Remember Who You Are

It is a joy to be with you on this special and memorable occasion. You are graduating on April 6, the same day the Church was organized, entering holy week, on the day we are remembering the last supper and Gethsemane. Today, I repeat words that your parents, seminary teachers, and Church leaders have been telling you since you were young. You can’t even escape them at the movies. You watch Disney’s The Lion King (1994) and suddenly Mufasa’s deep, rumbling voice is telling you, “Remember who you are.”

And who are we? Many of us were listening almost one year ago when, in a worldwide devotional for young adults, President Russell M. Nelson answered that question. “First and foremost,” he said, “you are a child of God. Second, as a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.”¹ President Nelson called these our “paramount and unchanging identifiers.” Today, my hope is that we can understand each of them more deeply.

Children of God

President Nelson said we are children of God. God is a creator. However, He did not fashion us as He did stars and planets. Rather, He fathered our spirits and provided a way for us to receive mortal bodies, a Savior, and all the heavenly assistance and mentoring necessary to become more like Him if we desire it.² God did not poof us into existence. Our essences or intelligences have coexisted with God eternally.³We became spirits when we were, in the words of President Joseph F. Smith, “begotten and born of heavenly parents.”⁴

Elder Tad R. Callister taught, “There is a sentiment among many in the world that we are the spirit creations of God, just as a building is the creation of its architect or a painting the creation of its painter. . . . We are more than creations of God . . . we are the literal spirit offspring or children of God our Father. What difference does this doctrinal distinction make? The difference is monumental in its consequence because our identity determines in large measure our destiny. For example, can a mere creation ever become like its creator? Can a building ever become an architect? A painting a painter?”⁵ No. Yet we, as spirit children of God, have the divine potential to become like Him.

We can’t accept the warm and fuzzy memes found on the Internet saying, “God didn’t make any mistakes when He made you,” without also accepting the cold and prickly question: “If God created me just the way I am, why does He command me to stop being the way I am?”⁶ Indeed, if God created us just the way we are, why did He create Satan just the way Satan is? And why didn’t He create us to be perfect from the start? The truth is God didn’t create everyone just the way we are. He gave everyone the opportunity to progress. Satan chose to reject that opportunity,⁷ but we made—and must continue to make—a better choice. Our choices ultimately determine what we become.⁸

Understanding this truth is vital because it frees us from seeing ourselves as bound by our current circumstances and instead allows us to see ourselves as boundless because of our parentage. It’s the difference between limiting ourselves to who we currently are and defining ourselves by who we can become. In For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices, we read:

You are a beloved spirit child of God. His great plan of happiness makes it possible for you to grow spiritually and develop your divine potential.⁹

Children of the Covenant

President Nelson said in addition to being children of God, we are also children of the covenant. What does that mean? In Psalms, we read, “We are his people.”¹⁰ In Deuteronomy, we read, “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself.”¹¹And why are we chosen? Elder David A. Bednar answered that question by saying, “To be or to become chosen is not an exclusive status conferred upon us. Rather, you and I ultimately can choose to be chosen through the righteous exercise of our moral agency.”¹²As we make that choice, we show God He can trust us. Our willingness to make and keep covenants puts us in a unique covenant relationship of trust with Him.

We are no longer just children of God, but we are also covenant children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.¹³We become heirs to the spiritual birthright of the covenant people. Anciently, the birthright son received a “double portion” of his father’s inheritance.¹⁴Today, the birthright is not limited by birth order or gender. All who make and keep covenants with God will receive an extra portion. They become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”¹⁵

Covenant blessings are not limited to the next life. The scriptures affirm that “those that keep the commandments of God” are “blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual.”¹⁶As graduates of this university, you have been particularly blessed. Consider the fact that having just one change of shoes puts us among the most advantaged humans who walk on this planet. If one change of shoes puts us there, where does the chance for a university education put us? Yes. We have been given much temporally and spiritually as well. Do you realize that we can enter temples and receive an endowment, a gift, that other children of God have not yet received?

Birthright blessings are a privilege, but they come with responsibilities. Considering how much we have been given, is it too much for God to ask us to care for our brothers and sisters and govern the affairs of our Father’s kingdom?¹⁷ I don’t think so.

Our mortal experience could be compared to God sending all His children on a cruise ship from one shore to another. The journey is filled with opportunities to learn, grow, be happy, and progress, but it is also full of dangers. God loves all His children and is concerned about their welfare. He does not want to lose any of them, so He invites those who are willing to become members of His crew. That’s us—the children of the covenant. The Lord said, “Thou art my servant, O Israel.”¹⁸

So, when we look around on this cruise ship called earth and see other people sitting in lounge chairs drinking, gambling in casinos, and partying late into the night and wonder why we can’t, we must remember who we are. We are not ordinary passengers. We accepted the invitation to be members of the crew. We now have expectations passengers do not have.

And before we become discouraged by all the extra obligations, let’s remember that crew members get something the other passengers don’t get: compensation for their work. As we keep our covenants with God, there is nothing we could ever be asked to do in Christ’s Church for which we have not already been well compensated, for we have been given a birthright. Think of it! Of all the people on the earth, God looks to us, the children of the covenant—His crew members, to help save the world. No wonder President Brigham Young once said, “All the Angels in heaven are looking to this little handful of people.”¹⁹

In the FSY guide, we read:

Your Father in Heaven trusts you. He has given you great blessings, including the fulness of the gospel and sacred ordinances and covenants that bind you to Him and bring His power into your life. With those blessings comes added responsibility. He knows you can make a difference in the world, and that requires, in many cases, being different from the world.²⁰

Disciples of Jesus Christ

President Nelson said we are children of God because of our spiritual birth. He said we are children of the covenant because of our covenant relationship of trust with God. Next, President Nelson said we are disciples of Jesus Christ because of our choice to follow Him each day.

In the FSY guide, we read:

Jesus Christ is your way to eternal joy. As you use your freedom to choose to follow Jesus Christ, you are on the path that leads to eternal happiness. Make Jesus Christ your standard, your rock-solid foundation. Build your life on His teachings, and measure your choices by them. The covenants you make at baptism, during the sacrament, and in the temple are the building blocks of your firm foundation in Christ. You’ll still face struggles and temptations, but Heavenly Father and the Savior will help you through them all.²¹

Our purpose as disciples is not just to follow, but to lead; not just to be guided, but to guide. As people have walked beside us, we must now walk beside others. As we have been taught, we must now teach others.

Look Harder

In The Lion King, Mufasa said to Simba, “You are more than what you have become. . . . Remember who you are.” I guess today I have come as Rafiki to stir the water saying, “Look harder.” When you think back on your graduation, I hope it will remind you that you are a child of God—not merely His creation. You are a child of the covenant—a member of the crew and not merely a passenger. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ—not merely one who follows but one who leads.

When President Kevin J. Worthen spoke to students at BYU-Provo about these three identities, he said:

I was not surprised that President Nelson included children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ as part of our primary enduring identities. I had sung “I Am a Child of God”²²and “I’m Trying to Be like Jesus”²³in Primary. But I couldn’t remember a song about being a child of the covenant.24

Well, have no fear President Worthen, now there is! For my own use, I have written some lines set to the music of “I Am a Child of God” that combine all three of the identities President Nelson spoke of.²⁵ We’ll sing the first verse that we all know. Then, I invite you to sing the verse that I wrote to help you remember who you are.

I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.

I am a child of God,

Saved for the latter day

With noble birthright given to me,

A covenant part to play.

Leading, guiding, helping all God’s

Children find the way;

Teaching all what we must be

To live with Him someday.

I know who you are. President and Sister Eyring know who you are. President Nelson knows who you are. God knows who you are. I leave you this testimony and all my love in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes

Russell M. Nelson, “Choices for Eternity,” Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, May 15, 2022.
See Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007.
See Doctrine and Covenants 93:29.
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1998.
Tad R. Callister, “Our Identity and Our Destiny,” Brigham Young University Devotional, Aug. 14, 2012.
See Mosiah 3:19; 3 Nephi 12:48.
See 2 Nephi 24:12–15; Doctrine and Covenants 76:25–29.
See 2 Nephi 2:27.
For the Strength of Youth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2022.
Psalms 100:3.
Deuteronomy 7:6.
David A. Bednar, “Put On Thy Strength, O Zion,” Liahona, Nov. 2022.
President Russell M. Nelson has made clear that children of the covenant are those who make and keep sacred covenants with God as did our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Russell M. Nelson, “Children of the Covenant,” Ensign, May 1995; see also Russell M. Nelson, “Covenants,” Ensign, Nov. 2011; see also Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation,” Liahona, Nov. 2021).
See “Firstborn,” Bible Dictionary.
Romans 8:7.
Mosiah 2:41
See Luke 12:48; Doctrine and Covenants 82:3.
1 Nephi 21:3.
Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe, Deseret Book Company, 1954.
For the Strength of Youth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2022.
Ibid.
“I Am a Child of God,” Hymns, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus,” Children’s Songbook, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Kevin J. Worthen, “Choices for Eternity: Prophetic Counsel,” Brigham Young University Devotional, Sept. 6, 2022.
Thanks to my friend, Irene Fuja, for her idea and encouragement for me to write these additional lyrics.