Primary 133 - Preservation of your testimony and chastity
Children,
1 Corinthians 6:13
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
Paul spoke of fornication but this could also apply to things that pollute the soul. You would not eat a rotten apple. The foolish would say "But it is an apple". The same is said for sexual and spiritual purity. You cannot say you can get spiritual nourishment from corruptible things. Books, movies, and the like are no good if there is corruption in their content.
He further stated that our bodies are owned by another; a rental. We are owned by Christ if we care about our covenant of obedience. The especially for youth handbook encourages obedience, charity, chastity, repentance, and faith. When you become a teen you will be shown more on the topic but for now, strive for stern obedience.
For moms and dads, he said that Mom owns Dad's chastity and vice versa but more than that he wants them to cherish each other. Like your parents, your covenants with Christ should be cherished and preserved. (1 Corinthians 7:1-4)
In ancient times, priests would preserve the covenant offering by placing salt on the offering before presenting it to God. God's covenant is everlasting like salt and like salt it's so simple and pure that the covenant can be understood by an eight-year-old.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Our probation is a rental and we need to build our experiences on Christ because when the hard times come it will be as a fire to our foundation and if we build with gold and silver, precious stones versus straw, wood, or stubble, when the hard times come (and they will) the good things, the strongest things of our testimony will survive. Build on good experiences. Turn to the Holy Ghost to help you recognize those experiences.
When you are challenged about your faith or your testimony remember what a modern-day apostle Boyd K. Packer said to an atheist...
“Let me ask if you know what salt tastes like.” “Of course I do,” was his reply. “Then,” I said, “assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to me just what it tastes like.” After some thought, he said, “Well, I, uh, it is not sweet and it is not sour.” “You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.” After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live!
Also, see this talk on salt.
God wants you to both preserve your testimony and be clean as salt. Remember we are on probation (2 Nephi 2:21) and are encouraged to use good experiences to build a strong testimony. Again we love you. See you tomorrow.
Challenges
Read 1 Corinthians 8-13
Reflect on salt and how your testimony is like it.
Comments
Post a Comment