When I drive home from work each day, it is easy for me to put myself into autopilot. The next thing I know, I’m pulling into my driveway, conscious of what I'm doing but putting little thought into where I am going.
At times, I find myself doing the same thing when I partake of the sacrament.
It should not be this way because renewing baptismal covenants is a highly consequential matter. When we partake of the sacrament, we should contemplate what a covenant is, what promises we make and what blessings can be ours if we honor our covenants.
Covenant
In theological terms, the word “covenant,” according to Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology is “of Latin origin (con venire), meaning a coming together. … The preferred meaning of this Old Testament word is bond; a covenant refers to two or more parties bound together. … The New Testament word for covenant has usually been translated as covenant, but testimony and testament have also been used.”
While the Greek word suggests two equal parties, meaning the covenant relationship is bilateral, covenants that God establishes with human beings are not bilateral — they are unilateral. God “initiates, determines the elements, and confirms his covenant with humanity. Human beings are recipients, not contributors; they are not expected to offer elements to the bond; they are called to accept it as offered, to keep it as demanded, and to receive the results that God, by oath, assures will not be withheld” (see Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology).
Other types of covenants in Bible times were treaties between biblical kings (suzerains) and subjects (vassals). They also teach us about covenant relationships with God. They, too, were determined by the king and were not to be altered or annulled. They remind God’s subjects that the king, “as lord over the vassals has spared them in battle, delivered them from extenuating circumstances, and placed them in situations of life and well-being. This is an undeserved favor. … (They remind us) how the king will govern us and what we are to do in obedient response to him,” according to the definition in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.
The definition on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website, lds.org, succinctly reiterates: “A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and he promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience.”
Promises
Perhaps the best, most succinct description of the promises we make to God when we are baptized, which we renew each week as we partake of the sacrament, are found in Mosiah 18:8-10. My reading suggests eight parts to the covenants we renew weekly:
- We agree to “be called his people” (see verse 8). We take every opportunity to acknowledge that we are disciples of Jesus Christ in word and deed.
- We commit to “bear one another’s burdens, that they might be light” (see verse 8). We willingly help lighten the afflictions that trouble others, whatever they may be: physical, mental, emotional or economic.
- We are willing to “mourn with those that mourn” (see verse 9). “Jesus wept” (see John 11:35). The Savior of the world sat and wept with those who wept and grieved. We are to feel compassion and love for others and empathize with their sorrows.
- We promise to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (see verse 9). We reach out to, listen, aid, assuage, provide material and emotional assistance, and wrap our arms around those who need solace.
- We promise to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (see verse 9). We always and unflinchingly testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind, and of the reality of his Atonement.
- We “witness before him that ye have covenanted with him, that ye will serve him” (see verse 10). We give our full effort in every charitable act and in whatever calling we are given as we serve in God’s kingdom and church.
- We covenant to “keep his commandments” (see verse 10). We do not pick and choose; we strive to obey every commandment of God.
- We promise to do these things “even until death” (see verse 9). We promise to endure to the end, to keep these promises until our last breath.
Blessings If we fulfill God’s requirements, he promises us:
- We will be “redeemed of God” (see verse 9). If we repent and call upon God for forgiveness, we can be redeemed from our sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
- We will be “numbered with those of the first resurrection” (see verse 9). “There is an order in which the dead will come forth. Those being resurrected with celestial bodies, whose destiny is to inherit a celestial kingdom, will come forth in the morning of the first resurrection,” according to "Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual."
- We will “have eternal life” (see verse 9). “The phrase ‘eternal life’ refers not only to everlasting life but also and more particularly to the quality of life God lives," according to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, online at eom.byu.edu.
- He will “pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you” (see verse 10). The Holy Ghost will be more and more active in our lives. Oliver Cowdery, an early leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, provided an example of one way this can occur as he described his experience after being baptized: “Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of” (see Joseph Smith-History 1:74).
Partaking of the sacrament should never be an autopilot experience. Covenants are highly sacred and must be treated as such. That the baptismal covenant is to be renewed weekly suggests the need for deep contemplation as well as the profound seriousness of recommitting and reviewing our standing before God. Kristine Frederickson writes on issue-oriented topics that affect members of the LDS Church worldwide in her column “LDS World." She teaches part time at BYU. Her views do not necessarily represent those of BYU.