“By choosing for ourselves, we could learn not only to control our actions, but to lift our desires, to elevate our goals and ultimately, to want what our Father wants,” Brennan Platt explained in his Tuesday morning devotional at the Marriott Center.
Platt, a professor and associate chair of the Economics Department, reminded the audience of the incredible power of choice, both in everyday life and in the grand eternal plan of Heavenly Father.
Platt emphasized that everyone once made a vital choice long before this life, in the premortal council with our Heavenly Father, to come to earth and learn to use their agency to follow Him.
“This mortal experience wasn’t meant to be an earthly joyride, where the only objective was to come back clean,” Platt explained. “Rather, Father wanted to cultivate His godly attributes in us. That would require more than forced obedience. We needed agency.”
Platt went on to illustrate how the principle of consecration builds on agency. It’s not just about giving things up but dedicating all we have to God’s work.
“Sacrifice is an important test of our obedience and of our trust in the Lord, when we choose to give up something that He has requested,” Platt said.
Platt and his wife had three children before health concerns made it difficult for them to continue growing their family. They followed promptings and started looking into the foster care system.
He shared his family’s experience of fostering 21 children, highlighting that consecration means continually listening, choosing and using our gifts for God’s purposes.
“We felt that we had surplus love, energy and resources that we could share with more children,” he explained. “And who better to help than the most vulnerable, whose birth homes are currently insufficient, for whatever amount of time they would need it?”
The experience of fostering children taught Platt about sacrifice and the infinite love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He testified that Jesus Christ willingly paid the infinite cost for us, not because we could ever repay Him, but because our repentance brings Him joy, not disappointment.
“We will be one with Him. He will be overjoyed that we are there, to the point that He, the Great Jehovah, Alpha and Omega, will declare each of our names there, as our Advocate and our Friend,” Platt testified.
