This week’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker taught students how to build their foundation on Jesus Christ and how He can help them through various trials and challenges.
“Today I am speaking of a transformational faith in Jesus Christ,” said Elder Mark D. Eddy, a general authority Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “A faith that is unconditional and full-fledged – a faith that says, I choose Him once-and-for-all, today and forever, come what may.”
Eddy said that not only was this kind of faith powerful but is crucial to our times.
“A transformative faith in Jesus Christ is not only achievable but vital to our spiritual survival,” Elder Eddy said.
To do this, he gave five suggestions to help students acquire faith in Christ sufficient to meet the demands of today:
- Study.
- Choose to believe in Jesus Christ.
- Act in faith.
- Partake of sacred ordinances worthily.
- Ask Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for help.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, he talked about his scripture study habits. In the talk, he invited the audience to compare themselves to Jairus, the father whose daughter had fallen sick and died. Elder Eddy asked the audience to imagine how they might have felt in this circumstance.
“Exercises like those as I read the scriptures are very helpful to me, as more of a visual learner,” Elder Eddy said, “to place myself there and see what I can learn by way of application for my life.”
This kind of likening the scriptures, he said, wasn’t just an interesting study tactic, but a crucial practice.
“The only reason for that to be recorded and preserved for us would be for us to learn and apply. Not just to appreciate, and not just analyze, which is fascinating in and of itself, but to actually apply,” he said.
This application, he suggested, helps learners understand the events and lessons in the scriptures better.