Compasses and Covenants

I read an article titled Of Compasses and Covenants by Lance B. Wickam of the Seventy, that appeared in the Jun 1996 Ensign. It talked about how the Book of Mormon shows that the way back to our Father in Heaven is through making and keeping sacred covenants with Him, which we mentioned towards the end of class today. He says that we have to do more than just make covenants, but that we have to keep them, and live diligently following the words and teachings of Christ. Elder Wickam compares covenants to compasses, that they point out the sure and direct way back to our Heavenly Father. As people lost in the wilderness must rely on a compass to return safely home, we must rely on our covenants to outline what we must do to return to Heavenly Father.

We have been taught that in Nephi's vision of the Tree of Life, the rod of iron symbolized the word of God. In this article, Elder Wickam says that this broadly means 'the teachings and commandments,' but that in a more specific sense it is 'the sacred covenants between God and man.' So, holding fast to the rod of iron means that we make and keep covenants with God. By living our covenants, and renewing them weekly by partaking of the sacrament, we will be able to receive celestial glory for time and all eternity. We must be careful not to become prideful like the Nephites did, though, for then we are not living the covenants the way that we are supposed to be; there is a prophesy in the Book of Mormon that an angel spoke to Nephi about the Christ's Church in our day:

"[T]here are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations.” 38 Nephi then “beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few.” 39 That this “church of the Lamb” refers to those who both make and keep sacred covenants is indicated by the following passage:
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory."

We must be sure that we are those strong and few in the last days. We must live and keep our covenants that we have made with God, for he will surely keep the ones He has made with us as long as we uphold our end of the bargain. In the end, it is our eternal salvation that is at stake, and the chance to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all of eternity. Let us strive to be able to fulfil these goals everyday.