There's something about Christmas.
Red and green.
Silver and gold.
Hope and good cheer.
Home and home away form home.
Resting with no sleep.
Eating when full as can be.
Loved ones far and near.
Hearts full and happy.
Hearts missing others.
Smiling to hear those we miss most.
Thoughtful presents and last minute ones too.
Grinches and Scrooges.
Scott Calvin and George Bailey.
Stockings and gifts.
Chocolate and turkey.
Nativities and hymns.
The Gift.
The Son.
The Light.
The Life.
The Reason.
My hope. My life. My light. My reason.
"Oh come all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem
Come and behold him!
Born the King of Angels
O come let us adore him
Christ the Lord"
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Wednesday, December 25
Wednesday, December 11
Consecration
My talk form this last week in church. Really great opportunity to look into consecration especially at this wonderful giving time of year. Merry Christmas!
Good morning everyone my name is Emma Luthi for those of you who don’t know me. I’m a Humanities major here at BYU with an emphasis in English and a minor in Editing. I’ve been in this ward since April and have loved every minute of it. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people here who work so hard and are such wonderful examples of Christlike charity, service and love. We have a superb bishop and bishopric who loves each one of us and desires nothing better than for all the blessings of heaven and earth to be ours and will council us with us on how to get there. Be careful getting to know them too well though, because if you do, Bishop might call you out TWICE in sacrament meeting for ACCIDENTALLY missing tithing settlement. They can also call you to give a talk even when you had given one over the summer. In other words, you are NEVER safe. But we love them anyways.
We’ve been blessed to hear some wonderful talks about tithing and fast offerings and how it blesses our lives. The topic I was given is a natural extension of these but that I know, for me, can be more difficult to understand and a times more difficult to enact. Consecration. Now the law of consecration is not one the Lord is requiring us to live at this time and we are instead preparing ourselves for the law of consecration with the laws of tithing and fast offerings. This preparation is very necessary and follows our Father’s pattern of teaching his children, For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and [our Father] will try [us] and prove [us] herewith.” Through tithing and fast offerings, we are asked to give a portion of our income back to the Lord’s church for the furthering of his work on the Earth.We are asked to sacrifice of ourselves for the glory of our Father’s kingdom - feeding the poor, clothing the naked, providing funds for temple and other church buildings, missionary work. But, the thing that is most interesting thing to me about the principle of consecration- of voluntarily dedicating our “time, talents, and material wealth to the establishment and building up of God’s kingdom.”- is that the Lord ASKS us. It is not automatic or something that is in any way easy but the Lord ASKS this of us.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “We are not always called upon to live the whole law of consecration and give all of our time, talents, and means to the building up of the Lord’s earthly kingdom. Few of us are called upon to sacrifice much of what we possess, and at the moment there is only an occasional martyr in the cause of revealed religion.
But what the scriptural account means is that to gain celestial salvation we must be able to live these laws to the full if we are called upon to do so. Implicit in this is the reality that we must in fact live them to the extent we are called upon so to do.
How, for instance, can we establish our ability to live the full law of consecration if we do not in fact pay an honest tithing? Or how can we prove our willingness to sacrifice all things, if need be, if we do not make the small sacrifices of time and toil, or of money and means, that we are now asked to make?”
As college students, it is really easy to focus on all the things that we don’t have. We don’t have enough money at this time to buy the things we want to, to keep our thermostat at a higher, more comfortable temperature but the Lord stills asks to give our means, however small, which is sometimes is money we don’t have, to the Lord and to trust that he will provide. The Lord asks us to do it. We are not compelled to do it, which can make it all the more difficult to do. It is OUR choice on what we are willing to give back to the Lord. The law of consecration then goes a step further and asks for us to be willing to give up everything he has blessed us with and more. Becoming completely converted to the Lord means continually working, and striving, and reaching and hoping and praying on our part for “the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which [will] wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” We sacrifice our former selves - our sins, our pride, our judgments, our spite, our anger, anger at others for the ease they seem to have in their lives, anger at ourselves for our shortcomings and the disappointments these shortcomings cause. We put it on the altar of the Lord and consecrate our new selves to the Lord. A life of service to our brothers and sisters, time spent bringing ourselves and our friends and families closer to Jesus Christ, our hope strong and our minds dedicated to the one cause that elevates us all to the eternal light and joy of the Kingdom of God. This doesn’t mean that our lives will be easy. On the contrary, it can make life that much harder.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham “staggered not … through unbelief” (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that “nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and … sustained him under these peculiar circumstances” (in Journal of Discourses, 14:361). Will we too trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed?”
Our Savior was the ultimate example of what it means to live a consecrated life, showing us in every way, the best way to come and live with our Father in Heaven again. One of my very favorite scriptures comes in Luke 4:16-21 wherein Jesus describes his mission by quoting the words of Isaiah. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” The thing I love most about this passage of scripture is that from the beginning of his ministry, our Elder Brother Jesus Christ knew exactly what the Father needed him to do and accomplished it as He “went about doing good”. Now even after Christ had lived his life, in perfect harmony with all gospel principles, our Father needed more. Every single thing Christ had learned in his life came down to a decision on bended knee in a quiet garden two thousand years ago. When pain was imminent and sorrow all consuming, our Lord said those powerful and humble words that have echoed through eternity “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Alma described the following time as “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance.” Christ’s infinite and all powerful atonement was and is for us - He is the healer of our Hearts. The mender of our broken spirits. The redeemer of our lost souls. His life and his death was consecrated for us.
Elder Maxwell said, “The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus’ perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of “Why?” cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word “nevertheless …” (Matt. 26:39).” He gaeve us the ultimate example now we have the choice whether to follow it. Elder Maxwell continued, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give! Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory!”
Good morning everyone my name is Emma Luthi for those of you who don’t know me. I’m a Humanities major here at BYU with an emphasis in English and a minor in Editing. I’ve been in this ward since April and have loved every minute of it. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people here who work so hard and are such wonderful examples of Christlike charity, service and love. We have a superb bishop and bishopric who loves each one of us and desires nothing better than for all the blessings of heaven and earth to be ours and will council us with us on how to get there. Be careful getting to know them too well though, because if you do, Bishop might call you out TWICE in sacrament meeting for ACCIDENTALLY missing tithing settlement. They can also call you to give a talk even when you had given one over the summer. In other words, you are NEVER safe. But we love them anyways.
We’ve been blessed to hear some wonderful talks about tithing and fast offerings and how it blesses our lives. The topic I was given is a natural extension of these but that I know, for me, can be more difficult to understand and a times more difficult to enact. Consecration. Now the law of consecration is not one the Lord is requiring us to live at this time and we are instead preparing ourselves for the law of consecration with the laws of tithing and fast offerings. This preparation is very necessary and follows our Father’s pattern of teaching his children, For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and [our Father] will try [us] and prove [us] herewith.” Through tithing and fast offerings, we are asked to give a portion of our income back to the Lord’s church for the furthering of his work on the Earth.We are asked to sacrifice of ourselves for the glory of our Father’s kingdom - feeding the poor, clothing the naked, providing funds for temple and other church buildings, missionary work. But, the thing that is most interesting thing to me about the principle of consecration- of voluntarily dedicating our “time, talents, and material wealth to the establishment and building up of God’s kingdom.”- is that the Lord ASKS us. It is not automatic or something that is in any way easy but the Lord ASKS this of us.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “We are not always called upon to live the whole law of consecration and give all of our time, talents, and means to the building up of the Lord’s earthly kingdom. Few of us are called upon to sacrifice much of what we possess, and at the moment there is only an occasional martyr in the cause of revealed religion.
But what the scriptural account means is that to gain celestial salvation we must be able to live these laws to the full if we are called upon to do so. Implicit in this is the reality that we must in fact live them to the extent we are called upon so to do.
How, for instance, can we establish our ability to live the full law of consecration if we do not in fact pay an honest tithing? Or how can we prove our willingness to sacrifice all things, if need be, if we do not make the small sacrifices of time and toil, or of money and means, that we are now asked to make?”
As college students, it is really easy to focus on all the things that we don’t have. We don’t have enough money at this time to buy the things we want to, to keep our thermostat at a higher, more comfortable temperature but the Lord stills asks to give our means, however small, which is sometimes is money we don’t have, to the Lord and to trust that he will provide. The Lord asks us to do it. We are not compelled to do it, which can make it all the more difficult to do. It is OUR choice on what we are willing to give back to the Lord. The law of consecration then goes a step further and asks for us to be willing to give up everything he has blessed us with and more. Becoming completely converted to the Lord means continually working, and striving, and reaching and hoping and praying on our part for “the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which [will] wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” We sacrifice our former selves - our sins, our pride, our judgments, our spite, our anger, anger at others for the ease they seem to have in their lives, anger at ourselves for our shortcomings and the disappointments these shortcomings cause. We put it on the altar of the Lord and consecrate our new selves to the Lord. A life of service to our brothers and sisters, time spent bringing ourselves and our friends and families closer to Jesus Christ, our hope strong and our minds dedicated to the one cause that elevates us all to the eternal light and joy of the Kingdom of God. This doesn’t mean that our lives will be easy. On the contrary, it can make life that much harder.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “As one’s will is increasingly submissive to the will of God, he can receive inspiration and revelation so much needed to help meet the trials of life. In the trying and very defining Isaac episode, faithful Abraham “staggered not … through unbelief” (Rom. 4:20). Of that episode John Taylor observed that “nothing but the spirit of revelation could have given him this confidence, and … sustained him under these peculiar circumstances” (in Journal of Discourses, 14:361). Will we too trust the Lord amid a perplexing trial for which we have no easy explanation? Do we understand—really comprehend—that Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed?”
Our Savior was the ultimate example of what it means to live a consecrated life, showing us in every way, the best way to come and live with our Father in Heaven again. One of my very favorite scriptures comes in Luke 4:16-21 wherein Jesus describes his mission by quoting the words of Isaiah. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” The thing I love most about this passage of scripture is that from the beginning of his ministry, our Elder Brother Jesus Christ knew exactly what the Father needed him to do and accomplished it as He “went about doing good”. Now even after Christ had lived his life, in perfect harmony with all gospel principles, our Father needed more. Every single thing Christ had learned in his life came down to a decision on bended knee in a quiet garden two thousand years ago. When pain was imminent and sorrow all consuming, our Lord said those powerful and humble words that have echoed through eternity “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Alma described the following time as “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance.” Christ’s infinite and all powerful atonement was and is for us - He is the healer of our Hearts. The mender of our broken spirits. The redeemer of our lost souls. His life and his death was consecrated for us.
Elder Maxwell said, “The complete consecration which effected the Atonement ensured Jesus’ perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us (see Alma 7:11–12; 2 Ne. 9:21). Since the Most Innocent suffered the most, our own cries of “Why?” cannot match His. But we can utter the same submissive word “nevertheless …” (Matt. 26:39).” He gaeve us the ultimate example now we have the choice whether to follow it. Elder Maxwell continued, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give! Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory!”
We have victory through him that redeemed us. We can consecrate our lives through living the gospel. By following our Elder Brother's example we can walk through this life, however dark the way or broken the path is, dedicating not only everything we have but everything we are and hope to be to the Lord -- the Lord can then pull us up form whatever we are struggling with and mold us into the people He knows we can become. Our Father is totally invested in us and the question we must ask ourselves is how invested we are in the cause of the Lord? In the cause of our salvation and the salvation of our friends and family? Are we willing to consecrate all? Are you?
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