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Brother Kevin Miyasaki, Campus Registrar
for Brigham Young University-Idaho, taught about steadfastness
and immovable faith in Christ during his devotional address
Tuesday, November 22.
Brother Miyasaki began his address by quoting the Book of Mormon
prophet Lehi’s counsel to his wayward son Lemuel, which states,
“O, that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and
steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the
Lord.” (1 Nephi 2:10)
Relating Lehi’s counsel, Brother Miyasaki continued, “As we have
a great opportunity to be at this inspired institution, I offer
a similar invitation, O that we might be like unto this valley,
firm and steadfast, and immovable in becoming disciples of the
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Brother Miyasaki told a story from his freshman year at Ricks
College that taught him a great lesson about being steadfast and
immovable. He was encouraged to meet with his advisor often to
learn and grow. However, when he received his advisor
assignment, he shied away from the opportunity to meet often and
only visited his advisor once each semester when it was
required. He now regrets this action, or inaction, because he
missed experiences of building a personal relationship with this
advisor. Brother Miyasaki’s advisor was Elder Henry B. Eyring,
the newly appointed president of Ricks College at that time and
currently a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
In order to become steadfast and immovable, Brother Miyasaki
taught that an individual must focus on three key principles of
steadfastness. These principles include the facts that we must
be fastened to Christ, we must move to be immovable and
steadfastness requires full-time application.
“Fastening ourselves to Christ requires us to look steadfastly
upon Him, which brings about the consequential blessings of
understanding. Looking steadfastly upon Him requires acceptance
of His invitations to ‘Come unto me’, ‘Take my yoke upon you’,
‘learn of me’ (Matthew 11:28-29) and ‘I would that ye should be
perfect even as I am,’” (3 Nephi 12:48) Brother Miyasaki said.
“We must look beyond the world to see what He sees in us. For
the world or Satan would otherwise cheat us from becoming ‘even
as he is’” (3 Nephi 27:27).
Focusing on being immovable, Brother Miyasaki quoted Elder David
A. Bednar’s 2005 General Priesthood Meeting talk, saying, “In
our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to
church, going to the temple and going on a mission. Let me be so
bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going
misses the mark.”
Elder Bednar continued to teach that the reason these attitudes
miss the mark is because they don’t give a view of what we can
become by taking these actions, instead only focusing on what is
required. Keeping with this theme, Brother Miyasaki continued,
“In this same manner, you may be going to BYU-Idaho, but a
deeper question resides, ‘What are you becoming?’ While you are
in this valley, it is critical to discover what makes it firm,
steadfast and immovable, so that you can become like unto it in
your discipleship of Jesus Christ, this indeed is invaluable,
and the greatest prize of the privilege of being here.”
Eluding to steadfastness being a full-time application, Brother
Miyasaki counseled, “Steadfastness is not a process of latching
on and off dependent upon circumstances and conveniences, but a
full-time adherence to the gospel. Elder Henry B. Eyring taught
at the recent General Conference, ‘So, the great test of life is
to see whether we will hearken to and obey God’s commands in the
midst of the storms of life. It is not to endure storms, but to
choose the right way while they rage. And the tragedy of life is
to fail in that test and so fail to qualify to return in glory
to our heavenly home.”
Next week’s devotional speaker will be Brother Garry Moore,
Church Educational System Zone Administrator. Devotionals are
held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium with
additional seating in the Hinckley Chapel, Taylor Chapel and
Kirkham Auditorium. Devotionals are broadcast on KBYI-FM 100.5
at 2 p.m. and rebroadcast Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Sunday
at 5 p.m. |