Jarom–Omni

Offer Your Whole Soul to Jesus Christ

Where do you turn for guidance when making important life choices? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have provided the scriptures as a primary source of guidance and assistance for all. The books of Jarom and Omni contain various teachings that can bless your life. This lesson is intended to help you practice identifying and applying principles from the scriptures that can bless and guide your life.

Help learners discover gospel doctrine and principles. A doctrine is a fundamental, unchanging truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A principle is an enduring truth that guides individuals in making decisions. Gospel principles are universal and help people apply the doctrine of the gospel to their lives.

Student preparation: Invite students to practice identifying principles that will benefit their lives while studying the scriptures daily. Encourage them to come prepared to share at least one principle they found.

Possible Learning Activity

Steering the ship

To begin class, consider displaying an image of a ship or drawing one on the board. Alternatively, you could have a student draw a ship on the board. You could ask them what parts of the ship are necessary to help a crew navigate to a destination.

Imagine your journey through life is like a ship sailing on the ocean. What are some things you could compare to the steering wheel or helm that guides the ship on the journey?

Consider listing student responses on the board.

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a possible answer:

Gospel principles are for me and you what a helm is to a ship. Correct principles enable us to find our way and to stand firm, steadfast, and immovable so we do not lose our balance and fall in the raging latter-day storms of darkness and confusion. (David A. Bednar, “The Principles of My Gospel,” Liahona, May 2021, 126)

• How might a gospel principle be like a steering wheel or helm of a ship?

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that you can identify true principles from the scriptures and use them to guide your life? Why?

• What have you done in the past that has helped you find principles in the scriptures?

Listen carefully to students’ answers. Consider writing what they say on the board to help their classmates.

If you would like to review how to identify principles, consider revisiting the following lessons: “2 Nephi 1” and “Jacob 4.”

Take a moment to reflect on a recent principle you identified during seminary or your personal scripture study.

• What principle did you find? How has that principle blessed your life?

Consider inviting several students to share. Listen carefully to evaluate how well they identify principles and how you may help them increase their ability during this lesson. Also look to congratulate them for their study and encourage them to continue.

Identifying gospel principles

The books of Jarom and Omni contain the final writings in the small plates of Nephi and include many principles that can bless our lives. Jarom received the plates from his father, Enos, and recorded the Nephites’ struggles and blessings over a period of approximately 40 years. He then passed the plates to his son Omni. The book of Omni contains the writings of five different Nephite record keepers and covers approximately 190 years.

Determine what is best for your students to have a meaningful experience identifying gospel principles. Students could work individually or be divided into small groups and work together to identify principles in one or more of the scripture references.

Read the following scripture passages and practice identifying gospel principles that you could use in your life. There may be several principles contained in each set of verses. Identify at least one from each scripture passage.

1. Jarom 1:3–4

2. Jarom 1:5–9

3. Jarom 1:10–12

4. Omni 1:12–16

5. Omni 1:25–26

Consider inviting students to write some of the principles they identified on the board.

Giving yourself to the Savior and His work

After identifying a principle, it is important to take time to ponder what it means and how it can apply to your life. For example, in Omni 1:26 you may have identified the following principle: If we come unto Christ and offer our whole souls unto Him, we will be saved.

• What are some ways that you could seek to better understand and apply this principle?

The following is one idea:

It could be helpful to compare this principle to something that you might offer to others in everyday life.

• What might you offer to someone else?

• Are there ways you might only offer part of what you could give? Why?

• When might you offer all that you can give? Why?

• How might this apply to offering our whole souls to Jesus Christ?

As you listen to students’ responses, the following questions may be helpful: What do you think it looks like to give your whole soul to Jesus Christ? What might hold a person back from completely devoting themselves to Jesus Christ?

• What do you think it means to offer your whole soul to Jesus Christ?

• Why do you think the Lord asks us to give Him our whole souls?

• Who do you know that is a good example of someone who is trying to give their whole soul to Jesus Christ? How have they been blessed for doing so?

You may want to watch the video “With All Your Heart” (3:26), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, to see an example of a young man who is trying to devote himself completely to the Lord.

Consider drawing a circle that represents your life. Shade in the portion of the circle that you feel best represents how much of yourself you are currently giving to the Lord. Take a moment to ponder how you might more fully give your whole soul to Jesus Christ. Write down one or two ways you will seek to do so and how doing these things might benefit your life.

Understanding and Applying Principles

Recall the principles you identified earlier from Jarom and Omni.

• Which of the principles you identified is most meaningful to you? Why?

• How could you better understand and apply this principle?

• How could living this principle help to better steer your life toward Jesus Christ?

Commentary and Background Information

Omni 1:12–22. Who are the different groups of people mentioned in the book of Omni?

In the book of Omni, we learn of three groups of people whom the Lord brought to the land of promise. The first group mentioned was Lehi’s family and their descendants. A second group, called the people of Zarahemla, or the Mulekites, left Jerusalem and traveled to the Americas around the same time as Lehi’s family. They joined with the Nephites under the rule of King Mosiah (see Omni 1:19). The third group was the Jaredites, who came to the land of promise long before the first two groups. They destroyed themselves in civil wars sometime between 600 and 300 BC. The last king of the Jaredites, a man named Coriantumr, survived the destruction and apparently wandered until he found the people of Zarahemla before dying (see Omni 1:21). The book of Ether contains Moroni’s abridgement of a record of the Jaredites.

Omni 1:26. How can I offer my whole soul to Jesus Christ?

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Each of us is to come to Christ with … uncompromised commitment to His gospel. … In the vernacular of today’s youth, we are to declare ourselves “all in.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Greatest Possession,” Liahona, Nov. 2021, 8)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught the meaning of offering ourselves to the Lord:

Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! (Neal A. Maxwell, “Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness,” Ensign, May 1995, 68)

On the same topic, Elder Maxwell later taught:

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. (Neal A. Maxwell, “Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign, May 2004, 46)

Brother Russell T. Osguthorpe, former Sunday School General President, added:

Giving our will to the Lord is something we do every day. It is not an isolated act. It is not the end, but just the beginning. We can say what He wants said. We can do what He wants done. We can be a witness to the world of God’s Beloved Son—all because we want to do these things. When this change happens in our heart, our gratitude for the Atonement increases so much that we are strengthened by it continually. (Russell T. Osguthorpe, “I Will Give Myself to Him” [Church Educational System devotional for young adults, Nov. 3, 2013])

Supplemental Learning Activities

Jarom 1:9. “The word of the Lord was verified”

If students could benefit from learning more about the promises of the Lord being fulfilled in their lives, invite them to read Jarom 1:5–9, looking for lessons they could learn during the time of Jarom. Help students identify a principle from Jarom 1:9, like as we trust the Lord and keep His commandments, we will obtain His promised blessings. Consider the following questions:

• Why is it important to remember that God’s promises are not always fulfilled immediately?

• What have you learned about the Lord that has given you confidence in His promises?

• What are some other examples from the scriptures where God’s words were eventually fulfilled?

• When has the Lord blessed you or someone you know for keeping His commandments?

As an example of this principle, consider showing the video “Continue in Patience” (2:41) or refer to the talk by the same name by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then of the First Presidency, from the April 2010 general conference.

Omni 1:14–19. The value of scripture

Consider inviting students to think of benefits and blessings they have noticed from studying the scriptures regularly. Students could study Omni 1:14–19, looking for what happened to the Mulekites because they “brought no records with them” from Jerusalem (Omni 1:17). Remind students of what the Spirit said to Nephi—that a whole nation would dwindle in unbelief if he did not obtain the plates of brass from Laban (see 1 Nephi 4:13). The people of Zarahemla were living witnesses of that warning. Consider asking students to list some of the things regular scripture study helps them to remember or think about and list these on the board.