Most of the lesson refers to a talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson "Reflections on a consecrated life"
Elder Richard L. Evans said, “Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed. …Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction." Karen shared her experience of receiving a Book of Mormon when she went on a tour at the Salt Lake Temple visitor center with a friend, and later decided to come to college in Utah. While she was attending the U of U, she became converted and baptized.
Consecration is an application of celestial law here and now. True success comes from consecrating our lives and our time to God's purposes.
5 elements of a consecrated life:
1. Purity: our perfect example of purity is our Savior, he was sinless. Sinlessness leads to repentance. Replace stubbornness with submission, and replace rationalizations with yielding to the Spirit.
2. A Consecrated Life is a Life of Labor: To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man is not a work that will end! We need to always labor to do this. All honest work is the work of God. Work enables us to survive the trials and tragedies of the human experience. A sister in our Relief Society shared and experience she went through in her own life. She told us that her life was going really well, and she felt everything was going smoothly. She said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for blessing her so much, and asked for an experience to learn and get more light. She wanted to become more like Him, and knew that it is through our hard experiences we do so. Shortly thereafter, her little boy became very ill with what they thought might be Leukemia and also her father was dying. She learned a lot from that time and felt that the Lord did bless her with light.
3. Respect for our physical bodies: Having a body is essential for eternal life. Some bodies will be malformed, some bodies will last for years, some only for minutes, but life will be long enough for each body to receive celestial exaltation.1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "What? know ye not that your abody is the btemple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not yourcown?
For ye are abought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." President Monson said that if we think of our bodies as a gift, we won't defile them.
4. Service: John 13:14-15 "If I then, your Lord and aMaster, have bwashed your feet; ye also ought to cwash one another’s dfeet.
For I have given you an aexample, that ye should do as I have done to you." Develop a listening ear so you can hear even the faintest whisperings of the Holy Ghost prompting you to serve someone in need.
5. Integrity: It is not naivety, it is an accountability to God. Don't sell your integrity cheaply (ex: doing something you wouldn't do if others were around) "One who lives a consecrated life does not seek to take advantage of another, but will turn the other cheek and give the cloak also". Honor is the rich soil where the seed of integrity thrives. Future generations will take courage from our consecrated lives if we live them. "Arise therefore, and be doing. The Lord is with thee."
Think about: How can living a consecrated life impact your family? What is one thing you can change to live a more consecrated life?
Think about: How can living a consecrated life impact your family? What is one thing you can change to live a more consecrated life?
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