On the desk in my office, I have a bronze replica of a sculpture of a young woman whose name is Kristina. The original life-sized sculpture of Kristina stands on a pier in Copenhagen, Denmark, positioned so that she is looking out over the sea toward Zion…
For me this sculpture of Kristina represents each one of you. Like Kristina, you are standing on the edge of many important decisions and making choices daily, some of them difficult, that will shape not only your future but also the destiny of generations. You too are facing gale-force winds of opposition, adversity, peer pressure, and moral pollution. And yet you are standing immovable and living the gospel in the face of these raging storms in our society. Like Kristina, you are led by the Holy Ghost. You are making correct decisions. You are loyal. You are royal.
I can think of no more important counsel from a loving Heavenly Father than His admonition for each of you to “stand … in holy places, and be not moved.” He is saying: Stand firm. Be steadfast. “Stand for truth and righteousness.” Stand as a witness. Be a standard to the world. Stand in holy places. And so my message to each of you is a simple one: Be not moved.
First, be not moved in choosing right. In these latter days, there are no small decisions. The choices you are making right now are of critical importance.
Second, be not moved in your desire and commitment to remain virtuous and sexually pure. Cherish virtue. Your personal purity is one of your greatest sources of power.
Immodesty, pornography, immorality, tattoos and piercings, drug abuse, and addictions of all kinds are all efforts to take possession of this precious gift—your body—and to make it difficult for you to exercise your agency.
Third, be not moved in being worthy to make and keep sacred covenants. The covenant you make at baptism will tether you to the path of virtue and happiness as you renew that covenant each week by partaking of the sacrament. As you keep your baptismal covenant, you will look different, dress different, and act different from the world.
Last, be not moved in your acceptance of the Savior’s Atonement. The Atonement is for you and for me. It is an enabling and a redeeming power. If you are not feeling worthy to stand in holy places, do not carry this burden one day longer.
Satan does not want you to think you can change. He will try to convince you that all is lost. That is a lie. You can return. You can repent. You can be pure and holy because of the Savior’s infinite Atonement.
Abraham charges his servant with finding a worthy young woman to be his son Isaac’s wife. She must be one who qualifies for a covenant marriage—virtuous and pure and worthy. And so he sends his servant on a long and dangerous journey to a place called Haran. The reason he must go there is clear—holy men need holy women to stand by their sides.
It doesn’t say this in the Bible, but I think it was love at first sight! For “virtue loveth virtue; [and] light cleaveth unto light.”
Leave a Reply