basicscovenantsbind ( ** )

Covenants are binding contracts between two parties. When we covenant with the Lord, keeping that covenant ensures a binding contract (see Doctrine and Covenants 82:10; 130:20–21). Clearly the Lord’s promises are sure. Because He is eternal, the covenants we make with Him are also eternal.

The “new and everlasting covenant” is the general term for many specific promises that we exchange with God. We make these promises through sacred priesthood ordinances like baptism, the sacrament, ordination to the priesthood, and the ordinances of the temple, including the endowment and eternal marriage. These include promises to obey the laws of sacrifice, obedience, chastity, the gospel, and consecration. Each time we renew these covenants and seek to keep them, our bond to the Lord grows stronger and His strengthening power becomes more accessible to us.

As a boy, I was fascinated by the strength of structures we could make with rope wound around pieces of the structure. The more windings of the rope, the stronger the binding. Similarly, each time we renew our covenants and each time we try to keep those covenants, we reinforce the spiritual binding in the building of our faith.

Making covenants with the Lord is like binding ourselves to Him in oneness, as if we are strapping ourselves securely to Him. He then can carry us, with His infinite power, up the mountains of mortality into the celestial realm.

Another kind of binding is being yoked with Christ. This is the kind of binding that Elder Bednar taught about: “We take the Savior’s yoke upon us as we learn about, worthily receive, and honor sacred covenants and ordinances. We are bound securely to and with the Savior as we faithfully remember and do our best to live in accordance with the obligations we have accepted. And that bond with Him is the source of spiritual strength in every season of our lives.”⁵  “We take the Savior’s yoke upon us as we learn about, worthily receive, and honor sacred covenants and ordinances.”  —Elder David A. Bednar

Sometimes we think of our covenantal obligations as being too heavy to bear. Instead of being drawn by covenant to Christ, we sometimes distance ourselves. Yet President Nelson recently explained how accessing Christ’s power can make His yoke easy: “Making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier! Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth!”⁶

Every time we partake of the sacrament, we reverently remember that the Savior’s body was broken and His blood was shed for us. This repetitive renewal of our covenants in remembrance of and in the name of Jesus Christ forms increasingly meaningful bonds of appreciation, commitment, love, and faithfulness that secure us to Him. This is a personal and intimate bond, a oneness.  President Nelson taught:  “All those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed. …Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him.  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.”⁷  “Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us.”  —President Russell M. Nelson

Our covenants with the Lord bind us to Him and bless us with His strengthening power. What happens when our covenantal bond with Christ releases His power in our lives? Elder Perkins taught: “Jesus Christ offers His enabling power to help you have strength to endure your suffering well. This enabling power is made possible through His Atonement. I fear that too many Church members think if they are just a little tougher, they can get through any suffering on their own. This is a hard way to live. Your temporary moment of strength can never compare to the Savior’s infinite supply of power to fortify your soul.”

Elder Perkins also shared a tender and beautiful example of this strengthening power when he was in severe pain in his battle with cancer: “I sat with my wife, intending to offer a routine blessing on our lunch. Instead, all I could do was simply weep, ‘Heavenly Father, please help me. I am so sick.’ For the next 20 to 30 seconds, I was encircled in His love. I was given no reason for my illness, no indication of the ultimate outcome, and no relief from the pain. I just felt of His pure love, and that was and is enough.”⁸

I have had similar experiences, perhaps of a lesser degree, in times of both physical and emotional pain. The Lord’s sweet comfort has also been enough to get me through them. In the worst of my pains, knowing that the Lord has already been there and endured so much more for me and my loved ones has been a comfort “when [all] other helpers fail and comforts flee.”⁹  With all this power promised to us, is it any wonder that we are encouraged to renew our covenants so regularly at sacrament meeting and to remember them in the temple?

President Nelson has taught us these marvelous truths: “The temple lies at the center of strengthening our faith and spiritual fortitude because the Savior and His doctrine are the very heart of the temple. … His essential ordinances bind us to Him through sacred priesthood covenants. Then, as we keep our covenants, He endows us with His healing, strengthening power. And oh, how we will need His power in the days ahead.”¹⁰  I know we can increase the strength of our bonds to the Lord Jesus Christ through making and keeping the sacred covenants associated with priesthood ordinances so that His power can be with us in the days ahead!