A covenant is not only about a contract, although that is important, but it is also about a relationship.
The Lord doesn’t intend to leave any of us where we are.
Pace or placement on the path are not as important as progress.
Jacob had a choice to make. He could choose to live his life simply acquainted with the God of his father, or he could choose to live life in committed covenant relationship with Him. Years later, Jacob testified of a life lived within the Lord’s covenant promises: “God … answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” Just as He did for Jacob, the Lord will answer each of us in our day of distress if we choose to tether our life with His. He has promised to walk with us in the way.
We call this walking the covenant path—a path that begins with the covenant of baptism and leads to deeper covenants we make in the temple. Perhaps you hear those words and think of checkboxes. Maybe all you see is a path of requirements. A closer look reveals something more compelling. A covenant is not only about a contract, although that is important. It’s about a relationship. President Russell M. Nelson taught, “The covenant path is all about our relationship with God.”
Consider a marriage covenant. The wedding date is important, but equally important is the relationship forged through the life lived together afterward. The same is true with a covenant relationship with God. Conditions have been set, and there will be expectations along the way. And yet He invites each of us to come as we are able, with full purpose of heart, and to “press forward” with Him at our side, trusting that His promised blessings will come. Scripture reminds us that often those blessings come in His own time and in His own way: 38 years, 12 years, immediately. As your trail will demand, so His succor will be.
Just as He didn’t leave Jacob there in the dirt, the Lord doesn’t intend to leave any of us where we are.
We must remember: it’s not the course alone that will exalt us; it’s the companion—our Savior. And this is the why of covenant relationship.
Each of us should find our own why. Knowing why the Savior invites us to covenant is good but Knowing why we are doing it will motivate us to stick with it.
Don’t let your condition hinder you. Remember, pace or placement on the path are not as important as progress. Ask someone you trust who is on the covenant path to introduce you to the Savior they have come to know.
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