The following is a continuation of a previous post, words of Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoken in the Sunday afternoon session of October 2019 general conference:
. . . .”Our God is a God of covenant. By His nature, He “keepest covenant and showest mercy.”6 His covenants endure “so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved.”7 We are not meant to wander in existential uncertainty and doubt but to rejoice in cherished covenant relationships “stronger than the cords of death.”8
God’s ordinances and covenants are universal in their requirement and individual in their opportunity. In God’s fairness, each individual in every place and age can receive saving ordinances. Agency applies—individuals choose whether to accept offered ordinances. God’s ordinances provide guideposts on His path of covenants. We call God’s plan to bring His children home the plan of redemption, plan of salvation, plan of happiness. Redemption, salvation, celestial happiness are possible because Jesus Christ “wrought out this perfect atonement.”9
To belong with God and to walk with each other on His covenant path is to be blessed by covenant belonging.
First, covenant belonging centers in Jesus Christ as “mediator of the new covenant.”10 see below All things can work together for our good when we are “sanctified in Christ … in the covenant of the Father.”11 see below Every good and promised blessing comes to those who remain faithful to the end. The “happy state of those that keep the commandments of God” is to be “blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual,” and to “dwell with God in … never-ending happiness.”12
As we honor our covenants, we may sometimes feel we are in the company of angels. And we will be—those we love and who bless us on this side of the veil and those who love and bless us from the other side of the veil.
Recently Sister Gong and I saw covenant belonging at its tender best in a hospital room. A young father desperately needed a kidney transplant. His family had wept, fasted, and prayed for him to receive a kidney. When news came that a life-saving kidney had just become available, his wife quietly said, “I hope the other family is OK.” To belong by covenant is, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”13
Along life’s path, we may lose faith in God, but He never loses faith in us. As it were, His porch light is always on. He invites us to come or return to the covenants that mark His path. He waits ready to embrace us, even when we are “yet a great way off.”14 When we look with an eye of faith for the patterns, arc, or connected dots of our experience, we can see His tender mercies and encouragement, especially in our trials, sorrows, and challenges, as well as in our joys. However often we stumble or fall, if we keep moving toward Him, He will help us, a step at a time. ~ Elder Garrit W. Gong (To see/listen or watch his complete talk, click “Covenant Belonging” or read from page 80 of the November 2019 Ensign magazine.
10, 11, 13. . .also see original talk for further references (highlighted in last line, above).
