What is Perfect (or complete) Love? Mormon taught us, in his letter to his son Moroni (Mor 8.16-17): “[..] Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; [..]”
..
When this earth life experience ends, will your love and concern for your own friends and family members stop? Of course not. For each of these individuals we experience shared joy in their successes, and sorrow with them in their trials. We pray for them and worry about them.
..
So, what can we do? Brothers and Sisters, the answer lies in the Temple. Repent and get yourself worthy to receive a temple recommend. Carry it with you – especially to the Temple – as often as possible. Have your family sealed to you there. President McMahon asked us to teach you to: “Come to the temple and return often. 'Be' in the temple until it feels comfortable”. There your prayers will be heard and answered. There you will find peace and direction and guidance for your own lives and for those you love. There you will start to develop and feel the 'perfect love' our Father has for us.
..
When this earth life experience ends, will your love and concern for your own friends and family members stop? Of course not. For each of these individuals we experience shared joy in their successes, and sorrow with them in their trials. We pray for them and worry about them.
..
So, what can we do? Brothers and Sisters, the answer lies in the Temple. Repent and get yourself worthy to receive a temple recommend. Carry it with you – especially to the Temple – as often as possible. Have your family sealed to you there. President McMahon asked us to teach you to: “Come to the temple and return often. 'Be' in the temple until it feels comfortable”. There your prayers will be heard and answered. There you will find peace and direction and guidance for your own lives and for those you love. There you will start to develop and feel the 'perfect love' our Father has for us.
Talk: Hope in the Covenant of the Temple M1 Sep 2014
God Loves Us Perfectly
What is Perfect (or complete) Love?
Mormon taught us, in his letter to his son Moroni (Mor 8.16-17): “[..] Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; [..]”
In this topic in some ways we are in the similar situation as the people who witnesses Christ's return to the Americas. They had no accurate words to describe the situation: (3 Ne 17:17) records: “And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.”. The language we have to use just doesn't have the correct words to describe the concept completely.
Part of the problem in understanding may be that we have not yet experienced the emotion yet. Much like gaining a testimony, if you ask, you shall receive – but until you get that feeling you just don't 'get' it.
Also, there is a problem with the words we do have. Some of them have been twisted and changed - “we believe in the definition of Love as far as it is translated correctly, indeed we may say ..” what it is not, it is not the fleeting imitation 'love' so often portrayed in the media by Satan, instead think of:
He wants us to be perfect like him
Christ's commandment to us (3 Ne 12:48): “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.”. Part of that perfection is to develop 'perfect love' for those around us, just like the love He has for each of us.
Have you felt to sing the song of redeeming love? Have you felt that burning love in your heart and in your mind?
Who loves you? Some of you are children – you may not truly appreciate just how much you are loved .. yet. Perhaps you are a little older and still searching for your 'soul mate'. Perhaps you are even older and have now found yourself feeling alone. However, remember:
In addition to our Father and his Son, your parents (imperfect as they are) still love you .. your siblings; brothers and/or sisters (imperfect as they are) probably still love you .. your Primary and Sunday School teachers, YM and YW leaders, your home teachers and quorum leaders, your Bishop and our Stake President (imperfect as they may sometimes feel) all love you too. Serving others brings us to 'more perfectly love' them. I see no reason not to extend the circle of 'perfect love' in our 'perfect (complete) family' to include them too.
What is a family? I include my daughters Adrien and Amelia and even our rented trek kids are part of my 'extended family'. Here again, we find our words inadequate to the task. We see the world attempting to redefine the meaning and function of the word family to in effect make it unrecognizable. Satan would define 'family' as something changeable, fleeting and temporary, casually entered into and easily discarded. However, the plan of salvation requires a definition of 'family' that is inspiring, eternal, lasting and permanent. Our wise father knows the righteous intent of our hearts and all these relationships will be eventually worked out as they should. However, this is only done through priesthood power and the making of covenants. I expect in his plan there is room for the orphan, the never married, the childless, and for those we have lost too early in life. If our worldly family is broken, he has His own ways to heal us and to make it whole. In my own family we had four daughters born to us and sealed to us 'in the covenant'. 16 years ago, we officially adopted our daughter Adrien and had her sealed to us and to her sisters in the Cardston Temple. Some 15 years ago we added Amelia, a roommate of our daughters who in her late teens was taught the gospel and baptized and who we now unofficially also include in our 'family' as well. Her two children call us grandpa and grandma and appear in our family pictures and are numbered among our grandchildren. Perhaps one day that relationship will be made more formal by our loving Father. I mentioned that we participated in trek this year. I keep telling my daughter that even trek families are forever .. my trek journal records this entry: “I joked along the trail that somehow our family seemed to be missing Faith, despite having plenty of Hope and Charity and other remarkable virtues among our trek children .. that all changed on Sunday afternoon, when our trek family participated in the emergency rescue mission for those lost somewhere back along the trail. President McMahon stopped Priesthood meeting to announce a call to immediately send handcarts and men to go back and find them. Our trek sons all stood to respond to that call and the meeting was then disbanded. Leaving our wives and daughters and a few other volunteers to stay back and help prepare for their needs in camp, with some effort we helped find the 'lost sheep' and return them safely on our handcarts back to the valley. I was surprised to find so many in the group to be rescued – our ward Bishops and spouses as well as many other youth who could only attend for the day. After getting them all safely across the creek, Bro Zobell stood and extended our family, along with many others, a call to accept a new daughter into our trek family. I felt impressed to present her, then and there, with a dark pink bandanna - our family colour, from off my own neck to wear. Upon our return, Hope and Ma each immediately agreed with me that we should call her Faith. She fit right in with the other trek children and enjoyed a glorious Sunday afternoon with us in the valley. The Sacrament and testimony meeting, our breaking the fast evening meal, letters from loved ones, and time to reflect and ponder and write in our journals were all spiritually uplifting and even somewhat emotionally draining. Ma and I had moments to talk with our new daughter all that day, until she had to return back home with the Bishop's family. We love our Faith and plan to keep in contact with her as much as possible and encourage each of our trek children to treat her as a beloved trek family member. She is now to be included as part of our trek family and we are now responsible for her continued well being.” I feel that joy again each time I see any of our trek children or even their parents around town or at church. Now that our trek experience is over, should our love and concern for our trek family members stop? I think not. After your home teaching assignment is completed and you are assigned to new families, does your love and concern for your former home teaching family end? I hope not. When this earth life experience ends, will your love and concern for your own friends and family members stop? Of course not. For each of these individuals we experience shared joy in their successes, and sorrow with them in their trials. We pray for them and worry about them.
Wayward Children in the Scriptures
Now pay attention! I need to tell you a story about a man named Helaman and his family: but in his family there were two Alma's, two Helaman's, and three Nephi's, and another Lehi ..
We don't know much of the the details of Helaman and his family, except that he was the oldest son of Alma (the Younger) and grandson of Alma, and had two brothers Shiblon and Corianton who served as missionaries with their father .. that later in his life this Helaman as prophet and military leader fought with the 2000 stripling warriors and loved them and considered them worthy 'to be called his sons' (Alma 56:10).
Helaman's grandfather (Alma) was a convert to the church. He had been a high ranking member of another church (in the court of wicked King Noah), and one day a missionary/prophet named Abinadi came by and taught with so much power and spirit that grandfather Alma left his house and money and job and former religion and long story short was able to be baptized into the true church, became a great missionary himself and later a great leader and prophet to the church.
Helaman's father (was also named Alma) was raised in the church, but this Alma along with his friends (the Sons of King Mosiah) decided for a time that they did not want to believe and live up to the teachings for their fathers. In fact, they actively taught against the church and had great success in keeping many from joining the church. In answer to prayer – not his but own, Helaman's father Alma was converted after a miraculous visitation of an angel whose message so astonished him, that he was struck to the ground, unable to speak or move, for three days. This was the blessing that grandfather Alma (and the entire church) had been praying for. Father Alma (the Younger) recovered, changed his ways and repented and became a great missionary himself.
Helaman had two brothers, and much like Nephi's family, one brother Shiblon was a valiant, active member of the church and a great example to the church as a missionary, but the other Corianton had some struggles living the commandments even while out as a missionary himself.
Helaman's own son was also named Helaman and Helaman son of Helaman had two sons himself, whom He decided to name Nephi and Lehi after great prophets of the past - to remind them to 'be good as they were good'. (Hel 5:6-7)
To make it even more complex, Helaman's grandson Nephi had a son named Nephi as well and that Nephi the great-grandson of Helaman was the prophet alive when Christ appeared to the people in the America's. In his time a "great uproar" broke out amongst the population over the yet-unfulfilled (and according to the "unbelievers", past-due) prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite, that Christ's birth would be signified by a new star and a night without darkness. Those who continued to look forward to the sign of Christ were scheduled for a mass execution. Great-grandson Nephi, so deeply disturbed by the wickedness of the people, "prayed mightily" to God for the condemned believers, even all day. Finally, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying (3 Ne 1:13): "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." As promised, when the sun set that evening, the sky remained as bright as midday, fulfilling the anticipated prophecies and effectively preventing the impending genocide. A majority of the population was converted by this event, and Nephi (the Disciple) went about "baptizing unto repentance, in the which there was a great remission of sins", which temporarily restored peace to the land. Yet, despite that mass change of heart, and the continued preaching of Nephi and "many others" however, the people soon returned to wickedness and even started discrediting the miracles they had already seen. For the next twenty-seven years, the people continued to fluctuate between extremes of piousness and rebellion, until finally abandoning their faith altogether, the government was intentionally corrupted and assassinated into extinction, and the society unraveled into tribes.
Great-grandson Nephi had a brother named Timothy whom he raised from the dead and a son named Jonas. Nephi and Timothy and Jonas were among those chosen to serve as apostles to Jesus Christ after his visit to the Nephites in the Americas and he had even another son also named Nephi who also lived to see the start of the amazing 200 year period of peace and happiness described in the Book of Mormon (see 4 Ne 1:15-16) where “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people”.
How many of you or us have family or friends who seem to be heading in the direction of some of Helaman's family? Grand-father Alma the non-member and eventual convert, his father Alma the unconverted church member, struggling missionary son Corianton, or other valiant, faithful members of the church with sons or daughters of their own who should know the gospel yet seem to be falling away. Family members and friends who may have been taught once and know better but choose now to live only by worldly standards.
What happens when someone you love perfectly fails to live up to their covenants? Those who currently choose to give up or who have lost their way in sin. For these individuals our heart aches. We pray for them and worry about them even more. We never give up, but in the end, they are free to 'choose for themselves' by their own actions the way they will go.
(D&C 112:10-13) teaches these familiar words: “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren [..] let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name” and then this promise in verse 13: “And after their temptations, and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them.”
Elder Bednar in a recent talk: 'Faithful Parents and Wayward Children” (May 2014 Ensign) quotes Orson Whitney who said: “'The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God. (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110)”.
Elder Bednar continues: “A principle in this statement that is often overlooked is that they must fully repent and ‘suffer for their sins’ and ‘pay their debt to justice.’ I recognize that now is the time ‘to prepare to meet God’ [Alma 34:32]. If the repentance of the wayward children does not happen in this life, is it still possible for the cords of the sealing to be strong enough for them yet to work out their repentance? In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told, ‘The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, ‘And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation’ [D&C 138:58–59].”
Now, what happens when we, you or I, are the 'wayward child'? When we fail to live up to the ideal of 'perfect love'? This happens because none of us are perfect yet, so we need to repent and ask forgiveness and start again and try to be better. Never give up. Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ are perfect and have perfect love for us.
(D&C 1:31-32) “For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;”
So, what can we do? Brothers and Sisters, the answer lies in the Temple. Repent and get yourself worthy to receive a temple recommend. Carry it with you – especially to the Temple – as often as possible. Have your family sealed to you there. President McMahon asked us to teach you to: “Come to the temple and return often. 'Be' in the temple until it feels comfortable”. There your prayers will be heard and answered. There you will find peace and direction and guidance for your own lives and for those you love. There you will start to develop and feel the 'perfect love' our Father has for us.
As Elder Bedar puts it: “As parents are patient and persistent in loving their children and in becoming living examples of disciples of Jesus Christ, they most effectively teach the Father’s plan of happiness. The steadfastness of such parents bears powerful witness of the redeeming and strengthening powers of the Savior’s Atonement and invites wayward children to see with new eyes and to hear with new ears (see Matthew 13:43). Acting in accordance with the teachings of the Savior invites spiritual power into our lives—power to hear and heed, power to discern, and power to persevere. Devoted discipleship is the best and only answer to every question and challenge. (May 2014 Ensign)”
Boyd K Packer said: “The measure of our success as parents .. will not rest solely on how our children turn out [.. and] we cannot overemphasize the value of temple marriage, the binding ties of the sealing ordinance, and the standards of worthiness required of them. When parents keep the covenants they have made at the altar of the temple, their children will be forever bound to them. (Ensign Apr 1992)”
Jeffrey R Holland: “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. (Ensign Oct 1999)”
Afterthoughts:
God Loves Us Perfectly
What is Perfect (or complete) Love?
Mormon taught us, in his letter to his son Moroni (Mor 8.16-17): “[..] Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; [..]”
In this topic in some ways we are in the similar situation as the people who witnesses Christ's return to the Americas. They had no accurate words to describe the situation: (3 Ne 17:17) records: “And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.”. The language we have to use just doesn't have the correct words to describe the concept completely.
Part of the problem in understanding may be that we have not yet experienced the emotion yet. Much like gaining a testimony, if you ask, you shall receive – but until you get that feeling you just don't 'get' it.
Also, there is a problem with the words we do have. Some of them have been twisted and changed - “we believe in the definition of Love as far as it is translated correctly, indeed we may say ..” what it is not, it is not the fleeting imitation 'love' so often portrayed in the media by Satan, instead think of:
- the love of a parent for a newborn child
- the love of a missionary for the people he served on his/her mission
- the love of Christ and The Father for each of us.
- The love of Enos (which he developed after mighty prayer) for his brethren and his people
- the love of Alma and sons of Mosiah for the Lamanites they served on their missions
- the love of Lehi and Sariah for each of their sons, continually striving to guide and teach them
He wants us to be perfect like him
Christ's commandment to us (3 Ne 12:48): “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.”. Part of that perfection is to develop 'perfect love' for those around us, just like the love He has for each of us.
Have you felt to sing the song of redeeming love? Have you felt that burning love in your heart and in your mind?
Who loves you? Some of you are children – you may not truly appreciate just how much you are loved .. yet. Perhaps you are a little older and still searching for your 'soul mate'. Perhaps you are even older and have now found yourself feeling alone. However, remember:
In addition to our Father and his Son, your parents (imperfect as they are) still love you .. your siblings; brothers and/or sisters (imperfect as they are) probably still love you .. your Primary and Sunday School teachers, YM and YW leaders, your home teachers and quorum leaders, your Bishop and our Stake President (imperfect as they may sometimes feel) all love you too. Serving others brings us to 'more perfectly love' them. I see no reason not to extend the circle of 'perfect love' in our 'perfect (complete) family' to include them too.
What is a family? I include my daughters Adrien and Amelia and even our rented trek kids are part of my 'extended family'. Here again, we find our words inadequate to the task. We see the world attempting to redefine the meaning and function of the word family to in effect make it unrecognizable. Satan would define 'family' as something changeable, fleeting and temporary, casually entered into and easily discarded. However, the plan of salvation requires a definition of 'family' that is inspiring, eternal, lasting and permanent. Our wise father knows the righteous intent of our hearts and all these relationships will be eventually worked out as they should. However, this is only done through priesthood power and the making of covenants. I expect in his plan there is room for the orphan, the never married, the childless, and for those we have lost too early in life. If our worldly family is broken, he has His own ways to heal us and to make it whole. In my own family we had four daughters born to us and sealed to us 'in the covenant'. 16 years ago, we officially adopted our daughter Adrien and had her sealed to us and to her sisters in the Cardston Temple. Some 15 years ago we added Amelia, a roommate of our daughters who in her late teens was taught the gospel and baptized and who we now unofficially also include in our 'family' as well. Her two children call us grandpa and grandma and appear in our family pictures and are numbered among our grandchildren. Perhaps one day that relationship will be made more formal by our loving Father. I mentioned that we participated in trek this year. I keep telling my daughter that even trek families are forever .. my trek journal records this entry: “I joked along the trail that somehow our family seemed to be missing Faith, despite having plenty of Hope and Charity and other remarkable virtues among our trek children .. that all changed on Sunday afternoon, when our trek family participated in the emergency rescue mission for those lost somewhere back along the trail. President McMahon stopped Priesthood meeting to announce a call to immediately send handcarts and men to go back and find them. Our trek sons all stood to respond to that call and the meeting was then disbanded. Leaving our wives and daughters and a few other volunteers to stay back and help prepare for their needs in camp, with some effort we helped find the 'lost sheep' and return them safely on our handcarts back to the valley. I was surprised to find so many in the group to be rescued – our ward Bishops and spouses as well as many other youth who could only attend for the day. After getting them all safely across the creek, Bro Zobell stood and extended our family, along with many others, a call to accept a new daughter into our trek family. I felt impressed to present her, then and there, with a dark pink bandanna - our family colour, from off my own neck to wear. Upon our return, Hope and Ma each immediately agreed with me that we should call her Faith. She fit right in with the other trek children and enjoyed a glorious Sunday afternoon with us in the valley. The Sacrament and testimony meeting, our breaking the fast evening meal, letters from loved ones, and time to reflect and ponder and write in our journals were all spiritually uplifting and even somewhat emotionally draining. Ma and I had moments to talk with our new daughter all that day, until she had to return back home with the Bishop's family. We love our Faith and plan to keep in contact with her as much as possible and encourage each of our trek children to treat her as a beloved trek family member. She is now to be included as part of our trek family and we are now responsible for her continued well being.” I feel that joy again each time I see any of our trek children or even their parents around town or at church. Now that our trek experience is over, should our love and concern for our trek family members stop? I think not. After your home teaching assignment is completed and you are assigned to new families, does your love and concern for your former home teaching family end? I hope not. When this earth life experience ends, will your love and concern for your own friends and family members stop? Of course not. For each of these individuals we experience shared joy in their successes, and sorrow with them in their trials. We pray for them and worry about them.
Wayward Children in the Scriptures
Now pay attention! I need to tell you a story about a man named Helaman and his family: but in his family there were two Alma's, two Helaman's, and three Nephi's, and another Lehi ..
We don't know much of the the details of Helaman and his family, except that he was the oldest son of Alma (the Younger) and grandson of Alma, and had two brothers Shiblon and Corianton who served as missionaries with their father .. that later in his life this Helaman as prophet and military leader fought with the 2000 stripling warriors and loved them and considered them worthy 'to be called his sons' (Alma 56:10).
Helaman's grandfather (Alma) was a convert to the church. He had been a high ranking member of another church (in the court of wicked King Noah), and one day a missionary/prophet named Abinadi came by and taught with so much power and spirit that grandfather Alma left his house and money and job and former religion and long story short was able to be baptized into the true church, became a great missionary himself and later a great leader and prophet to the church.
Helaman's father (was also named Alma) was raised in the church, but this Alma along with his friends (the Sons of King Mosiah) decided for a time that they did not want to believe and live up to the teachings for their fathers. In fact, they actively taught against the church and had great success in keeping many from joining the church. In answer to prayer – not his but own, Helaman's father Alma was converted after a miraculous visitation of an angel whose message so astonished him, that he was struck to the ground, unable to speak or move, for three days. This was the blessing that grandfather Alma (and the entire church) had been praying for. Father Alma (the Younger) recovered, changed his ways and repented and became a great missionary himself.
Helaman had two brothers, and much like Nephi's family, one brother Shiblon was a valiant, active member of the church and a great example to the church as a missionary, but the other Corianton had some struggles living the commandments even while out as a missionary himself.
Helaman's own son was also named Helaman and Helaman son of Helaman had two sons himself, whom He decided to name Nephi and Lehi after great prophets of the past - to remind them to 'be good as they were good'. (Hel 5:6-7)
To make it even more complex, Helaman's grandson Nephi had a son named Nephi as well and that Nephi the great-grandson of Helaman was the prophet alive when Christ appeared to the people in the America's. In his time a "great uproar" broke out amongst the population over the yet-unfulfilled (and according to the "unbelievers", past-due) prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite, that Christ's birth would be signified by a new star and a night without darkness. Those who continued to look forward to the sign of Christ were scheduled for a mass execution. Great-grandson Nephi, so deeply disturbed by the wickedness of the people, "prayed mightily" to God for the condemned believers, even all day. Finally, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying (3 Ne 1:13): "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." As promised, when the sun set that evening, the sky remained as bright as midday, fulfilling the anticipated prophecies and effectively preventing the impending genocide. A majority of the population was converted by this event, and Nephi (the Disciple) went about "baptizing unto repentance, in the which there was a great remission of sins", which temporarily restored peace to the land. Yet, despite that mass change of heart, and the continued preaching of Nephi and "many others" however, the people soon returned to wickedness and even started discrediting the miracles they had already seen. For the next twenty-seven years, the people continued to fluctuate between extremes of piousness and rebellion, until finally abandoning their faith altogether, the government was intentionally corrupted and assassinated into extinction, and the society unraveled into tribes.
Great-grandson Nephi had a brother named Timothy whom he raised from the dead and a son named Jonas. Nephi and Timothy and Jonas were among those chosen to serve as apostles to Jesus Christ after his visit to the Nephites in the Americas and he had even another son also named Nephi who also lived to see the start of the amazing 200 year period of peace and happiness described in the Book of Mormon (see 4 Ne 1:15-16) where “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people”.
How many of you or us have family or friends who seem to be heading in the direction of some of Helaman's family? Grand-father Alma the non-member and eventual convert, his father Alma the unconverted church member, struggling missionary son Corianton, or other valiant, faithful members of the church with sons or daughters of their own who should know the gospel yet seem to be falling away. Family members and friends who may have been taught once and know better but choose now to live only by worldly standards.
What happens when someone you love perfectly fails to live up to their covenants? Those who currently choose to give up or who have lost their way in sin. For these individuals our heart aches. We pray for them and worry about them even more. We never give up, but in the end, they are free to 'choose for themselves' by their own actions the way they will go.
(D&C 112:10-13) teaches these familiar words: “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren [..] let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name” and then this promise in verse 13: “And after their temptations, and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them.”
Elder Bednar in a recent talk: 'Faithful Parents and Wayward Children” (May 2014 Ensign) quotes Orson Whitney who said: “'The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God. (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110)”.
Elder Bednar continues: “A principle in this statement that is often overlooked is that they must fully repent and ‘suffer for their sins’ and ‘pay their debt to justice.’ I recognize that now is the time ‘to prepare to meet God’ [Alma 34:32]. If the repentance of the wayward children does not happen in this life, is it still possible for the cords of the sealing to be strong enough for them yet to work out their repentance? In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told, ‘The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God, ‘And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation’ [D&C 138:58–59].”
Now, what happens when we, you or I, are the 'wayward child'? When we fail to live up to the ideal of 'perfect love'? This happens because none of us are perfect yet, so we need to repent and ask forgiveness and start again and try to be better. Never give up. Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ are perfect and have perfect love for us.
(D&C 1:31-32) “For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven;”
So, what can we do? Brothers and Sisters, the answer lies in the Temple. Repent and get yourself worthy to receive a temple recommend. Carry it with you – especially to the Temple – as often as possible. Have your family sealed to you there. President McMahon asked us to teach you to: “Come to the temple and return often. 'Be' in the temple until it feels comfortable”. There your prayers will be heard and answered. There you will find peace and direction and guidance for your own lives and for those you love. There you will start to develop and feel the 'perfect love' our Father has for us.
As Elder Bedar puts it: “As parents are patient and persistent in loving their children and in becoming living examples of disciples of Jesus Christ, they most effectively teach the Father’s plan of happiness. The steadfastness of such parents bears powerful witness of the redeeming and strengthening powers of the Savior’s Atonement and invites wayward children to see with new eyes and to hear with new ears (see Matthew 13:43). Acting in accordance with the teachings of the Savior invites spiritual power into our lives—power to hear and heed, power to discern, and power to persevere. Devoted discipleship is the best and only answer to every question and challenge. (May 2014 Ensign)”
Boyd K Packer said: “The measure of our success as parents .. will not rest solely on how our children turn out [.. and] we cannot overemphasize the value of temple marriage, the binding ties of the sealing ordinance, and the standards of worthiness required of them. When parents keep the covenants they have made at the altar of the temple, their children will be forever bound to them. (Ensign Apr 1992)”
Jeffrey R Holland: “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. (Ensign Oct 1999)”
Afterthoughts:
- The thought came to be later in the week that I had neglected to fully discuss the importance of the Saviour and the Atonement. The Elders were over to dinner recently and their message to our family that evening was on this subject - how Christ not only suffered for our sins but also for our sorrows. He is there to comfort and strengthen in times of need as well, for instance after the death of a loved one or when pressing health issues are addressed. The atonement allows him to comfort and bless us as well as mercifully address our sinful condition.
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