Bound to the Savior through Covenants

By Elder David A. Bednar

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Entering into and keeping sacred covenants bind us to the Savior.

In President Russell M. Nelson’s first message as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he emphasized the importance of sacred gospel covenants. He said:

“To each member of the Church I say, keep on the covenant path. Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.”¹

The Lord Jesus Christ invites each of us to “partake of his salvation, and of the power of his redemption.”² The promises, blessings, and power of the sacred covenants we make with Him can change our hearts, provide spiritual direction and protection, and enable us to have enduring joy.

What Are Covenants?

A covenant is an agreement between God and His children. It is important to remember that He sets the terms and conditions of all gospel covenants; you and I do not. We exercise our moral agency to learn about, accept, and honor the covenants established by God.

Many of you already have made covenants when you were baptized. And as you progress in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will make more covenants. The most sacred covenants are received only in a holy temple—the house of the Lord.

The following four principles highlight some of the promises and blessings that come from worthily entering into and faithfully keeping covenants with God.

Covenants Help Us Know Who We Really Are

God has made covenants with His faithful children since the beginning of the world. For example, Abraham was a great prophet who desired righteousness and obeyed all of God’s commandments—including the command to offer as a sacrifice his precious son, Isaac. Because of Abraham’s steadfast obedience, God made a covenant with him and promised the glorious blessings of a great posterity and that the nations of the earth would be blessed through his “seed.”³

All nations are blessed by Abraham’s posterity because his “seed” have the responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and invite all to receive by proper priesthood authority the ordinances of salvation and exaltation.⁴ The Lord later renewed this covenant with Abraham’s son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob, and today through us who live and serve in the latter-day dispensation of the fulness of times.

How do these promises and blessings relate to you? Either by literal lineage or adoption, you are a rightful heir to God’s promises to Abraham. You are to bless the sons and daughters of God by testifying of the divinity of Jesus Christ, declaring the message of His restored gospel, and inviting all to receive sacred covenants and priesthood ordinances.

We are sons and daughters of God and Abraham’s “seed.” We were foreordained in the premortal existence to come to earth and help to fulfill the covenant and promises God made to Abraham. That is who we are, and that is why we are here—today and always.

Covenants Bring Us Closer to the Savior

Covenant promises and blessings would not be possible without our Savior, Jesus Christ. He invites us to look to Him,⁵ come unto Him,⁶ learn of Him,⁷ and bind ourselves to Him⁸ through the covenants and ordinances of His restored gospel.

Covenants and ordinances are the building blocks that enable us to build our lives upon the “rock of our Redeemer”⁹ and His Atonement. Precisely because faithfully honoring sacred covenants binds us securely to the Savior, He becomes the ultimate source of spiritual direction and strength in our lives.

Take His Yoke upon You

The Savior said: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”¹⁰

A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals, that allows them to pull together on a load. A yoke places animals side by side so they can move together to complete a task.

Entering into and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and binds us with the Lord. This means we trust in Him, rely on Him, and pull our load with Him during the journey of life. Our best efforts cannot be compared with His. But when we are yoked to and with the Savior, we can receive the cleansing, enabling, and additional powers of His Atonement in our lives.

You Are Never Alone

Another grand promise and blessing of binding ourselves to the Savior through covenants is that we are not, and never need be, alone. We can press forward joyfully in our daily lives with heavenly help. Through the Savior’s Atonement and our covenants, we receive strength to do and become what we simply could not do and become relying only on our limited mortal capacity.

We are blessed beyond measure as we are bound to the Lord through sacred covenants. And I testify that this declaration of the Lord is true, “Therefore, continue your journey and let your hearts rejoice; for behold, and lo, I am with you even unto the end.”¹¹