Skip to main content
Faith

Guided Safely Home: Elder Marcus B. Nash Speaks at BYU Devotional

Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered the Devotional address Tuesday in the Marriott Center. Elder Nash spoke on the Plan of Salvation and how it can be our own personal GPS to guide us safely home to our Father in Heaven. 

Elder Nash discussed how knowledge and faith play a vital role in the Plan of Salvation. We need both attributes in order to continuously move forward in life and stay on the right path. 

"Knowledge is only helpful to the degree it is applied," he said. "While it is good to know the plan, that alone is not enough. We must also apply it to our thinking, our decisions, our actions—and that requires faith. Faith is confidence and trust that moves us to act."

Failure to exercise faith can lead us to fall short of our divine potential. Elder Nash gave us a couple suggestions on how to gain faith to avoid falling short. 

"Faith comes by reading, hearing, experimenting upon the word of God and nurturing it with all diligence," Elder Nash said. "When we do this consistently, we will feel swelling motions in our breast, our souls will enlarge, and our understanding will be enlightened."

After creating a foundation of faith and knowledge, Elder Nash discussed two current issues concerning our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.

1. Attack on the Family

Elder Nash quoted Elder Robert D. Hales, who said, "Marriage and family are under attack because Satan knows that they are essential to obtaining eternal life... Satan seeks to destroy our understanding and practice of marriage and family. To choose anything less than the eternal marriage of woman and man is to choose something less than the full, resplendent purpose of our Father's plan! Our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation—making eternal life possible for us—is the greatest expression of love ever made."

2. The Societal Concern About Equality of Woman and Man

Elder Marcus B. Nash
Photo by Jaren S. Wilkey/BYU Photo

"When we contemplate mortality against the backdrop of eternity, we should remember that the title of our God is not 'President' but 'Father,' Elder Nash said. "That alone speaks volumes about the organizational structure that most matters in the Celestial kingdom and eternity. So let's not get too distracted by temporal administrative structure."

"The ultimate equality of woman and man is godhood, something each can only do with the other, by together entering into—and abiding with—the order of the priesthood of the new and everlasting covenant of eternal marriage," he said.

Elder Nash pointed out that the key to our success in the premortal life and in this life is the same: to support the Father's plan. As we go through our lives with knowledge and faith, we may hit stumbling blocks of doubt. Elder Nash warns us not to leave any room open for doubt to enter our hearts. Some think that having questions is a sign of doubt, but Elder Nash gave reassurance that this is not the case.

"Questions and doubt are not the same thing," he said. "We can seek answers to good questions with doubt, or we can do so with faith. The choice is yours."

"Having faith means that we do not know all of the answers to all the questions all of the time, but choose to live our lives consistent with the gospel truths we do know because we trust our God!"

"Remember—we receive a witness after the trial of our faith, not of our doubt!"

"Rather than over- or under-reacting if doubt crosses your mind about what you already know to be true, see doubt for what it is—a natural man impulse that can paralyze your thinking and actions."

_O1A1548.jpg
Photo by Jaren S. Wilkey/BYU Photo


In closing, Elder Nash spoke out to the students to always remember their faith:

"My dearly beloved students, start with what you know to be good and true, and hold to it, lead with it!"

If you missed Elder Nash's address, you can watch it on BYUtv.org.

 

Next Week's Devotional: Rickelle Richards, BYU Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science

The next Devotional address will be held on Tuesday, February 9, at 11:05 a.m., in the Marriott Center. Rickelle Richards, BYU Nutrition, will give the Devotional address. Her remarks will be broadcast live on BYUtv, BYUtv.org, KBYU-TV 11, Classical 89 FM, BYU Radio.

Related Articles

overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=true overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=true overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=true overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=true overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=