The United States Constitution helped create a legal environment where the restoration of the gospel could successfully take place. That was one of former president of BYU Kevin J Worthen’s messages in his devotional at BYU-Idaho.
Worthen served as the thirteenth president of Brigham Young University from 2014 to 2023. He is also the Hugh W Colton Professor of Law and a Wheatley Institute Distinguished Fellow at BYU.
The former BYU president served as a law clerk as well to Justice Byron R. White of the United States Supreme Court and practiced law in Arizona. Afterward, he became a part of the law school faculty at BYU in 1987.
He shared some insights into a talk from the April 2021 General Conference given by President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, titled, “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution”.
Worthen echoed President Oaks’ words when he spoke on the importance of the Constitution to the restoration of the gospel.
“Providing a legal environment where the gospel and the Church could be restored and survive would, by itself, seem to justify God’s involvement in the establishment of the Constitution,” he said in his devotional talk.
Worthen shared his and President Oaks’ thoughts that the Constitution was divinely inspired. Similarly, he said that all have the ability to seek inspiration from God in many areas of their lives.
As people become disciples of Jesus Chist, he said, they are more open to this inspiration.
Wheatley Institute students study the importance of family, religion and the constitutional government and work to fortify these three institutions.
Worthen highlighted the importance of these institutions to becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ in his devotional talk.
“We… adhere to these underlying beliefs because we are ‘disciples of Jesus Christ and ‘students of history and humanity’. We aspire to be disciples of Christ whose scholarship fortifies the family, religion and constitutional government,” he said.
The former BYU president spoke to the students on how gaining an understanding of these three areas could help them become consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ, leading them to greater understanding in their education.
“My hope is that each of you would aspire to become disciple-scholars– dedicated to becoming both a consecrated disciple of Jesus Christ and a person with deep understanding of the truths found in your chosen area of study,” Worthen said in his devotional talk.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho radio, he expanded on discipleship, emphasizing the importance of being a peacemaker.
Worthen witnessed and learned to appreciate peacemakers as he worked in his career in law.
“I’ve come to appreciate mainly from watching other people who are disciples of Christ, the way you treat people without compromising your principles, without doing harm to your client, but advancing your client’s work; not by yelling and screaming and pounding the table, but by treating people as children of God,” Worthen said in the interview.
Worthen said a person becoming a disciple and handling conflict while remembering they are interacting with children of God will open up new understanding in many aspects of life.
“Studying and everything else can all be enhanced by becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you view things through the lens of the gospel, you’ll find new insights. You’ll find deeper truths that are there,” he said.
You can listen to more messages from upcoming devotionals on KBYI 94.3 fm or stream them live on Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. at BYU-Idaho Devotionals.