QUOTES ON "CONSECRATING OUR ALL"
Turning our lives
over to God is not really a sacrifice, but it is a great opportunity
and
blessing. President Ezra Taft Benson said:
"Men and women who turn
their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out
of
their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand
their
vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their
spirits,
multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their
souls,
raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lost his life
to God will find he has eternal life."
(New Era, May 1975, p. 20)
In President
Benson's opening address of the April 1988 general conference he said:
"When we put God first,
all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our
lives.
Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the
demands
on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities."
(Ensign, May
1988, p. 4)
"I'm not ashamed to say
that I want to be good. And I've found in my life that it has
been
critically important [to establish this intention] between me and the
Lord
so that I knew that he knew which way I committed
my agency. I went before Him and said, "I'm not neutral, and
you can do with me what you want. If you need my vote, it's
there.
I don't care what you do with me, and you don't have to take anything
from
me because I
give it to you-- everything, all I own, all I am--," and that makes
the difference.
(Boyd
K. Packer - "To Those Who Teach in
Troubled Times,"
address delivered at seminary and institute conference,
Summer 1970, Salt Lake City;
quoted by Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ--Gifts
and Expectations," Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 4)
“Conversion requires consecrating
our lives to caring and serving others who need our help and to sharing
our gifts and talents...”
Elder Robert D. Hales, Gen. Conf., April,
1997
“For now, consecration
may not require giving up worldly possessions so much as being less
possessed
by them.”
Elder
Neal Maxwell, Gen. Conf., Oct. 1992
Neal A. Maxwell:
"Some would never sell Jesus for thirty pieces, but they would not give
Him their all either! Unfortunately, we tend to think of
consecration
only in terms of property and money. But there are so many ways of
keeping
back part. One might be giving of money and time and yet hold back a
significant
portion of himself…One might accept a Church calling but have his heart
more set on maintaining a certain role in the world…Each of us is an
innkeeper
who decides if there is room for Jesus! Consecration is the only
surrender
which is also a victory. It brings release from…selfishness and
emancipation
from the dark prison of pride…Consecration may not require giving up
worldly
possessions so much as being less possessed by them…Brother and
sisters,
whatever we embrace instead of Jesus and His work will keep us from
qualifying
to enter His kingdom and therefore from being embraced by Him.”
Ensign, Nov. 1992, pp. 66-67
(as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon
compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 424)
"Brethren, as you submit your wills to God, you are
giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him
that is really yours to give. Don't wait too long to find the altar or
to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it! No need to wait for a
receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging."
Topic: Consecrating Ourselves
"We tend to think of consecration only as yielding
up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate
consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God. Heart,
soul,
and mind
were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first
commandment, which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see
Matt.
22:37).
If kept, then our performances will, in turn, be fully consecrated for
the lasting welfare of our souls (see 2
Ne. 32:9)."