True Devotion

Source: https://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2002_01_22_Thurgood.htm

My dear brothers and sisters, it is a great privilege and a wonderful honor for me to be here, but I must say that it has caused a certain degree of stress. I love to teach the gospel. I love to learn of the Lord. My biggest concern about giving this address is that I do not bring sufficient honor to our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, not only today, but in my personal life.
I shouldn’t feel that I am alone or without help. I know many people are praying for me. All the religion faculty are praying that I won’t embarrass the Religion Department with what I say or how I say it. Anyone who works at BYU-Idaho who knows me is praying that I won’t bring this institution into disrepute. And, most of all, my wife is praying that I won’t say some of the dumb things that she has heard me say so many times before.
However, as great as my efforts are to do well, I know that any success, or strength, or wisdom, or revelation, or comfort, or appreciation that comes as a result of your being at this devotional assembly, will occur as a direct blessing that we receive from the hand of God himself. My responsibility is to do all I can, to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in helping prepare you for the reception of His Spirit. You and I both know that it is the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Ghost who does the teaching in this Church. Regardless of the charisma and charm, or the deliberate and somewhat monotonous way in which a speaker presents his message, every one of us can be uplifted, empowered, enriched, and blessed as we feel what the Lord would have us feel and as we are attuned to that Holy Spirit. Therefore, my responsibility and desires to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord should be no greater than your responsibility and, hopefully, your desires to hear the word of the Lord, not necessarily my words, but that which our Heavenly Father would like you to hear and act upon.
Now, I am much older than most of you here today. There are a few who are older than I. For example, President Bednar is older than I by, I think 2 months, though he looks much younger and certainly behaves and acts much more dignified than I. Perhaps some of us who are older and who have had more of life’s experiences than some of you, have a different vantage point from which we look upon the works and glories and mercies of God. It is my great desire to help each of us gain the desire to develop what I will refer to as “True Devotion.”
One dictionary defines devotion as “great love or loyalty, enthusiastic zeal” or “religious worship” (Oxford American Dictionary, 1980, p. 176). From this same dictionary, we find that the word “devout” is a derivative of the word “devotion.” Devout means “earnestly religious, earnest, sincere.”
I have often wondered about my devotion to God, my earnestness in serving Him, my great love to and for Him, my enthusiastic zeal for this great work in which we are all involved, first and foremost by covenant, and secondly, by our faithfulness to the gospel cause. I have tried to determine some of the components that make up true devotion and will now share some of them with you.
To whom are we devoted? Let us begin with Him to whom the greatest Being that has ever lived on the face of this earth gave all glory, honor, credit, faith, and devotion; that Being to whom our own Savior, Jesus Christ constantly referred as His Father. Who is this Father to whom we have been taught to address ourselves in sacred, sincere prayer (Moses 5:8)?
We use the name “God” most often to refer to our Heavenly Father. Certainly that is appropriate and right. We know that He is the literal Father of our spirits (Hebrews 12:9). We therefore, have the privilege and responsibility of communicating directly with our Father. He is also the literal Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ, but also the literal Father of the physical body of our Lord. This is why we refer to the Savior as “the Only Begotten of the Father” (D&C 76:23), because Jesus is the only person whose physical father is the same as the Father of His spirit. No one else has that distinction.
Our Heavenly Father is also known as “Man of Holiness” (Moses 6:57). He is a “Holy Man.” The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!” This truth has been captured in the famous couplet, authored by Lorenzo Snow, which states: “As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be” (Lorenzo Snow, Biography and Family Records of Lorenzo Snow, p. 46, Spring, 1840).
This Man of Holiness is, as was stated before, the Father of Jesus Christ, both spiritually and physically. Therefore, Jesus is appropriately known as “the Son of Man of Holiness,” or “the Son of Man” (see Mormon Doctrine, p. 742; also Topical Guide, “Jesus Christ, Son of Man”, p. 256).
Our Father is holy, as is His Only Begotten Son. He was and is the focus of the Savior’s love and devotion. The Savior taught, “I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him [meaning, the Father]. . . . as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. I do always those things that please him. I speak that which I have seen with my Father” (John 8: 26, 28-29, 38).
If the greatest of all men felt that way about Heavenly Father, how much more should give reverence, praise, thanks and demonstrate our love and appreciation to this God of Gods?
As the great prophet Enoch saw a vision of “all the inhabitants of the earth,” he noticed that the wondrous Being, the “God of heaven” who “looked upon the residue of the people” who lived before the flood of Noah, wept (Moses 7:21,28). Enoch couldn’t understand why, knowing that this great Being was “holy and from all eternity to all eternity” (Moses 7:29). He was told:
. . . unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father: but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood (Moses 7:33).
I believe that, not only did the people before the time of the flood, hate each other, but they hated their God and Father, as well as the Son of God, who spoke with these prophets.
We must not ever speak of our Father or His Beloved Son irreverently. It brings shame to His children, and especially to those of us who understand our true relationship with Him. Speaking irreverently is much more than taking His name in vain, although that is a very serious sin and breach of our covenants. Sometimes we speak a little carelessly about Deity. We are taught very clearly in the Doctrine and Covenants about the sacred nature of the name of Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. We are taught the reason for naming the higher priesthood after Melchizedek.
Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest. Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood (D&C 107:2-4).
In our work, play, or anytime, we must communicate with others our love, respect, and devotion to our Father in Heaven.
Who is Jesus Christ? The Only Begotten Son in the flesh. He is known as the Eternal Father of heaven and earth (Alma 11:39). He is our Brother, our Savior and our God. He has created worlds without number, including this one (Moses 1:33). His sacrifice and atonement is infinite and eternal (Alma 34:8-10). He speaks like the Father. He speaks as the Father. He thinks like the Father. He acts like the Father (Hebrews 1:1). He looks like the Father. He and the Father are united in all things, so much so, that we seldom feel the need to differentiate between Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ when we talk about how much the “Lord” has blessed us, or how much we depend upon the “Lord.” What is their united purpose? To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). We then have the same responsibility and opportunity to speak as reverently, to love as devoutly, to appreciate as sincerely, our Savior and Redeemer, as we do the Father of our spirits.
I have sung hymns of praise all my life, not always realizing the significance of the words I was singing, nor He to whom the hymn was directed. The longer I live and the more I learn of the majesty of our Father and His Son, the more I realize my dependence on the Lord. There is an interesting verse in Ether 12 which has taken on additional meaning for me. It is verse 27. You are all very familiar with it. You have heard it mentioned many, many times. Very often it is used to show how our weaknesses can be made strengths. Let me suggest something. Let’s read this verse very slowly, especially the first part of it. And if men come unto me. . .
First of all, when men come unto Christ, something happens. Ether 12:27 was written by Moroni. He teaches much more about coming unto Christ in the last chapter of the book of Moroni, the third and second to the last verses. Let’s read those two verses.
Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot (Moroni 10:32-33).
It is by “coming unto Christ” that we are made perfect and in no other way. There is much more to “coming unto Christ” than simply being a member of His Church and attending our meetings each week. When men go through the process of coming unto Christ (denying themselves of all ungodliness, loving God with all their might, mind and strength), then the grace of God is sufficient to make us “perfect in Christ.” We can then be sanctified and made holy, without spot.
Now, back to Ether 12. You see, to me, verse 27 is not a generic verse with application to anyone who has a multitude of weaknesses. It is directed to those who are truly making the effort to come unto Christ. Now, what happens “if men come unto me?” I will show unto them their weakness.
Notice: the word “weakness” is singular, not plural (weaknesses). You would think that if the Lord is going to go to all the trouble of helping us make our weaknesses strong, He would at least, suggest that we have more than one weakness to overcome. But that is not what I think He is trying to teach us. He uses the same word, “weakness,” singular, again when He says: I give unto men weakness that they may be humble.
What weakness can we possess that will help us more than any other to be humble? And what does it mean to be humble? President Spencer W. Kimball once said:
Humility develops through prayer and study. Somebody asked me this morning, ‘How do you keep humble? Sometimes I am humble and sometimes I am unhumble. How do you keep humble?’ I think there is a formula that will never fail. First, you evaluate yourself. What am I? I am the circle. I am the hole in the doughnut. I would be nothing without the Lord. My breath, my brains, my hearing, my sight, my locomotion, my everything depends upon the Lord. That is the first step and then we pray, and pray often, and we will not get up from our knees until we have communicated. The line may be down; we may have let it fall to pieces, but I will not get up from my knees until I have established communication–if it is twenty minutes, if it is all night like Enos. If it takes all day long, you stay on your knees until your unhumbleness has dissipated, until you feel the humble spirit and realize, ‘I could die this minute if it were not for the Lord’s good grace. I am dependent upon him–totally dependent upon him,’ and then you read the scriptures. Could you read these scriptures . . . and not be lifted and inspired? Can you read about the prophets–David O. McKay–and not feel weak and small in comparison? Well, you can create humility, and humility has to be fed, too, in the same way, with the right kind of vitamins. And when you have success, you do not glory in it for you, you glory in it for the Lord (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 233).
President Kimball mentioned two things that I think answer the question I proposed about the word “weakness” in Ether 12:27. First, humility is the realization that without the Lord, we are nothing, absolutely nothing. Secondly, we must realize that we are completely and totally dependent upon the Lord for our very existence, even the very air we breathe. To me, this is the meaning of the word “weakness.” The weakness the Savior gives to those who seek Him, who come unto Him, is the recognition of their absolute and total dependence upon Him for everything they have and are.
If we read Ether 12:27-28 in its entirety, we can see that the Lord desires us, (and we are identified with the Gentiles–see D&C 109:60) to be “brought unto [Christ]–the fountain of all righteousness.” Why? Because Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” and “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Him}” (John 14:6). ” . . . there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Without Jesus Christ there is no joy, no hope, no faith, no truth, no eternal family, no celestial life, no life at all. Certainly, He is and must be viewed as the focal point of our lives, our hearts and feelings, our minds and thoughts, our acts and in every part of our lives. Do we not even covenant, and renew that covenant weekly, to “always remember Him.” (D&C 20:77, 79)
The need for humility, the recognition of our total dependence and our sincere, heart and spirit-felt gratitude for the mighty and marvelous works of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ should be evident to every living soul. But I know that I do not “always remember Him” as I have covenanted to do.
Mormon, the great editor of the Book of Mormon, almost seemed angry with the wickedness of the children of men when they forsook the blessings of the gospel and the kindness of the Lord and didn’t realize what He had really done for them. Notice what Mormon says in Helaman 12:1-2.
And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every king and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One–yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity (Helaman 12:1-2).
I have thought, on occasion, of Mormon’s words that people “do trample under their feet the Holy One.” How could anyone trample the Holy One of Israel under their feet? It is almost beyond comprehension that people would do such a thing. And then I found a very conscience crushing verse. 1 Nephi 19:7.
For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words–they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels (1 Nephi 19:7).
You see, I have trampled the very God of Israel under my feet before, because I have set Him at naught (meaning of no value, worthless) and have not kept His commandments. I am sure that when I have not kept His commandments I didn’t think that I considered Him or His commandments to be of no value. That is just the problem–I didn’t think! I didn’t remember what He has done for me. I didn’t recognize or consider His pre-mortal stature as Jehovah–the God of Israel, the creator of this earth and millions of earths like it. I didn’t think about His divine, prophecy-fulfilling birth; His exemplary life; His soul-saving teachings; His compassion-filled ministry; His selflessness; His ever-present desire to save and exalt His brothers and sisters, his children. I didn’t think of His excruciating pain and blood soaked clothing in Gethsemane; His humiliating arrest and trial; His death and resurrection; His ministry to other nations and people; His appearance, along with the Father, to Joseph Smith; the restoration of His gospel to the earth for the benefit and blessing of you and me. I had no idea or realization that my very life and being depends upon Him.
King Benjamin understood how much we need the Savior, and yet, how little we realize what He does for us each and every day.
I say unto you , my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another–I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another–I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants (Mosiah 2:20-21).
This is a tremendous list of some of the countless things that we receive from the Lord each and every day. How often do we truly stop and appreciate our great blessings? No wonder King Benjamin told us that we “cannot say that [we] are even as much as the dust of the earth” (Mosiah 2:25). Mormon said:
O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God (Helaman 12:7-8).
But the children of God (generally speaking) seldom even listen to Him, or consider His words and the words of His prophets important enough, even to read and study, let alone obey!
May I be bold enough to suggest that all the times I thought I had come up with such a good idea; or on those occasions when I just happened to say the right thing, or be in the right place; or how lucky I was to find something, had very little to do with my great abilities or luck, but everything to do with the power and blessings of the Lord to one of His children. Let us look at another blessing, given by our Father to every soul that is born into this world. Doctrine and Covenants 88 teaches us that Jesus Christ is:
the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made; As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand. And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space–The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things (D&C 88:5-12).
There is very little, if anything, that we achieve or acquire on our own without the help and blessings of the Lord. I have come to know this and better understand it.
Now with all of these truths about how we are so dependent on the Lord, so richly blessed (beyond our imagination) with knowledge, truth, covenants, priesthood, blessings, temples, commandments, the soft and tender feelings of the Spirit of the Lord, etc.; how can we possibly not be a humble and a grateful people? And yet, listen to another commandment given to us by the Lord. Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things (D&C 59:7).
And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments (D&C 59:21).
I am convinced that we as Latter-day Saints, indeed, of all the world can do better with regard to showing our love and true devotion to God.
We can better appreciate the beautiful surroundings where we live, no matter where it might be. Have you noticed the beautiful sunsets? Do we appreciate the myriad hues of green, particularly in the spring when the leaves first come out on the trees, that the Lord has chosen to color so many living plants? Do we acknowledge the hand of the Lord in our lives, the food we eat, which grew without our toil and sweat? Do we recognize the truly unfathomable blessing of being members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ with all its attendant and eternal blessings and possibilities, including eternal and forever families, spouses, children, etc.
Once we understand the unpayable debt we owe to such a philanthropic Father, how can we be careless about covenants? How can we be nonchalant about church callings and responsibilities? How can we be lackadaisical in taking advantage of such a wonderful opportunity to study at this university? How can we even think about being absent, or even late to a formally scheduled devotional, whether it be offered here on Tuesdays or on Sundays, when we have the privilege of showing our true devotion to a truly devoted Father? Though we can never repay our Father for all that He does for us, we could act as though it were possible.
I have shared with you some very sacred and personal thoughts and feelings. I have tried to express, as best as I can, with all the weaknesses that I have the desire I have to be better; to be more appreciative, to be more obedient, to be more devoted to the greatest cause and truth in all the world. I know that I will stand ashamed before the Lord at some future day, when I find out all that He truly did for me while on this earth that I didn’t appreciate, or even know about.
I humbly pray that I will not take the great mercy and grace of the Lord for granted. I pray that I will “always remember Him;” that I will do all in my power to demonstrate my love and true devotion to my Lord and my God that I may not have to stand with shame and embarrassment, when I find out how much more I have received from Him than I ever realized. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.