Families
Can Be Together Forever
The
priesthood power to bind families eternally is one of the greatest gifts of
God. Every person who understands the plan of salvation longs for that lasting
blessing. Only in sealing ceremonies performed in dedicated temples of The
Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day
Saints does God offer the promise that families can be bound together forever.
The
priesthood keys that make this possible were restored to the earth by the
prophet Elijah to Joseph
Smith in the Kirtland
Temple. Those priesthood keys have been passed in an unbroken line through
living prophets in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the
present day.
The
Savior in His mortal ministry spoke of the power to seal families in words to
Peter, His chief Apostle, when He said, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye
shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
It is
only in the celestial kingdom that we can live in families forever. There we
can be in families in the presence of our Heavenly Father and the Savior. The
Prophet Joseph Smith described that wonderful experience this way in the Doctrine and Covenants:
“When the Savior shall appear we shall see him as he is. We
shall see that he is a man like ourselves.
“And
that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only
it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy” (D&C 130:1–2).
This
scripture suggests that we can with confidence aim for a heavenly standard in
our relationships within our families. We can care enough about our familymembers,
living and dead, to do all that we can to offer them the priesthood ordinances
that will bind us in heaven.
Many of you, young and old, are doing that. You have looked for
names of ancestors who have not yet received the ordinances that can seal you
together.
Almost all of you have living relatives who have not been sealed
in families by priesthood power. Many have living relatives who have received
priesthood ordinances but are not keeping the covenants they made with God. God
will bless you that you will be able to help reach out to all of those
relatives in faith. You have a promise that the Lord makes to His disciples who
go to bring others to Him:
“And
whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I
will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your
hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).
From my office window I see brides and grooms every day having
their pictures taken among beautiful flowers and shooting fountains. The groom
often carries his bride in his arms, at least for a few staggering steps, while
the photographer shoots wedding pictures. Every time I see that, I think of
couples I have known who in time—sometimes in a very short time after their
wedding day—had to carry each other in other ways when life became hard. Jobs
can be lost. Children can be born with great challenges. Illness can come. And
then, habits of having done unto others as we would have them do unto us—when
it was easier—will make us heroes and heroines in those trying times when it
takes more than we thought we had in us.
We owe
our families the kind of relationship we can take into the presence of God. We
must try not to give offense or take offense. We can determine to forgive
quickly and fully. We can try to seek the happiness of others above our own. We
can be kind in our speech. As we try to do all these things, we will invite the Holy
Ghost into our
families and into our lives.
My assurance to you is that, with the Lord’s help and with
repentant hearts, we can catch a glimpse in this life of the kind of life we
want to have forever. Heavenly Father loves us. He wants us back with Him. The
Savior, through the power of His Atonement, makes possible the change in our
hearts we need to make in order to enter holy temples, make covenants we can
then keep, and in time live in families forever in celestial glory—home again.
Teaching from This Message
As you
share the doctrine of eternal families, consider what Elder Richard G. Scott of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said: “Always seek to strengthen
families. Teach with a vision of the importance of families being sealed in the
temple. … When you have the vision of the sealing ordinances of the temple, you
will help build the kingdom of God on earth” (“I Have Given You an Example,” Liahona, May
2014, 34). How can you help those you teach develop a vision of the importance
of being sealed in the temple? Invite those who have not yet been sealed to
discuss steps they could take toward that ordinance. Invite those who have been
sealed to discuss how they can keep the vision of their eternal family and work
to improve their relationships with one another.
Youth
Eternally
Linked to My Family
By Laura Burton
The author lives in Utah, USA.
When I
was adopted at age three, my birth mother allowed the adoption to be finalized only if my parents
agreed to have my Church ordinances done after I turned 12. She thought I
needed to be old enough to make the choice for myself, but it was really difficult
to wait.
Yes, it
was hard to see many of my friends get baptized when they turned eight, but
what was even harder was knowing I couldn’t be sealed to my adoptive parentsand five older siblings until
I was 12. I was scared that something would happen to me and I wouldn’t be able
to be sealed to them.
As my
12th birthday approached, we began planning for my baptism and sealing to my family.
My parents let me choose which temple we would be sealed in. I had always
thought that the San Diego California Temple was the most beautiful, so my
entire family agreed to drive to California for the sealing.
I couldn’t wait to become an eternal family with my parents and
siblings. During my sealing, I felt the Spirit so strongly that it is hard to
put into words. Now that I am finally sealed to my family, my feelings of worry
have been replaced with comfort and peace, knowing I am now eternally linked to
them.
Children
Looking to the Temple
President
Eyring explains that because of the priesthood, we have the chance to go to the
temple to be sealed together with our family for eternity. Draw or find a picture
of your favorite temple and keep it in a place where you will see it every day.
Make a list of how you will prepare to go to the temple someday.
“Forever is Eternal”
cji
6/1/15
Families formed
within marriage
women and men and
children
entering the Temple
as a one
invited into the
Lord’s home
sacred ordinances to
make
great the blessing
bounded
fulfilling the
Commandments
cleaving together to
be one
millennium of time
this done
lost to so many for
centuries
restored in these
latter-days
families can be
together forever
forever is eternal (1
Peter 3:7)
heirs with Father and
Son
families sealed in
the Temple!
Copyright © 2015 –
cji
