What an inspiring sight it is to look out on this congregation of young people gathered in this newly dedicated building and to share the occasion with Dr. Clark and others of the administration and faculty who are called by modern-day prophets of God to lead this university. I truly never imagined that I might have the opportunity to be invited here to address you, and I pray that the Spirit will speak to you in some meaningful way through the things I have prepared.
Incidentally, not long after I was asked to give this devotional talk, my wife, Dixie, and I ran into Elder and Sister Bednar at the Salt Lake Airport. We told them of this assignment, and they became very animated. Elder Bednar said we would have one of the most receptive and intelligent audiences to be found anywhere in the Church. And then he said, "Do I sound like a doting father figure?" It was obvious to us that a large portion of his heart still resides on the campus of this university and with the students who attend school here.
A few years ago, we had the opportunity to drive our granddaughter up here to Rexburg to help her get settled as she began her first year at BYU-Idaho. She has since served in the Argentina Rosario Mission and recently was married in the Salt Lake Temple. Her experience here helped to prepare her for these future opportunities and responsibilities. She once said that she watched the walls of the Rexburg Temple go up but was away on her mission when it was dedicated. So many good influences and important associations are accessible to you as you avail yourselves of positive experiences during these preparatory years.
Often, we see members of the Church who want to approach their membership "cafeteria style" by picking and choosing this thing or that thing that is appealing to them but not wanting a well-balanced meal that will provide for them the full nutrition needed for a healthy spiritual mind and body. Are we sometimes guilty of being this type of Latter-day Saint? For instance, there are those who try to pick and choose from among the commandments so they can abide by those that appeal to them and ignore others.
Our Heavenly Father devised a plan that will ultimately lead us back to Him through the Atonement of his Son, Jesus Christ, if we accept His plan and do our part to live in accordance with the commandments He has set forth. This plan has been called "the plan of salvation," "the plan of happiness," "the Lord's plan for mankind," or "the plan of mercy." These are all the same plan, set forth in the premortal existence and accepted through our agency by each one of us while we were there.
Now that we are on this side of the veil, isn't it imperative that we discover why we are here and why all of the commandments are important to us? As Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt after some four hundred years of bondage, the Lord gave them specific commandments, ordinances, rites, and instructions, many of which might have seemed overly detailed and possibly too difficult for the people of that time to live. As we read in the Bible in the book of Leviticus, we can understand the Lord's motivation for giving such strict laws that governed nearly every aspect of their lives. The Lord wanted His chosen people to leave the Egyptian ways behind. He also knew that they needed to be prepared to enter the promised land without accepting the ways of the inhabitants they would find there. We read in Leviticus, "After the doings of the land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do, and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, ye shall not do; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein; I am the Lord, your God."[1]
How does this apply to our lives in this time and dispensation? We, too, have been given prophets who have instructed us through the inspiration of the Lord to walk in His ways. This gospel plan touches virtually every aspect of our lives and encompasses that which we should do both spiritually and physically. In speaking with my son, Mark, he related that as newlyweds, he and his wife realized that their status as students would not permit them the luxury of being a two-car family. Mark, therefore, acquired a bicycle and began riding it to school-both while attending Brigham Young University in Provo but also later as a law student at Columbia University in New York City. He told me that while the bicycle was practical from a financial standpoint, it proved to be a springboard for other things as well, including a love of the benefits of regular physical exercise. He has continued to exercise, and after he moved to Boulder, Colorado, this desire to keep himself in good physical condition morphed into a love of mountain climbing and trail running. A few months ago, he found himself in good enough physical condition to run the Leadville 100, which is a one-hundred-mile run through the mountains of southern Colorado. Needless to say, he discovered added benefits to the obvious ones that he originally planned. Might our choosing to accept and live a principle or commandment that we previously ignored open new vistas and give us an added appreciation, insight, or understanding of the gospel that we didn't have before? In the process, we will be on our way to living the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we are asked to accept commandments purely on faith, not knowing the why or wherefore. For example, the Lord gave the Prophet Joseph Smith advice some 178 years ago, found today in the 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, that members of the Church should not use tobacco or alcohol and should eat grains and cereals, eat fresh fruits in season, and eat meat sparingly, along with other beneficial counsel. That advice has proved to be not only spiritually sound but also medically correct as, over the decades, those who have followed this Word of Wisdom prophecy, as well as those in the medical profession who have recognized its beneficial outcomes, have discovered the many ills that can be attributed to smoking and drinking and not eating properly. In like fashion, the Lord has revealed to modern-day prophets that the illegal use of drugs is extremely addictive and harmful to men and women, as is pornography. Living all aspects of the Word of Wisdom involves living the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
One of the other basic commandments of the gospel with which we sometimes have difficulty complying is the law of tithing. This law has always existed and comes with a promise of blessings in return for obedience. My experience has always been that this is true. A couple of years ago, I received a sizable and unexpected check that came to my office in California to my lawyer/assistant, Claudia, of some twenty-eight years. As we discussed what should be done with the money, Claudia looked at me and said, "The first thing you need to do is pay your tithing." Claudia is not a member of the Church, but over the years, she has come to recognize the blessings that Sister Oveson and I have received from consistently paying an honest tithe. We just assume that everything belongs to the Lord in the first place and that asking for us to return a tenth to Him is a pretty good deal. In addition, however, we recognize that living the law of tithing completely is merely one aspect of living the complete gospel of Jesus Christ. And I assure you that living the law of tithing is one commandment you can live perfectly.
There is a relatively simple way to know how you stand with the Lord and His teachings. That comes by sitting down with your bishop and answering the questions he asks as you receive your temple recommend. At this point, perhaps some of you will say, "I have not been endowed in the temple and therefore don't have a temple recommend." I point out that everyone who is twelve years of age or over and is a baptized member of the Church is eligible to receive a recommend to go to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations. Although these are not all the ordinances available in the temple, they require the same degree of worthiness as for those who are attending the temple to participate in the further ordinances there. While I was serving as a mission president in Argentina, I, along with all the mission presidents throughout the world, received instruction that all missionaries in the world should have a current temple recommend. This counsel may have come as a surprise to some of the mission presidents, as they were located in areas of the world where attending a temple was impossible for their missionaries. But I think the counsel points out how important President Hinckley felt that all missionaries should be worthy of and possess a current temple recommend because it provided evidence of their righteous standing before the Lord.
In 1964, my wife, Dixie, and I had the privilege of being involved in the conversion of a wonderful young couple while we were living in Santa Maria, California. A little over a year later, we were further privileged to attend the Los Angeles Temple with Dwyane and Susan Collins as they were sealed to each other and to their young son, Dwyane Jr. We remained very close to them over the succeeding years, through good times and through difficult times. When Dwayne Sr. joined the Church, he gave up many things of the world-one of which was jackpot rodeo roping on Sundays, which had been a significant source of income for him, as he was an outstanding cowboy.
A few years ago, I sat at Dwyane's bedside shortly before he passed away, as he was terminally ill with cancer. At that time, he expressed to me that the gospel and his family had always been the top priorities of his life. He stated that even through the trials from the loss of two of his three sons, being worthy always to be in the temple was of paramount importance to him. He said, "I always have a current temple recommend with me. It's in my back pocket right now." A short time later as Dixie and I attended his funeral, together with a multitude of others, we stood by his coffin looking down at him when wife Susan said to us, "His temple recommend is still there, at his request, in his pocket." I hope that each of you will always be worthy to carry a temple recommend with you throughout your life. Possessing a current temple recommend is one indication that we are attempting to live the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christ repeatedly told us to pray always, and I know that this counsel doesn't seem like a difficult thing to do. However, the Prophet Nephi explains very clearly and succinctly why praying can sometimes be so difficult. He said these words: "And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray."[2]
So for me, when I feel like I really do not want to pray, I remember this scripture and know what is happening to me and recognize that I must pray-that whatever I need to pray about must be very important for me and perhaps for others as well. One of the things I most cherished about my deceased 101-year-old mother was that she told me often, "I pray for you every day!" We try to remember this and do the same for our loved ones, praying for them by name each day. I testify that this type of prayer will bring real benefits to your loved ones and help you in living the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
I recognize that it is very easy to get off the track and do things that will bring us unhappiness. King David was certainly one of the most beloved servants of the Lord. He was blessed and anointed from the time he was a youth to become the future king of Israel, God's chosen people. The Lord blessed him as he rallied the people around him and overcame virtually all the enemies of the kingdom of Israel. Things could not have been better for David until, as related in Chapter 11 of 2 Samuel, it was the time of year when kings went forth to battle. However, David elected not to go. Instead, he sent his army with Joab at its head while David tarried at Jerusalem. Thus, David wasn't where he was supposed to be. That's mistake number one.
David rose from his bed in the evening and went out onto the roof of his house and there observed on another roof a woman washing herself, as was the custom of the time. And the scripture tells us that the woman was very beautiful to look upon. David should have seen this woman from afar and looked away. Instead, he gazed upon her. Mistake number two. Then, David sent and inquired after the woman; found out who she was; and found that she was Bath-Sheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David's loyal soldiers. Mistake number three. Because David was the king of Israel, he sent messengers to summon Bath-Sheba to him. She came to him and he lay with her. Big mistake number four. Consequently, Bash-Sheba conceived a child. Now, David had a really big problem. He thought he could fix it by bringing Uriah home from the battlefield. David met Uriah and told him to return to his home and wash and spend some time with his wife. But Uriah, being the good soldier he was, recognized that his comrades in arms were sleeping in tents on the battlefield, so he did not want to take advantage of his situation. Therefore, he slept on the ground at the doorstep of David's house. David, of course, could not pass off the child as Uriah's, and he knew that Uriah would find out the truth.
So David made his final and biggest mistake-one that will haunt him forever. He sent a letter with Uriah, as Uriah was returning to the battlefield, instructing Joab thusly: "Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten and die."[3]
Subsequently, Uriah did perish, leaving David to wed Bath-Sheba. David's actions made the Lord very unhappy; and, as a consequence, the son born to David and Bath-Sheba was stricken and died. Also, the Lord told David that "the sword shall never depart from thine house."[4]
How does this story apply to us? David made a series of ill-conceived decisions that inevitably led to his lasting unhappiness, beginning with his failure to be where he was supposed to be and continuing with the breaking of two commandments: coveting his neighbor's wife and committing adultery. Breaking these commandments then led to the shedding of innocent blood. In the process, the many lies and deceptions caused David's ultimate separation from the closeness and favor he had always previously enjoyed with the Lord. By simply choosing to keep the commandments, David could have and would have prevented all the terrible consequences that followed. In a similar fashion, when we choose to keep all the commandments, we are on our way to living the complete gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord has given us laws and commandments that, in reality, make life relatively easy. I'm not saying that life is going to be without its challenges and trials, but if we keep these basic principles, we can be assured that, through the Atonement of our Savior, everything will work out in the long run. What we need to have as our focus in whatever circumstances we face are legitimate answers to the following questions: Will this trial draw us closer to the Lord? Or will it distance us from Him?
You should know that at the outset of the invitation to speak here, I questioned my ability to provide meaningful material for students and faculty such as you. I don't consider myself a great scholar or scriptorian, although I have great admiration for academics and gospel scholars. Throughout my life, I have wondered why the opportunities and callings I have enjoyed have come to me. I am truly an ordinary man-one who, at the stage of life you are now in, would never have dreamed of having any of the callings that have become such a significant part of what I now represent. I grew up in small communities, working on farms and raising animals. My parents were faithful members of the Church, my father having served a full-time mission. They didn't live close enough to attend a branch regularly and were, for years, the only members in their entire community. They taught me and my siblings the principles of the gospel in our home by word and by example. Perhaps that is where we learned that the Lord uses ordinary people to do His work and build His kingdom.
As I received my patriarchal blessing, I had no idea of the import it would ultimately have in my life. A few words from that blessing have taken on a rich and deep meaning as my life has unfolded: "You will be called upon to lift up your voice in defense of the everlasting gospel and to bear testimony to the people of the world of its divinity and its truthfulness."
As a young man, newly called to serve in the Northern Mexican Mission, I felt that this blessing was surely being fulfilled. Of course, being of pure Danish/Scandinavian descent from both my father and mother, I had always desired to serve my mission in Denmark. Little did I know, at that time, that the Lord was preparing me for future callings, many of which were dependent upon my becoming fluent in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Spanish language. For instance, how many Danish-speaking mission presidents do you think are needed in the Church at any given time compared to the number of Spanish-speaking mission presidents? Our service in the Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission helped me see that this promise in my blessing had a greater far-reaching effect than I had previously imagined. In the October 1999 general conference, as I stood at the pulpit of the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and addressed the membership of the Church all over the world, as you might suppose, the promise took on even greater significance.
Half of the time that I served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy was spent in the Chile area, where Spanish was essential to the members of the area presidency in fulfilling our responsibilities and interacting with the members. Even the call that Sister Oveson and I received in 2005, to serve as president and matron of the newly dedicated Newport Beach Temple, involved using our Spanish-language skills in helping with the temple ordinances for many of the Spanish-speaking members of our temple district.
In retrospect, at this time of our lives, during this, my seventy-fifth year and after having recently celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, we can see the hand of the Lord in our lives more clearly when we look back on the ways He prepared us to become worthy instruments in His hands to help build the kingdom in the places He called us to serve.
Truly, if there is anything of which I am certain, it is this: The Lord has a plan for each one of us, and, if we are diligent in keeping His commandments and in staying close to Him, He will prepare us in whatever way He knows is necessary to help us reach our potential and become what He wants us to become. Please, my young brothers and sisters, remember to stay firm in the gospel, obedient to all of its principles and commandments, heeding the counsel of our prophets. I specifically and pointedly invite you to live the complete gospel of Jesus Christ rather than live a cafeteria-style life in which you choose to live only those commandments that appeal to you. In this manner, you will qualify for the many blessings the Lord desires to bestow upon you.
I testify that these things are true, that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored in this dispensation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that Joseph translated the Book of Mormon through the gift and power of God, and that the Savior of the world accomplished the infinite atonement for our sins and opened the way, through His glorious resurrection, for us to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Leviticus 18:3-4
[2] 2 Nephi 32:8
[3] 2 Samuel 11:15
[4] 2 Samuel 12:10