I am grateful to be with you on this very happy day. This is a day of beginnings. Many of you are off to new opportunities and new responsibilities. No matter where you go, I hope all of you will create what President Nelson has called a sanctuary of faith and a center of gospel learning in your homes.
We live in the dispensation of the fulness of times. It is a wonderful time in which our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are working with power all across the earth to gather Israel and prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.
It is a marvelous time, but it is also a time of great change, a time of political and economic turmoil, a time of growing darkness and evil. It is a time when all of us need to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ and deepen our conversion to Him. We need to grow in our spiritual and temporal knowledge and understanding. We need to be lifelong gospel learners.
My dear brothers and sisters, the prophet of the Lord has called us to make our homes sanctuaries of faith and centers of gospel learning. If you will do what the Lord has called you to do, He has promised you great blessings:
Your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining.[1]
These are remarkable blessings. If you make your home a faithful house of learning, your children will not only grow in their gospel knowledge; they will learn more effectively all things that are important to their development, and you will continue to learn all through your lives.
You have been blessed to be at BYU–Idaho. BYU–Idaho can be a model of a house of learning for your own homes. You not only have the BYU–Idaho learning model to guide you, but the very nature of this place can teach you how to create a house of learning no matter where you live. For just a moment, I want you to think about your future homes and how what is special about BYU–Idaho could be part of your own house of learning:
- BYU–Idaho is a sanctuary of faith in Jesus Christ. This is a place of obedience, consecration, humility, and trust in the Lord. We see His light, feel His power, and rejoice in His redeeming love on this campus.
- The Holy Ghost ministers in this school. Here we learn and teach by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost inspires, strengthens, and sanctifies us on this campus.
- At BYU–Idaho the House of the Lord is very close, both physically and spiritually. You have the opportunity to go often, to work as ordinance workers, and to serve in that sacred place.
- As the children of the covenant, you feast on the words of Christ at BYU–Idaho. They are the iron rod—the sure way through the mists of darkness to peace, divine power, and joy.
- This marvelous house of learning is a house of love. Without the love of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we could not learn in His way in this place. But that love is here! You can feel it in the love of President and Sister Eyring, and all those who serve and teach you on this campus.
Brothers and sisters, your experience at BYU–Idaho will be a tremendous blessing as you seek to build a center of gospel learning in your home. You will teach your children the doctrine of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost. Your children will feel the Savior’s love, and see His light, in you. Their testimonies of Jesus Christ will grow, and they will understand and live the plain and simple truths of His doctrine. You will rejoice together in the Lord.
I leave you my witness that God our Father lives. Jesus is the Christ. This is His Church. President Russell M. Nelson is His prophet. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Russell M. Nelson, “Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints,” Ensign, Nov. 2018, 113-114.