REXBURG—Today's BYU-Idaho devotional speaker spoke about the purpose of covenants and the value of strengthening a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Kriss Pond, the Student Living manager at BYU-Idaho, tied the core principles of student living to help students strengthen their connection with Christ: covenant keeping, daily discipleship and becoming a peacemaker.
“Start where you are. There is no checklist to measure discipleship. When you choose Him, you also choose his strength and his power,” Pond said.
Pond said that as she focuses on her relationship with Christ the way she loves her fellowmen changes.
“I can tell in the strength of my relationship with others is a reflection of how I feel about my current relationship with my Savior,” Pond said in a BYU-Idaho Radio interview. “And I can't be unkind or indifferent to people and still claim to love Him the way that I want to.”
Pond shared the story of Viking Harald Gormsson, nicknamed Harald Bluetooth. He was king during the shift from fearsome pirates to farmers and fishermen as the people embraced Christianity. Pond pointed out how the Nordic letters of “H” and “B” became the symbol of connection for phones.
The power of making and keeping covenants is their power to change a person; God wants each child to become something more. Pond said sometimes it can be difficult to accept that change.
“I know that on a smaller scale, all of us are changed as we accept Him and as we embrace our covenants,” Pond said in the interview.
Pond said God values the direction and the efforts made by his children to become like Christ. As children of God embrace His gospel, they will become better disciples of Christ.
Pond shared the example of her last mission companion in Brazil, Sister Sueli Bomfim, who embraced the gospel fully in her life. Sister Bomfim joined the Church at age 26. She had a desire to serve a mission then but wouldn’t get the chance until she was 38.
The reason Bomfim couldn’t serve soon after baptism was that months after she joined the church, a care facility contacted her to say she needed to care for her mother. Her mother had abandoned Bomfim’s family when Bomfim was young. When her father died, her mother took care of the children again but kicked Bomfim out of the house at age 16. Despite this history, Bomfim cared for her mother for 12 years.
“When she found the gospel, Sister Bomfim embraced the teachings and example of Jesus Christ,” Pond said. “To do anything other than care for her mother felt inconsistent with what she had learned in the gospel and the invitations of our Savior.”
Pond invited students to remember their ‘covenant connection to Christ’ when they see the Bluetooth icon and choose to become like Him.