Elder Weatherford T. Clayton, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expressed his sincere desire for students to build their foundation on Jesus Christ during Tuesday's BYU Devotional.
"When a person comes to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and hears their words and lives by them, he is building his house upon the rock," Clayton said. "And regardless of Satan’s efforts to destroy it, this type of house won’t fall."
According to Clayton, the first step of building upon the rock of Jesus Christ parallels the first principle of the gospel: faith.
"As we act with faith in Him, the Lord confirms our faith by blessing us with peace, answers to prayer, direction, comfort and joy," Clayton said. "And our foundation becomes stronger, wider and deeper."
Referring to the New Testament, Clayton explained the word "repentance" comes from the words meta and noeó, which means "to change one's mind or purpose." As such, any faithful act that points toward the Savior could be considered repentance.
"Though we all repent of things in our lives that are sinful, most of our repenting comes from hearing His words and doing them," Clayton said. "This builds our foundation and we want that foundation to be as big and as wide and as deep and sturdy as possible."
These steps of exercising faith and repentance lead individuals to enter into covenants with God by receiving sacred ordinances like baptism and confirmation. Those ordinances help individuals exemplify other gospel actions in their own lives, including following present-day prophets and apostles.
"When we stand upon our foundation with the Savior and His apostles, we can see much more clearly what is true and what is not," said Clayton. "With the clear and magnificent light of the Savior, aided by the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost, we can detect the temptations of clever Satan in his efforts to weaken our faith."
In closing, Clayton offered encouragement to those in attendance who may have stepped off the rock of faith, surrounded by mists of darkness, but are wanting to return.
"Regardless of where you find yourself off your foundation, you can come back," Clayton said. "The Savior’s atonement is real and through Him we have power to resist any of Satan’s temptations and be forgiven for our sins."
Next Forum: Doris Kearns-Goodwin, presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author
The next BYU Forum address will be given by Doris Kearns-Goodwin, presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, on Tuesday, March 21, at 11:05 a.m., in the Marriott Center.
