Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional October 1, 2013 If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me Alan K. Young Faculty Development Manager, BYU-Idaho Good afternoon brothers and sisters. I am humbled, astonished, but grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today. I have prayed and continue to pray that the Spirit will attend us today as we review and learn together. I hope you will have a prayer in your heart for me also that I may convey the message I have prepared. I am overwhelmed that you have come today. You are truly a great sight. Your presence brings hope for the future. I know of your goodness and potential and believe in your exceptional ability to do what is right. I know this because you are here on earth at this time and here at BYU-Idaho learning and preparing for your future. As I contemplated what I might say today, what topic would have meaning for you, at the beginning of this semester and for many of you the beginning of your college experience, my mind came across a saying my parents have framed and displayed in the front entry of their home, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” I would like to focus today on the idea of choices and decision making, your agency. What you become will be a product of your effort, study, and prayer. You have the potential to become anything you desire. Now, I would like to begin by going back, back to our pre-mortal life for a moment. In our pre-mortal existence we lived in a beautiful home blessed with the eternal love of our Heavenly parents. There we progressed, learning and growing, gaining knowledge until our Heavenly Father knew it was time for us to gain other experiences. A council was held and our Father presented a plan wherein we would have the chance to gain physical bodies like our Heavenly parents and to prove ourselves that we would follow His commandments in mortality. This plan involved a continuation of our agency which would bring risk, and hardship in mortality, but also joy and fulfillment. At the center of Heavenly Father’s plan was a Savoir who would be willing to atone for our sins if we would repent and follow Him, thus allowing us the opportunity to return to the presence of our Heavenly Parents. At this council an alternate plan was also presented by one of our brothers, Lucifer, wherein he would guarantee our safe arrival back home, and because he would do this he wanted the honor and power for himself. The Lord speaking to Moses said: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.1 We all made a choice, to either follow our Heavenly Father’s plan or to follow Lucifer and his plan. It must have been a difficult choice as one third of our brothers and sister chose to follow Lucifer. But because he rebelled and desired to destroy our agency he was cast down with his followers and became Satan or the devil. You made the choice to follow our Heavenly Father’s plan and you must have been valiant in that struggle. You have been saved to be on earth at this time to prepare the world for the second coming of the Savior. Your ability to choose correctly is manifest by your presence here today. Satan is a real being who has many followers. He and his followers are still seeking to destroy God’s plan for his children. He is waging a war for the souls of men. We see his work and success all around us. The world is embracing much of Satan’s ways. Good is called evil and evil good, the family is being attacked on almost every front. Morality, honor, and virtue are disregarded as old fashioned, out of touch and unrealistic. It is easy to get ourselves entangled and wounded with sin and transgression, if we fail to make correct decisions. Agency was and is essential to God’s plan for us. With agency, we are given a chance to choose for ourselves the path of obedience to God’s commandments or to follow the ways of the world. In one of our sacred hymns we learn: Know this, that every soul is free to choose his life and what he’ll be, for this eternal truth is given; that God will force no man to heaven. He’ll call, persuade, direct aright, and bless with wisdom, love and light, in nameless ways be good and kind, but never force the human mind.2 Lehi, teaching his sons near the end of his mortal experience, taught: Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.3 It really is a choice between good and evil, God or Satan. Our Heavenly Father is the God of the universe. If we have faith in this truth and faith in his plan which provided a Savior for us in Jesus Christ the Son of God, we can stay on the straight and narrow path our Father has outlined for us. We must be meek, humble, and submissive to Him, being willing to obey all that He commands. I testify that our Heavenly Father is God, that he is over all, He knows the beginning and the end, He is omniscient and his love is eternal and his blessings glorious. For us to become like our Father in Heaven we must have experience with making decisions. We knew we needed to have earthly physical experiences to further our education. Through our Heavenly Father’s glorious plan we have been given the opportunity to grow and progress with unlimited potential to become like He is. The choice is yours, not your parents, nor your roommates, nor your teachers, not even your friends, it is yours. If it is to be, it is up to me. With choices and decisions comes consequences. We are free to choose our way but we are not free to choose the consequence of our choice. President James E. Faust, a member of the First Presidency in a 2004 April conference address stated: In this life we have to make many choices. Some are very important choices. Some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices. Making perfect choices all of the time is not possible. It just doesn’t happen. But it is possible to make good choices we can live with and grow from. When God’s children live worthy of divine guidance they can become ‘free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon’.4 Your God given agency is essential to your learning and growth here upon this earth. You are constantly faced with choices and decisions in all aspects of your life. How and what you choose will determine your satisfaction or dissatisfaction in life. If we leave our decision to the very moment, we may be very sorry with the consequence of what we choose. Life comes quickly and if we are not prepared or are listening to the wrong source we may be disappointed at the consequence of our choice. Let me share an example from my own experience that illustrates how quickly a decision can come upon us. A long time ago, when I was your age, just after my mission, a cousin and I were in the northern desert of Utah. We were driving on a very lonely dirt road, miles and miles from any pavement or farms. As we rounded a corner, at a speed much faster than we should have been going, in my little 1971 VW bug, a large mud hole presented a quick decision – turn hard to the right or left and miss the mud or plow straight through. We only had a second to decide. It was one of those beautiful spring days, clear skies, warm, our windows down. We had been having a great time together that day and the daylight was beginning to run out. I was at the wheel and had to make that crucial decision – go straight through or turn that little bug hard. In that split second as the choice was before me I had the feeling – just go straight through that mud. Besides, I thought, what can happen? The mud is only 10 yards long, I can make it at this speed. I didn’t make it, made it only about half way and was up to the floorboards in mud and water. We spent many hours, until well after dark getting the bug out of that mud. We ourselves became covered with mud in our efforts. A quick decision turned into a long tedious effort to free ourselves from the effects or consequence of that choice. But, let’s back up. What led me to that decision? My speed, which was too fast, the sharpness of the corner which made it impossible to see around that corner. What if - I had made an earlier decision to slow down for the corner, as I should have? Would my experience have been different? Yes, I could have avoided the mud hole altogether and our day would have continued, full of fun, no worries. After looking back on that decision, even though we ended up in the middle of the mud, I am grateful for the thought or the impression to go straight through. If I would have made the choice to turn that VW bug hard to the right or left, at the speed we were going, I most likely would have rolled it and the outcome would have been very different and the consequence could have been life changing for me and my cousin. We were out there on our own, physically, but spiritually we had the help of a still small voice or feeling. In the booklet For the Strength of Youth, the First Presidency states: The standards in this booklet will help you with the important choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness. The decisions you make now will set the course for much of what will follow during your mortal life and throughout eternity.5 I encourage you to keep your copy of “For the Strength of Youth” close to you. Read it often and commit to live by its counsel. Do not wait for a situation or decision to come and catch you off guard. Be ready, having thought through your choices in advance. Making good decisions each day and keeping the commitments we have made will leads us on to making other good and righteous decisions. As we continue on this path our hearts are turned to the Lord and his ways. Our pathway is then lit by truth that leads us on to knowledge. The choices you make each day from small and simple to large and complicated will have lasting, even eternal consequences. The path our life takes is not determined by great and grand decisions but rather by the little day-to-day choices we make. Elder Quentin L. Cook in a 2011 April conference address retold the following story: When I was recently assigned to a conference in the Mission Viejo California Stake, I was touched by an account of their four-stake New Year’s Eve youth dance. Following the dance, a purse was found with no outside identification. I share with you part of what Sister Monica Sedgwick, the Young Women president in the Laguna Niguel stake, recorded: “We didn’t want to pry; this was someone’s personal stuff! So we gingerly opened it and grabbed the first thing that was on top—hopefully, it would identify her. It did, but in another way—it was a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. Wow! This told us something about her. Then we reached in for the next item, a little notebook. Surely this would give us answers, but not the kind we were expecting. The first page was a list of favorite scriptures. There were five more pages of carefully written scriptures and personal notes.” The sisters immediately wanted to meet this stalwart young woman. They returned to that purse to identify its owner. They pulled out some breath mints, soap, lotion, and a brush. I loved their comments: “Oh, good things come out of her mouth; she has clean and soft hands; and she takes care of herself.” They eagerly awaited the next treasure. Out came a clever little homemade coin purse made from a cardboard juice carton, and there was some money in a zippered pocket. They exclaimed, “Ahh, she’s creative and prepared!” They felt like little children on Christmas morning. What they pulled out next surprised them even more: a recipe for Black Forest chocolate cake and a note to make the cake for a friend’s birthday. They almost screamed, “She’s a HOMEMAKER! Thoughtful and service minded.” Then, yes, finally some identification. The youth leaders said they felt greatly blessed “to observe the quiet example of a young lady living the gospel.”6 What did the content of this young woman’s purse reveal about her? Did it show a pattern of decisions she had made? Did it show where her heart and mind were? Could you determine which direction she was moving? This story illustrates that each of us can live in the world and not be of the world. What we hold dear in our private lives, when no one is looking, is who we are. Each small decision leads us in a direction. Which direction are you moving? Can you see the Savior in front of you or do you need to turn your head to see Him? What if someone was to look into your purse or wallet, your closet or dresser, or your inner thoughts or your computer files, what would they determine about you? If you are thinking right now, I hope this never happens to me, it may be time to change the way you make decisions. Your college years can and will be wonderful, and exciting, also terrifying, and difficult, and we hope rewarding and satisfying. Decisions will have to be made. How do you find answers, how do you make correct decisions? President James E. Faust, in the same April 2004 Conference address taught: A choice involves making a conscious decision. To make an intelligent decision we need to evaluate all available facts on both sides of an issue. But that isn’t enough. Making correct decisions involves prayer and inspiration. The 9th section of the Doctrine and Covenants gives us the grand key. The Lord said to Oliver Cowdery: Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.4 This implies that making decisions is work. It takes thought, study, conclusion and then confirmation. To receive the confirmation we are looking for we will need to be worthy to receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost. Each of you have made a commitment to live by the honor code of this University. Most of you have also made a covenant with God to keep his commandments, remember His Son Jesus Christ and to take upon you the name of Christ. As you keep your commitments and covenants you will be blessed with a deeper understanding of the gospel and your place in the Kingdom of God. You will continue to grow in truth, light and knowledge. Through your own individual efforts to learn truth you are blessed with additional light, which if followed will lead you on to knowledge, “knowledge of things as they are, and as they were and as they are to come”.7 We know the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in unholy tabernacles, so for us to keep the Spirit with us to help us in our efforts to make correct decisions we need to live according to the Spirit. We need to keep the covenants and commitments we have made. When you were baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a priesthood holder holding the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood laid his hands on your head and asked you to “receive the Holy Ghost.” It is up to you to receive the Holy Ghost in your life, to live a life so that you are worthy to receive of His guidance and protection. In 1991, 22 years ago, before some of you were born, Elder Boyd K. Packer taught: No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration.8 Well, we are living in that world and we see what it is becoming. Elder Robert D. Hales in a 2007 April conference address speaking to the YM of the church and this applies equally as well to the YW and in fact to all of us, taught: …it is important that you prepare now. You must develop your own preconditioned responses for the important decisions you will make in the next decade of your life. You must know what to do and when to do it when each decision presents itself. Remember that making no decision at all could be just as deadly as making the wrong decision. Many of the decisions you make or don’t make will have eternal consequences.9 Be faithful to your covenants and commitments and the Lord will bless you with insight and inspiration. Remember the Lord said, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”10 In your quest to make decisions that will bring you closer to your Heavenly Father and His Son, I would encourage you to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Live so that God and others will know whose side you are on. Each student, faculty and staff at BYU-Idaho have committed to an honor code. If we all keep our commitment the Holy Spirit will guide us in our daily decisions. We will find peace in our trials and comfort to our souls. The Honor Code is simple and easy to remember, most of us memorized it early in life without knowing it. I remember, when I was 11 years old, running across a hay field in the back of my home to my primary teacher’s home to pass off the Thirteenth Article of Faith, which is the basis for the BYU-Idaho Honor Code. After forgetting some of it and running back home to work on it some more, I finally ran back and remembered the whole thing as I passed it off to Brother Purcell as he was working on his farm equipment in his farm yard. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men, indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul – we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.11 If you have forgotten this from your primary days, please relearn it and commit to live by it. As you are faithful in keeping your commitments to live by the Honor Code the Lord will bless you with the guidance of His Holy Spirit. You will be guided in the decisions you will need to make as you progress here at BYU-Idaho and throughout your life. To help you in making correct decisions and to be worthy of the Holy Spirit’s guidance may I suggest a pattern, a set of steps to follow: Study Read Pray Obey Humility Study your choices or the matter out in your mind. Read, ponder and meditate on the Scriptures and the teachings of the Latter-day Prophets. Pray to the Lord in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you will receive. Be obedient to the commitments and covenants you have made. Be humble and meek, focusing on things of God rather that the things of the world. Each of you have been blessed with intelligence and light. Continue to walk in the light and you will be blessed with additional light and truth. “And by the power of the Holy Ghost you shall know the truth of all things.”12 This weekend we will be blessed to hear from our prophet and apostles in general conference. Please pay close attention to their messages. You will find answers to your worries and questions if you will do so. I testify that God is over all and knows all. Allow his Holy Spirit to guide you by strict obedience to his commandments. Keep the covenants you have made with your Father in Heaven and the commitment you have made to abide by the BYU-Idaho Honor Code and you will be blessed with inspiration and guidance in your daily decision making. Use your agency wisely. If it is to be, it is up to me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. ==================================================================== Moses 4: 3-4 Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1985 #240 Know This, That Every Soul is Free 2 Nephi 2:27 President James E. Faust, 2004 April Conference, Priesthood Session “Choices” For the Strength of Youth, “Message from the First Presidency” Elder Quentin L. Cook, 2011 April Conference “LDS Women are Incredible” D&C 93: 24-28 Elder Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov 1991, pg 23 Elder Robert D. Hales, 2007 April Conference, Priesthood Session To the Aaronic Priesthood: Preparing for the Decade of Decision D&C 82:10 Articles of Faith #13 Moroni 10: 5
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 01:31:13 +0000
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