Bound to Christ - Mosiah 5

I love Mosiah 5. This is where King Benjamin's sermon all comes together. After teaching us how to serve, why we need the Savior, and what true repentance looks like, he shows us what happens when we fully accept the covenant. We become different people.

 

Verse 2 has always been one of my favorites:

 

"The Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent... has wrought a mighty change in us... that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

 

The Spirit of the Lord really does bring a mighty change in us.

 

Many years ago, I wrote in the margin of my scriptures, When we have a fulness of joy, we have a change of heart and no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. I still believe that. This kind of change doesn't happen simply because we try harder. It comes as we yield our hearts to the Savior and allow His Spirit to change us.

 

Just about every time I participate in an endowment session at the temple, one phrase echoes in my mind: "when you repent with real intent." Those words have become deeply personal to me. Real repentance isn't simply feeling sorry for our sins. It is reaching the point where, through the Savior's grace, we truly desire to leave them behind. That is the miracle King Benjamin is describing.

 

I always smile when I come to verse 7. Many years ago, I memorized it by singing it to the tune of "Happy Birthday." Amazingly, I can still recite it today!

 

"Because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters."

 

What a beautiful truth. Through our covenants with Jesus Christ, we are born of Him. We become His sons and His daughters. We take His name upon us, and He claims us as His own.

 

As I read this chapter, another thought came to mind: How can we truly know a Master we have never served? Service and loyalty go hand in hand. The more faithfully we serve Him, the better we come to know Him.

 

For me, the entire chapter is beautifully summarized in verse 15:

 

"Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his..."

 

I have thought a great deal about those words: "seal you his." What an incredible blessing! Through our covenants, we are not only promised eternal blessings—we are bound to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We become His covenant people. There is something deeply comforting about belonging to Him.

 

Being bound to Christ gives us strength when we are weak, hope when life is difficult, and confidence that He will never abandon those who faithfully keep their covenants. That covenant relationship is the key to everlasting salvation and eternal life.

 

Those are goals worth every effort we make.