This is called idolatry (see Exodus 20:3–6). (See Worship.)

We can see there was nothing of worship in the doings of the Zoramites. Today, although we might not be so blatant about it, many people show up for church eager for others to see their elegant clothing (while God only asks that we wear the best we have, which has nothing to do with the cost of it) or to socialize with others. We get out of our worship service exactly what we put into it.

When you attend church this week, will you just be fulfilling an obligation or will you be worshipping God? And the rest of the week?

Too many of our young men and women are succumbing to the pressures imposed by a world saturated with evil messages and immoral behavior. Lucifer is waging a vicious war for the souls of young and old alike, and the casualty count is climbing. The standards of the world have shifted like the sands of a windblown desert. That which was once unheard of or unacceptable is now commonplace. The world’s perspective has been so dramatically altered that those who choose to adhere to traditional standards of morality are viewed as strange, almost as though they must justify their desire to keep the commandments of God.

But one thing is certain: the commandments have not changed. Let there be no mistake about that. Right is still right. Wrong is still wrong, no matter how cleverly cloaked in respectability or political correctness. We believe in chastity before marriage and fidelity ever after. That standard is an absolute standard of truth. It is neither subject to public opinion polls nor dependent upon situation or circumstance. There is no need to debate it or other gospel standards. (See M. Russell Ballard, “Like a Flame Unquenchable,” Ensign, May 1999, 85.)

People often think they’re modern and sophisticated when they ignore traditional values. However, ignoring God’s commandments always comes with consequences. Children grow up without the benefits of both a mother and a father. Poverty sometimes results, although poverty can, of course, happen to those who live righteously as well. Some diseases are passed only through immorality. Immoral choices tear apart families through pornography or infidelity.

Sheri L. Dew, a former leader of the Mormon Relief Society and now the head of a major religious publishing company said, “Several years ago, I participated in an international policy forum where the discussion moved from prostitution to pornography to abortion and so on. When the moderator invited me to comment, I noted that it seemed impossible not to notice a common theme—that every thorny issue had immoral underpinnings.” (See Sheri L. Dew: The Power of Virtue.)

Relative morality is a dangerous thing. We alter morality to suit the standards chosen by television and movies, rock stars, and political action groups. We let popular culture decide what is right, and yet popular culture has no authority, no long-range vision, and sometimes no responsibility for the consequences of the course they choose. They seldom care about the consequences…they’re just after the attention and influence. Consequences aren’t their problem. Too often people with influence say, “I just tell people what I think. What they do with it and what happens as a result isn’t my problem.” But, of course, it is.

There comes a time of reckoning for everyone. No one lives forever in a mortal state. Eventually we all die and stand before God to account for the choices we made, the influence we had over others, and the consequences of our actions. God made commandments and He didn’t make them for entertainment value. He meant them to be kept.

Jesus spoke firmly to the Pharisees about their habit of altering the gospel to suit current fads or personal “freedom.”

6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

  7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

  8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

  9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition (Mark 7:6-9, King James Bible)

Jesus understood the danger of constantly changing moral standards, based on nothing but personal opinions of people. Only in a world that consistently follows certain essential principles of morality are people truly safe from dangerous fads and whims. It’s easy to say, “But these are modern times and this is how we do things.” By the time we understand the dangers of that fad, it is usually too late.

As an example, using a non-moral issue, a number of years ago a state decided to mandate a method of teaching reading using the force of law. Teachers, who had far more experience than lawmakers, protested loudly that it would not work, and yet the decision was made by people with no real understanding of the process of teaching reading or the consequences of their decision. They only knew this was an “exciting” new fad, modern and popular. They jumped on the bandwagon of popular opinion. Four or five years later, they admitted the method was a complete failure and that thousands of children could not read as a result. Much of an entire generation suffered because lawmakers were more interested in being modern and popular than in worrying about the well-being of the children they were responsible for. They admitted their mistake, but they could not undo the damage caused by their irresponsible passion for fads. The children who could read were largely taught at home using methods that had long been proven worthy.

In the same way, many people today are making decisions about right and wrong without the eternal knowledge or authority to do so. By the time they see the dangers of their decisions and the damage it has caused those under their influence, it will be too late. They can apologize, but they may not be able to undo the damage caused by their choices.

We need not compromise. We must not compromise. The candle that the Lord has lighted in this dispensation can become as a light unto the whole world, and others seeing our good works can be led to glorify our Father in Heaven and emulate in their own lives the examples they have observed in ours.

Beginning with you and me, there can be an entire people who, by the virtue of our lives in our homes, in our vocations, even in our amusements, can become as a city upon a hill to which men may look and learn, and an ensign to the nations from which the people of the earth may gather strength,” (Gordon B. Hinckley, A City upon a Hill,” Ensign, Jul 1990, 2.)

Moroni prepares the Book of Mormon to be hidden.

When times are hard, the scriptures are a great place to turn for moral support and good attitude role modeling. Not only can you find people who are facing much greater trials than your own, but you can see how they coped with those trials. While they sometimes briefly faltered, they always rallied and learned how to face their trials with faith and gratitude.

Think of Nephi, who went from wealthy to homeless and who spent his life dodging being murdered by his brothers. In his later years, he would write that he had been blessed every day of his life. Think of Noah, being mocked for preaching about a flood. Think of the prophets in the Bible who faced death for doing what God asked of them.

My personal favorite hero in times of trial is Moroni, whose writings are found in the Book of Mormon. There are two men named Moroni, but in this article, we’re discussing the one who was the final author. If you’ve ever visited or seen pictures of a Mormon temple, you’ll see him as an angel with a horn, proclaiming the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Book of Mormon, however, we see him during his mortal life.

Moroni’s childhood was one of great trial and stress. Although we don’t know much about it, we do know that by the time he was a teenager, his people, the Nephites (descendents of the Nephi mentioned earlier) had largely turned away from God and His teachings. Throughout the centuries, God had promised the prophets that as long as the Nephites remained righteous, they would be protected from destruction by the Lamanites (descendents of Nephi’s murderous brothers.) However, should they turn away, those protections would be taken. That time had come.

The Nephites engaged in a terrible battle against the Lamanites and lost. Tremendous numbers were killed. Only a small number was left and Moroni’s father, the prophet, spent many hours seeking out the survivors and trying to help them. Those who survived had to hide or risk certain death from their enemies. By the time we meet Moroni, all of his family was dead except his father, who would also soon die. Imagine being a teenager and watching all your friends and family die over a short period of time. There was no normal teenage fun for Moroni. He was fighting the wars and caring for the survivors. Experts believe he was only a teenager when his father died.

“ Behold I, Moroni, do finish the record of my father, Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father.

 And now it came to pass that after the great and tremendous battle at Cumorah, behold, the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites, until they were all destroyed. And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not. Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not.

  Behold, my father hath made this record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not.”

In ancient times, a person’s world was very small. In Moroni’s own world, he was the last remaining good person. Everyone around him—everyone—was evil. Imagine the teenagers you know hiding away in a cave somewhere, surrounded by pure evil, with everyone in your personal world determined to murder you. He has no parental guidance, no friends, no mentors, just himself and his faith in God to get him through. We learn he was occasionally visited by angels who helped to care for him when he needed it, but between angelic ministering, he was utterly alone.

The words Moroni wrote demonstrate his intense loneliness and grief. ”For I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor wither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not.”

He wrote that it did not matter to him where he went when he finished his assignment from his father and His God. It was, most likely, for this purpose—to finish and hide the records—that he was kept alive. The records were those of his people going all the way back to 600 B.C. It was now somewhere between 400 and 421 A.D. Moroni’s father had been engaged in the overwhelming task of taking centuries of records and reducing them to only those that mattered most, so they could be buried and preserved for those for whom they had been written.

The Bible was written by a variety of people and existed in an uncollected form until long after Jesus died, when church leaders began collecting the records and choosing which ones they wanted to include. 

The Book of Mormon, however, was written by the prophets and handed down, making a complete record. Mormon and Moroni only condensed the records into a more concise form.

Once the record was finished, Moroni buried it in the Hill Cumorah and left. However, years later he found, to his great surprise, he was still alive. He came back to Cumorah, but since he was still being hunted down, he had to do so secretly. He dug out the record and added more information to it. Finally, he buried it one last time and left. We don’t know what happened to him after that during his own lifetime.

Later, as an angel, he returned to show Joseph Smith where the plates were hidden and to begin tutoring him in the things he needed to know in order to participate in the restoration of the gospel. It’s fitting that Moroni was given this honor, since his heroic sacrifices made it possible.

What do I learn from Moroni? Often, our trials are caused by the choices of others. We can’t control their choices. We can only control ourselves. Moroni’s people caused the destruction when they turned away from God. Moroni never turned away, but he still suffered the results. He lost everyone he loved. He couldn’t change that, either. However, he was able to control his own choices about how to respond to the trials. In his record, we don’t see anger or blame. We see a teenager struggling to honor God’s plan for him the very best he can, with courage and faith. When I face a trial, Moroni is my favorite Book of Mormon person to turn to.

 Look carefully at this sentence… There’s a lot of people in this world. Do you notice anything wrong?
Same sentence in a slightly different way… There is a lot of people in this world. Notice anything this time?
Now look at this sentence… There are a lot of people in this world.

Now do you hear it? The last sentence is the grammatically correct one. The first and second are incorrect (There’s vs. There are).

One of the dangerous things about sloppy grammar or spelling is that after a while, when it’s been used countless times (especially without correction), it starts looking or sounding correct. Or, it becomes acceptable when permitted to go on uncorrected.

Texting and spelling checkers, among other things, have, to some extent, bred in all of us a casual disregard for correct spelling. (Now you’re all going to be watching for my grammatical mistakes instead of listening to my real message.)

Considering this example, isn’t this exactly what has happened (and continues to happen) in many areas of our society? For those who remember it (or have heard about it), in the first decades of TV, married couples were not shown in bed together and were often shown as having separate beds. Strict rules of television broadcasting restricted an on-screen kiss to under six seconds, and the participants could not recline during the kiss.  Contrast that with what is often shown on TV today with characters who aren’t even portrayed as married.  Gradually, standards have declined until extra-marital sexual encounters are the norm.  The slow introduction of this practice has brought about a certain familiarity, and familiarity has bred a casual disregard for the sanctity of virtue and chastity.

This can also happen to us in many other aspects of our lives as well. We need to be particularly mindful of those areas which have eternal consequences.  We’ve all heard the saying… “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It originates from one of Aesop’s fables about the Fox and the Lion… which goes like this…

When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time, however, he came near the King of Beasts, he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony. Thus we see… “Familiarity Breeds Contempt.”

There are two definitions for “contempt” —
              a : the act of despising : the state of mind of one who despises : disdain    … OR…
              b : lack of respect or reverence for something 

It is the second definition we will begin with, and we will call it by another name: “Casual disregard.”  Familiarity breeds a casual disregard.  This is what the Fox experienced in the fable — a casual disregard for the Lion’s power to attack and eat him.

It seems to me a casual disregard creeps in well before full contempt. From there, it grows into to total disregard and finally to hatred and enmity.

Taking the TV example, consider how those who now oppose the immoral acts often portrayed on TV, are viewed by the general public… as closed minded, politically incorrect and unaccepting — basically as the bad guys.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian-British philosopher said –
“The aspect of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.”

There is an important truth in this statement regarding members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Part of my message today is to not let things familiar to us (particularly related to the gospel and one another) breed in us a casual disregard for their importance.

Familiarity breeds casual disregard
What do I mean by a casual disregard?  I’d like to read part of a story told by President Boyd K. Packer about Spiritual Crocodiles. Some of you may be familiar with this story. I believe its theme is an example of the casual disregard of which I speak.

(President Packer related the following story after attending to an assignment in Africa…)

 
We had no automobile, and without telephones there was no way to get a replacement until late in the day. We faced the disappointment of sitting around the compound all day. Our one day in the park was ruined and, for me, the dream of a lifetime was gone.

I talked with a young ranger, and he was surprised that I knew many of the African birds. Then he volunteered to rescue us.

“We are building a new lookout over a water hole about twenty miles from the compound,” he said. “It is not quite finished, but it is safe. I will take you out there with a lunch, and when your car comes late this afternoon we will bring it out to you. You may see as many animals, or even more, than if you were driving around.”

On the way to the lookout he volunteered to show us some lions. He turned off through the brush and before long located a group of seventeen lions all sprawled out asleep and drove right up among them.

We stopped at a water hole to watch the animals come to drink. It was very dry that season and there was not much water, really just muddy spots. When the elephants stepped into the soft mud the water would seep into the depression and the animals would drink from the elephant tracks.

The antelope, particularly, were very nervous. They would approach the mud hole, only to turn and run away in great fright. I could see there were no lions about and asked the guide why they didn’t drink. His answer, and this is the lesson, was “Crocodiles.”

I knew he must be joking and asked him seriously, “What is the problem?” The answer again: “Crocodiles.”

“Nonsense,” I said. “There are no crocodiles out there. Anyone can see that.”

I thought he was having some fun at the expense of his foreign game expert, and finally I asked him to tell us the truth. Now I remind you that I was not uninformed. I had read many books. Besides, anyone would know that you can’t hide a crocodile in an elephant track.

He could tell I did not believe him and determined, I suppose, to teach me a lesson. We drove to another location where the car was on an embankment above the muddy hole where we could look down. “There,” he said. “See for yourself.”

I couldn’t see anything except the mud, a little water, and the nervous animals in the distance. Then all at once I saw it!—a large crocodile, settled in the mud, waiting for some unsuspecting animal to get thirsty enough to come for a drink.

Suddenly I became a believer! When he could see I was willing to listen, he continued with the lesson. “There are crocodiles all over the park,” he said, “not just in the rivers. We don’t have any water without a crocodile somewhere near it, and you’d better count on it.”

The guide was kinder to me than I deserved. My “know-it-all” challenge to his first statement, “crocodiles,” might have brought an invitation, “Well, go out and see for yourself!”

I could see for myself that there were no crocodiles. I was so sure of myself I think I might have walked out just to see what was there. Such an arrogant approach could have been fatal! But he was patient enough to teach me…. (Boyd K. Packer, “Spiritual Crocodiles,” Ensign, May 1976, 30).

Do we have a CASUAL DISREGARD…

• For counsel from the prophet, leaders, parents, etc? (Do we feel that we ultimately know what’s best?  Do we listen to General Conference, or read the talks in the Ensign magazine?)
• For ordinances – how do we approach the Sacrament each week?
• For one another (members of our family or even for one another in the Church)?
• For the need to repent?
• For reading the scriptures, praying, and attending our church meetings?
• For magnifying our callings?
• For the ways we worship?
• For the covenants we have made (baptism, temple)?
• And, for living the commandments with exactness and diligence?

George Sands said, “Admiration and Familiarity are strangers.”  Antoine de Rivarol said, “Familiarity is the root of the closest friendship, as well as the intensest hatreds.”  William Bernbach said, “In communications, familiarity breeds apathy.”  I think this quote perhaps has much broader applicability than just communications.

When we casually disregard the aforementioned things, there may be nothing that happens immediately, the first time we do/don’t do it. There may not even be apparent consequences the second, third, or fourth time we behave with casual disregard for the things on this list. However, the message here is that eventually we will be bitten by the spiritual crocodiles, most likely when we are least expecting it.

The Book of Mormon suggests at least one possible source for the growth of a casual disregard.
“Yea, and we may see at the very a time when he doth prosper his people… yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One.

“Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!

“Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide” (Helaman 12:2, 5-6).

“Slow to give ear unto his counsels,” and “Set at naught his counsels…” These phrases sound to me like the same thing as casually disregarding His counsels.

Obedience with exactness
But what’s so harmful about a casual disregard for things related to the gospel?  Often times we’re not even in the act of blatantly sinning.  However, it is contrary to our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness.

So, what does the opposite of “casual disregard” look like? In Alma we read about the Stripling Warriors…
“Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them” (Alma 57:21).

The scripture indicates that they did “perform every word of command with exactness.” As a result, according to their faith, it was done unto them. The full-time missionaries can certainly attest that they are taught of the importance of exact obedience to the mission rules. They can also testify of the blessings and miracles, as they have done so.
“We all are prone, once in a while, to be in a state contrary to the nature of happiness, and not necessarily because we have pursued wickedness or iniquity to a full extent. But so long as we are in this earthly probationary state, the adversary can influence us. We may have become a little careless. We may have neglected our relationships with those closest to us—those who are our first responsibility—our spouse, our children, or our parents. Perhaps we may have permitted small bad habits or attitudes to enter into our lives; or perhaps we have even lost to some degree an understanding of the importance of keeping a covenant with exactness. If so, we are in a dangerous state. We must become aware of it. We cannot afford to ignore the situation. We may observe that for some time we are not really happy, that we must constantly force ourselves to smile, or perhaps that we are in a state close to depression. One may not yet have formally broken a covenant, or may even still manage to hide behind a facade of happiness. Although we might deceive others, we cannot deceive ourselves, and we cannot deceive the Lord.

“When the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn even in part, we feel it… Shadows of darkness will fall upon the soul, and, in this state, an awareness of what is happening to us is essential (Elder F. Enzio Busche, Of the First Quorum of the Seventy, May 1989).”
The Book of Mormon prophet Alma said, speaking to his son, Corianton:
“And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness (Alma 41:11).
The good news is that as we strive to live the commandments with exactness (and as we strive to eliminate casual disregard for those things in our lives (especially those which are most important for us), we will be aligned with our Heavenly Father’s plan of Happiness. And, His desire is for us to have joy in this life.

When Jesus Christ first began to teach in the Holy Land, he was casually disregarded by many of the Jews, particularly by the Jewish leadership. They were “familiar” with him as merely the son of Joseph, a carpenter. Over the course of his ministry, however, that casual disregard grew into vehement opposition.

For Christ‘s Atonement to be effective in our lives, we must exercise our Faith in Him continually, consistently and completely… NOT CASUALLY.   I believe that a casual disregard of the gospel or of spiritual things is essentially a form of sabotaging our faith, making his Atonement less effective or ineffective in our live. The scriptures indicate, as a result, we remain in our carnal and fallen state.
 “But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come” (Alma 58:40).
Brothers and Sisters, it is not my intent to pound the pulpit or to suggest that we are in a wicked state. In large part, I suppose that my message today is a reflection of things that I’ve pondered regarding not only the ward, but my own life and my own need for improvement.  My message is more of a reminder, an invitation and a challenge to all of us is to claim the blessings of happiness of the gospel by…

Not letting the Familiarity of our families, each other, and the gospel breed a Casual Disregard in us… and…that living the gospel with more exact obedience will bring greater protection, power, and happiness (and eventually Eternal Life).

You’ve probably heard rumors and gossip about the Book of Mormon but the only way to know what is really in it is to read it. Many people who have finally taken the time to do so have been surprised to realize it isn’t what they were told it was. They’re startled by the emphasis on Jesus Christ, the discussions of grace, and the correlations to the Bible. There is no certainty the person telling you what is in it is telling the truth. In fact, there is no certainty he has read it. Only by reading it yourself will you know what is really in it.

There are many ways to read the Book of Mormon and I’ve read it myself in a variety of ways. One way to read is to read it as a story. Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon has a story. The stories in the Book of Mormon serve the same purpose as those in the Bible—to teach moral and spiritual lessons. I’ve known many people who are not Mormon and who enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon as literature and this can be an interesting way to get started.

You’ll find wonderful people in the Book of Mormon. Watch for Nephi, the first person you’ll meet, who said he was blessed every day of his life—and this despite growing up in a dysfunctional home with brothers who wanted to kill him (and who would have succeeded without divine intervention) and despite being essentially homeless for many years. He went from wealth to being a nomad in a tent to moving to a strange new land all in his younger years.

Watch for Moroni, the last person you’ll meet in the Book. There are two men with that name, one a great military leader. The other is the one I’m referring to here. He was the son of a prophet of God. His people had forgotten God and as a result, the promises made to them were not able to be carried out, since they were dependent on worthiness. When the wicked Lamanites (descendents of those brothers who tried to kill Nephi back at the start of the book) killed off all his people, including his family and friends, he was left all alone. He was a teenager and the only good person left in his world. He had to stay in hiding as he finished editing and condensing the records of his people. Can you imagine a teenager coping with those circumstances, all alone in the world, sought by thousands of evil people, and kept alive for the sake of a book? When he finished his work, he hid the record away. In the future he would come as an angel to another teenager, Joseph Smith, and begin preparing him to translate the record and bring it to the modern world. It was for this purpose Moroni had been saved from destruction. His story is a touching and powerful one of faith, suffering, and sacrifice for God at a very young age.

To get the most from the book, however, you need to look beyond the entertainment value of the book. The Book of Mormon is rich with doctrine that will help you strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ. As you read, mark in one color all scriptures that are about Jesus Christ. Sometimes the writers will use a title instead of a name. The Book of Mormon actually refers to Jesus Christ more often than the Bible does.

As you’re reading, watch for these scriptures:

Why the prophets wrote the words in the Book of Mormon:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 25:26).

Salvation Comes Through Jesus Christ

16 And even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins.

  17 And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent (Mosiah 3:16-17).

Jesus Appears to the Nephites

  The Nephites were the descendents of Nephi, the first person I told you about in this article. His descendents were promised Jesus Christ would come to them one day after his death. This scripture is from the moment Jesus appears to them—the other sheep He told His apostles He had to go to teach.

  2 And they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had been given concerning his death.

  3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

  4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not.

  5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

  6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

  7 Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

  8 And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.

  9 And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying:

  10 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

  11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

  12 And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven (3 Nephi 11).

If you are reading to find out whether the book is true or not, there is only one way to do this. You can’t take the word of any person on earth, whether Mormon or not. The only way to know for sure is to ask God Himself to tell you. If you pray before you read, as you read, and after you read, and then sit quietly waiting for an answer, you’ll soon know for yourself what God thinks of this book. It can take time, if you’re not used to waiting for non-material answers from God, to learn to recognize how He “speaks” to us, but as you continue to ask Him for wisdom and confirmation of truths, you will begin to notice a pattern. You’ll note that when you have made a correct choice, you’ll feel at peace. Satan cannot create a feeling of spiritual peace, so you know this comes from God. You’ll feel in your heart you’ve made the right choices. The Holy Ghost is always ready to tell us when we’re doing right and also, of course, when we’re doing wrong.

What many people think is their conscience is really the Holy Ghost guiding us gently along the path. The more often we take His advice, the more regularly He will speak to us. A peaceful feeling means we’re on the right track and a confused or negative feeling means we are not. Think about how you feel when you’re in church or helping another person. Those feelings of peace are from God.

Some will tell you that you can’t trust these feelings. However, I know God can do anything. He promised us we could turn to Him when we needed wisdom. (If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him—James 1:5, King James translation of the Bible.) I know God keeps His promises, and so I trust Him to answer me in ways I can recognize as being Him. After all, if He couldn’t do that, how could we ever turn to Him for wisdom?

So, trust God and start reading. It won’t take very long to read, but it may be the most important book you’ve read in a very long time. You can read the Book of Mormon free online without registering.

Prayer helps us prioritize.

While most of us find it silly that someone would sell his eternal blessings for stew, many of us sell off God’s blessings for things of even lesser importance than stew. Each time we choose to violate a commandment, we are choosing to sell our birthright.

Our birthright is to receive all of God’s promised blessings for our lives on earth and to have the life He hopes we will have. In eternity, our birthright is to return to God to live forever. When Jesus lived on the earth, He consistently warned people they must keep the commandments if they wished to be with God after their deaths.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (See Matthew 7:21.)

Each time we make a choice, we are prioritizing our values. If we decide to disobey a commandment, we’ve put that particular sin above the commandment in our priorities. We’ve decided the sin is worth more than the blessings associated with the commandment—in other words, we’ve sold our birthright for something that has only temporary benefit.

Mormons teach that we are expected to live a health code known as the Word of Wisdom. Sometimes a person will say, “I can’t believe God will keep me out of Heaven just because of a cup of coffee.” They are turning the problem around of course. What they should say is, “I can’t believe I’m willing to give up Heaven over a cup of coffee.” The same reasoning can be said of any sin we decide we value more than we value an eternity in God’s presence. When Jesus was on the earth, a young man asked Him how He could follow Jesus. Jesus reminded him of the commandments, but the man said he’d been doing all those things since he was a child. In response, Jesus offered Him another commandment: that of giving up all his worldly possessions. The man went away sadly. This he wasn’t willing to do. He preferred to sell his birthright for a fancy home or some other possessions. He had great possessions, and he had decided they were worth more to him than eternity.

Sometimes the mistaken priorities we set aren’t sins; they’re simply less important than the place we give them on our life scale. Many people put their careers or politics higher on their priority list than they do God. If being a Christian might damage their rise up the ladder to fame and fortune, they keep it a secret from those who know them. Some might decide they need the extra money they’ll earn working on Sunday more than they need the blessings that come from keeping the Sabbath Day holy. (We’re talking here about elective work, not essential work, or having no choice in the matter.)

When Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha, Martha was terribly anxious about putting a good meal on the table for Jesus. It is without question important to give our best to Jesus, but when she complained about Mary, who was, instead of helping, letting Jesus teach her, Jesus helped Martha put her priorities in order. He gently told her that even though what Martha was doing was good, it was not the most important thing she could be doing at that moment. Jesus didn’t care about a fancy meal; He did care about teaching Mary and Martha the gospel. At another time, doing the housework might be the best use of Martha’s time, but at that particular moment, learning the gospel was the most important part. What was a feast at one time became a mere mess of pottage at this particular moment.

Take a few hours to look at how you plan and use your time. You’ll find that even though you are very busy, you always find time for the things you put first in your life. The challenge then is to make sure the first things go first. You have to be at work at a certain time and stay until a certain time, so although work may not be the most important thing in your world, it is the priority during that time. But do you really have to put in the many hours of overtime that keep you from your family or prevent you from doing God’s work? Do you need to earn as much money as you’re earning, or would it allow you to use your time in a more eternally important way if you turned down the next promotion or accepted less of the optional overtime?

What about your hobbies? There is nothing wrong with relaxing, but where do your hobbies fit into your priority scale? Is there a way to relax and to do something good at the same time? Could you develop a new hobby that also serves a purpose—perhaps gardening or teaching someone to read? What would happen if you decided to replace the morning newspaper with a half hour of scripture reading?

Each time we make a choice that puts something else over the teachings of God, or the priorities He wants you to have at this moment, we’re selling our birthright. Is what you’re getting worth what you’re giving up to get it?

Which gets your loyalty—pottage or eternity?

Jusus' atonement was for us personally.

This article contains many quotes from religious leaders and scriptures. Following the links in the credits will take you to the complete reference, where you can learn more on this eternally significant topic.

The atonement was made for everyone, but perhaps most importantly, it was made for you personally. If only one person had needed the atonement, Jesus Christ would have accepted that responsibility. The sins he took on were not consolidated. He experienced every sin individually, and so the atonement was for you because Jesus loves you that much.

“His Atonement does indeed cover the world and all people from the beginning to the end. Let us not forget, however, that in its comprehensiveness and completeness it is also intensely personal and uniquely crafted to fit perfectly and address perfectly each of our own individual circumstances. The Father and the Son know each of us better than we know ourselves and have prepared an Atonement for us that is fully congruent with our needs, challenges, and possibilities,” (Cecil O. Samuelson Jr., “What Does the Atonement Mean to You?,” Liahona, Apr 2009, 14–19.)

No one could force Jesus into the Garden or onto the cross. The atonement worked only because it was a voluntary sacrifice. No one will ever give you a greater gift than Jesus gave you, and He gave it for no other reason than because He loves you. Do you believe you are that loveable? When we comprehend how much we’re loved by Jesus Christ and God, who know us better than anyone else—they know all our faults and weaknesses and they still love us that much—we can finally begin to understand we really are special. We are children of God and have a divine parentage. If They, being perfect and knowing everything, know we’re that important, we must be important and special. God is never wrong.

To take advantage of the full measure of the atonement of Jesus Christ we have to continually learn and grow, and that growing process will inevitably mean we’ll make mistakes. Because of the atonement, we can repent and return to full standing in God’s eyes. He never stops loving us, no matter how terribly we behave, but like any loving parent, He expects us to make amends for those sins.

For most of us though, the hardest part of true repentance is forgiving ourselves.

“It has always struck me as being sad that those among us who would not think of reprimanding our neighbor, much less a total stranger, for mistakes that have been made or weaknesses that might be evident, will nevertheless be cruel and unforgiving to themselves. When the scriptures say to judge righteously, that means with fairness and compassion and charity. That’s how we must judge ourselves. We need to be patient and forgiving of ourselves, just as we must be patient and forgiving of others.” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, ed. Clyde J. Williams (1997), 34.)

I believe it’s when we start to understand how special we are, that we really are children of God, that we’re able to forgive ourselves. When we love someone we don’t focus on the bad things; we focus on the good and lovingly overlook the faults or forgive the ones we can’t overlook. We need to be as kind to ourselves as we are to others.

D. Chad Richardson, a Mormon leader, said, “We must keep sin in its proper perspective. Satan would convince us that we are defined by our sins. He would have had the repentant W. W. Phelps see himself always as a traitor. He would convince someone who has stolen that he is and always will be a thief.

The Savior, in contrast, would have us understand that we have sins that need to be cleansed, but we are much more than those stains. If I spill ketchup on my shirt, I have a stain. Perhaps it is right in front where everyone can see it. But while I have a stain, I am not the stain. I need to recognize that there is a good deal of my shirt that is clean and white. I believe that God sees the white shirt—the goodness in His children—and offers, through Christ, to remove the stains. If we obsess about the stain, however, it will become who we are in our minds and then in our actions.”

It’s seemingly natural to focus on what is wrong when we do a self-evaluation. What would be different if we focused on what was right? When I was on the speech team in college, we were required, during class presentations, to critique our teammates by first explaining what they did well. We could never give more negatives than we gave positives. No matter how badly we did during practices, we had always done something right. We learned to find it in our teammates and to find it in ourselves, since we were often asked to evaluate ourselves as well.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a Mormon apostle, was a pilot prior to his church service. He explains that pilots learn that when making very long flights, particularly across oceans, there is a spot called “the point of safe return.” This is the last spot you can safely turn around and go back to where you started without running out of fuel. Beyond that spot is the “point of no return.” President Uchtdorf explains, “Satan wants us to think that when we have sinned we have gone past a “point of no return”—that it is too late to change our course. In our beautiful but also troubled world, it is a sad reality that this attitude is the source of great sorrow, grief, and distress to families, marriages, and individual lives.

Satan tries to counterfeit the work of God, and by doing this he may deceive many. To make us lose hope, feel miserable like himself, and believe that we are beyond forgiveness, Satan might even misuse words from the scriptures that emphasize the justice of God, in order to imply that there is no mercy “ (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Point of Safe Return,” Ensign, May 2007, 99–101.)

President Uchtdorf assures us this is a lie. Jesus’ atonement was perfect and it was big enough and loving enough to cover us. There is no point of no return in God’s plan. He then tells us we can know for ourselves we’ve been forgiven:

“Once we have truly repented, Christ will take away the burden of guilt for our sins. We can know for ourselves that we have been forgiven and made clean. The Holy Ghost will verify this to us; He is the Sanctifier. No other testimony of forgiveness can be greater….

And He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)….

And He declared, “Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).

Satan will try to make us believe that our sins are not forgiven because we can remember them. Satan is a liar; he tries to blur our vision and lead us away from the path of repentance and forgiveness. God did not promise that we would not remember our sins. Remembering will help us avoid making the same mistakes again. But if we stay true and faithful, the memory of our sins will be softened over time. This will be part of the needed healing and sanctification process. Alma testified that after he cried out to Jesus for mercy, he could still remember his sins, but the memory of his sins no longer distressed and tortured him, because he knew he had been forgiven (see Alma 36:17–19).

It is our responsibility to avoid anything that would bring back old sinful memories. When we continue to have a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 12:19), we may trust that God will “remember [our sins] no more.””

We have an obligation to learn to trust God and to trust the Savior. They gave us this gift and we must choose to accept it. Once we’ve made that choice, the fullness of the gift is ours and this is the only way we can be healed from the pains of our past mistakes.

How can we do this? We must get to know God and Jesus in a very personal way. We do this by reading their words, praying, listening with our hearts after we pray, and doing what He’s asked us to do. When we hear religious teachings, we must ask God to tell us if they are true, and then trust His answers to our hearts. To find complete peace, we have to know what God wants us to know and we must invite Him to help us partake of all the gifts He is offering us.

The Atonement is Personal

Atonement is a gift of love. Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, said, “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love, (2 Nephi 1:15) Doesn’t that scripture help you understand the extraordinary gift of atonement? Picturing ourselves encircled in the arms of Jesus’ love is what the atonement does for us, and it’s why the atonement was done at all.

With the atonement and resurrection, we became recipients of God’s grace. The concept of grace is one many people have difficulty comprehending. Jeffrey R. Holland explains it this way:

“Some gifts coming from the Atonement are universal, infinite, and unconditional. These include His ransom for Adam’s original transgression so that no member of the human family is held responsible for that sin. Another universal gift is the Resurrection from the dead of every man, woman, and child who lives, has ever lived, or ever will live on earth.

“Other aspects of Christ’s atoning gift are conditional. They depend on one’s diligence in keeping God’s commandments. For example, while all members of the human family are freely given a reprieve from Adam’s sin through no effort of their own, they are not given a reprieve from their own sins unless they pledge faith in Christ, repent of those sins, are baptized in His name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmation into Christ’s Church, and press forward in faithful endurance the remainder of life’s journey….Furthermore, although the Resurrection of the body is a free and universal gift from Christ, a result of His victory over death, the nature of the resurrected body (or “degree of glory” given it), as well as the time of one’s Resurrection, is affected directly by one’s faithfulness in this life. The Apostle Paul made clear, for example, that those fully committed to Christ will “rise first” in the Resurrection…

“Of course neither the unconditional nor the conditional blessings of the Atonement are available except through the grace of Christ. Obviously the unconditional blessings of the Atonement are unearned, but the conditional ones are not fully merited either. By living faithfully and keeping the commandments of God, one can receive additional privileges; but they are still given freely, not technically earned” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Atonement of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Mar 2008, 32–38.)

Atonement is often described as at-one-ment. It means to reunite, or make one again, that which was separated or estranged. Because Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden, sin came into the world. This made humans sinful, but God has promised we will never be punished for any sins but our own. The atonement made that possible. It took away any inherited sin and left us responsible only for what we personally chose to do and could control.

Little children who die are not responsible for the mistakes they’ve made, nor, of course, would it be right for God to punish them for sins committed before they were born. If a child died before he could choose to be baptized, would a loving God punish him? No, of course not. Nor are we responsible for any sin we committed without knowing it was wrong. When we’re baptized, those past transgressions are washed away and we’re reunited with God.

Of course, we can’t be re-baptized every day, and most of us make at least small mistakes every day. Because of the atonement, we can be forgiven of our sins. The process of repentance makes it as though we were baptized once again. The mistakes of the past are washed away and God forgets about them.

“When we sin, we turn away from God. When we repent, we turn back toward God.

The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God. It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel.” (Neil L. Andersen, “‘Repent … That I May Heal You’,” Ensign, Nov 2009, 40–43

Repentance is not easy, but it is possible, and it is an extraordinary gift. When we go through the process sincerely, we are forgiven of our sins and can move on with the business of becoming more Christ-like. The steps of repentance are these:

Recognition of sin: We can’t repent until we know we’ve done something wrong and until we’ve accepted that our actions were improper. Many people try to rationalize their sins and to convince themselves and others they’ve done nothing wrong. Wishing doesn’t make it so, and repentance can’t begin until we admit to ourselves we’ve sinned.

Sorrow for sin: Repentance cannot be a rote act. “Oops, messed up again. Off to repent.” Along with recognition of our sin we have to have real, heart-wrenching sadness that we’ve done something wrong. When we understand how much God loves us, how desperately He wants us to return home, and how much the Savior longs for us to accept the gift of atonement, we can begin to be heartbroken at knowing what we’ve done wrong. When this happens, repentance will be sincere.

Confession: We’re required to confess our sins. The nature of the confession depends on the type of sin. If we’ve hurt another person, we need to confess to that person if it’s at all possible to do so. A child would be required to confess to his parents, who are responsible for his progress. Some very serious sins require confession to our ecclesiastical leader, which for Mormons is their bishop (similar to a pastor.) Mormons go to their bishops when they’ve committed sexual sins, sins involving criminal behavior, and other very serious sins. The bishop then helps them take the steps required to repent of these more complicated sins. If a crime has been committed, the person needs to confess to legal authorities. And of course, every sin must be confessed to God.

Restitution: We need to pay a price for our sins. If at all possible, and to the extent possible, we need to pay for the damage we’ve caused. This might mean paying to repair a broken window, apologizing to and perhaps serving someone we’ve hurt, or accepting legal consequences for actions.

Abandon the Sin: Our goal is to stop committing the sin. Sometimes this takes time and repeated repentance, but when we’re sincere in our efforts to live more closely to God’s teachings, in time, we can abandon any sin. We can’t decide we can sin all we want because we can always repent. We must long desperately to change our lives and our hearts.

These steps are not done quickly or easily. They are often a daily process of making gradual improvements. We shouldn’t delay our repentance, but God will be patient with us while we continue to work through the steps.

The next step, however, is the most complicated, and deserves its own article. In the next article, we will learn how to accept the greatest gift of repentance—God’s love—and to forgive ourselves and move on. We’ll learn how the atonement can help us face any trial in our lives.

This video is an extraordinary reminder of the Savior’s final week on earth and our responsibility to never let the Savior walk alone again.