One of the hardest things to do is sacrifice. Darren Clark, this week’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker, taught about the blessings of sacrifice in his talk “Sacrifice: A Love Letter.”
In his talk, Clark mentioned things members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are asked to sacrifice, such as: paying tithing, serving a mission and time attending the temple or ministering. Clark invited the audience to change their perspective on sacrifice.
“However, if we look at these responsibilities as opportunities to serve, as opportunities to build Heavenly Father’s Kingdom, as opportunities to feel closer to our Savior, then they help us develop Christ-like attributes and the responsibility to ‘sacrifice’ doesn’t feel burdensome at all,” Clark said.
Clark taught about sacrifice through stories about his family members. One of the stories was about his journey with accepting the fact that his father was not perfect after he was excommunicated from the Church. Over time, Clark was able to forgive his father and admired him for the sacrifices he made as he strives to live a better life.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Clark shared how he was able to forgive his father.
“As I’ve grown up and realized that I have struggles – that we all have struggles – repentance and forgiveness is for all of us. And if we are willing to partake of the atonement of our savior, of the sacrifice our Heavenly Father made for all of us, then we can all receive forgiveness,” Clark said.
He ended his talk by inviting the audience to take time to learn about the sacrifices others have made for them and to ponder what sacrifices are necessary to make in order to fully receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.