Last week I wrote about marriage and the importance of involving the Lord in that decision. Today I want to continue down a similar topic and talk about covenants. Especially the covenant made at marriage. In case you are unfamiliar with covenants, a covenant is a two way promise between God and that binds you to Jesus Christ. At marriage you and your soon to be spouse, are making this covenant together with God, which is called a sealing.
Covenants are such a big blessing that Heavenly Father has given us. I could go on and on about them, but I will try to keep it short for you reader’s sake. President Nelson beautifully talks about covenants and I want to share it with you. It’s titled The Everlasting Covenant. He states:
“Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy… Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us.”
Wow! Isn’t that amazing? Covenants bring Heavenly Father’s power into our lives! We get to use our agency to choose to have a different kind of relationship with God through covenants. Something that I find interesting about covenants is that you have to choose to commit (aka have faith) and then more knowledge follows. Consumer’s science would tell you that you need to know all the information and then you can commit to something. But this is not really how it is with covenants. Heavenly Father asks that you trust Him, have faith, and commit. After we commit then we are able to receive more knowledge, light, and understanding. But as our commitment wavers our ability to have greater knowledge is effected.
To bring this all back to marriage, when you decide to get married you don’t know everything about the person and about how your life with them is going to go. However, you have to make that commitment first and then you learn more about them. Deciding to get married is using your agency to enter into a special relationship with your spouse. I think it is so cool how you can learn about marriage as you are learning about covenants. Marriage and covenants are both such big blessings from Heavenly Father.
And the blessings don’t stop there. In class we talk about some of the blessings that are available to husbands and wives that are sealed through covenants in the temple. This specific blessing that we talked about pertains to your kids and it is so filled with hope.
‘“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught a more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God” (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110).” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/09/hope-for-parents-of-wayward-children?lang=eng)
I absolutely love this! Marriage and covenants is the way to go.
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