BYU-Idaho president gives Summer Semester opening devotional, teaches students the pattern of the Atonement 

Elder Kim B. Clark, president of Brigham Young University-Idaho, gave the opening devotional address of Summer Semester 2007 on Tuesday, April 17. He taught students about Christ's Atonement and how to apply it in their lives.

"Think for a moment about your own life. Think about the paths you have walked. Have you felt the power of the Atonement in your life?" he asked.

President Clark began by taking the students on a journey through Atonement. Using the book of Matthew, he recounted Christ's experiences in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross and in the garden tomb.

"If we could gain the perspective of the eternities, we would see in those hours a great light bursting into the darkness of evil, sin, suffering, chaos, and death-a great light spreading backward and forward across all time and space, filling the universe, carrying all that is good, penetrating every soul-the light of Christ!"

After covering Christ's life, President Clark explained the events of the Atonement were to be used for their salvation through repentance.

"What a marvelous blessing!" he said. "All who repent and come unto Christ have access to His saving mercy. Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer. As often as we repent, He forgives us."

President Clark then gave students three ways that the Atonement could be a pattern for their own lives. The first was Christ's covenant with his Father.

"The covenant Jesus made with His Father is a pattern for us," he said. "Think for a moment about the covenants you have made at baptism, and for some of you, in the temple. Think about the commitment you have made to live the Code of Honor at BYU-Idaho. Do you keep your covenants and your promises and thus bring about righteousness, justice, and order in your personal world, as Christ did in His?"

The second pattern was Christ's pure love. President Clark taught that Christ's love made the Atonement possible and if the students loved others they would be able to serve as well.

"Think for a moment about your service in your ward, among your roommates and friends, in your family, in the temple, in preaching the gospel, in your peaceable walk in the light of truth. Are you prepared to sacrifice and serve with love, wherever and whenever He sends you on His errand? Do the people around you feel His kindness, His helping hand, His never failing love through you?" he said.

The third pattern was walking in the newness of life. By repenting, he said that students start new lives just as Christ did after his resurrection.

"As He came forth from the tomb, so He calls us to break out of our spiritual tombs. He calls us to be born of Him and walk in the newness of life, new creatures in Christ both now and in the eternities," he said.

President Clark concluded by telling a story about his son's difficult journey through repentance, emphasizing the joy and peace he felt when it was completed. Then he testified of his own experience with the Atonement.

"I know He lives," he said. "I know from my own experience His atonement is real. I know He is my Savior. The great power of the Atonement to heal, comfort, succor, and redeem is available to all who will come unto Him and follow Him with full purpose of heart."

Next week's devotional will be given by Byron Webster, chair of the BYU-Idaho Department of Home and Family. Devotionals are held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium with additional seating in the Taylor Chapel.  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.