Giving Holiness to the Lord

Like Sister Eubank, he has been asked to report in conference on the humanitarian work of the church.

If we think we are giving to others we may sometimes feel unappreciated but if we think of those offerings as gifts to the Lord we can view them differently.

Among many other things, the Presiding Bishopric oversees the welfare and humanitarian work of the Church.

Could I work for the Presiding Bishopric? I would love to work on welfare and humanitarian work.

In modern usage, the term sacrifice has come to connote the concept of “giving up” things for the Lord and His kingdom. However, in ancient days, the meaning of the word sacrifice was more closely tied to its two Latin roots: sacer, meaning “sacred” or “holy,” and facere, meaning “to make.” Thus, anciently sacrifice meant literally “to make something or someone holy.” Viewed as such, sacrifice is a process of becoming holy and coming to know God, not an event or ritualistic “giving up” of things for the Lord.

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Sacrifice is less about “giving up” and more about “giving to” the Lord. Engraved upon the entrance to each of our temples are the words “Holiness to the Lord; the House of the Lord.” As we observe our covenants by sacrifice, we are made holy through the grace of Jesus Christ; and at the altars of the holy temple, with broken hearts and contrite spirits, we give our holiness to the Lord. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught: “The submission of one’s will [or heart] is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. … However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him!”

Giving up things for God is like Lent and not necessarily bad but it is not the same as offering something to God.