McConkie - The Beauty of Holiness - April 2017

Sister McConkie speaks about holiness during her address to the women of the church.  She shares that holiness is in our desires and abilities to follow the Savior and make Him the center of our lives.

• I see the beauty of holiness in sisters whose hearts are centered on all that is good, who want to become more like the Savior. They offer their whole soul, heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord in the way that they live every day. Holiness is in the striving and the struggle to keep the commandments and to honor the covenants we have made with God. Holiness is making the choices that will keep the Holy Ghost as our guide. Holiness is setting aside our natural tendencies and becoming “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.” “Every moment of [our lives] must be holiness to the Lord.”
  

In order to become holy, we must be centered in Christ.  This means that we are baptized, receive cleansing from the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and partake of the sacrament weekly in an effort to keep us on the right path.  As we do these things, we become one with God and worthily receive the cleansing promised from the atonement of Christ.

• Our hope for holiness is centered in Christ, in His mercy and His grace. With faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we may become clean, without spot, when we deny ourselves of ungodliness and sincerely repent. We are baptized by water for the remission of sins. Our souls are sanctified when we receive the Holy Ghost with open hearts. Weekly, we partake of the ordinance of the sacrament. In a spirit of repentance, with sincere desires for righteousness, we covenant that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ, remember Him, and keep His commandments so that we may always have His Spirit to be with us. Over time, as we continually strive to become one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, we become partakers of Their divine nature.
  

Part of becoming one with God is keeping our covenants.

• Most often it is the sacrifices we make to keep our covenants that sanctify us and make us holy.
  

Sister McConkie talks about activities in our lives that bring us closer to this oneness with the Lord and gives us several examples of things we can do to encourage this oneness to grow.

• If we will keep the associated covenants, the sacred priesthood ordinances will change us, sanctify us, and prepare us to enter the presence of the Lord.
  
  • So we bear one another’s burdens; we strengthen one another. We retain a remission of sins when we give spiritual and temporal relief to the poor, the hungry, the naked, and the sick. We keep ourselves unspotted from the world when we keep the Sabbath day and worthily receive the sacrament on the Lord’s holy day.
    
  • We bless our families and make our homes holy places. We bridle our passions so that we may be filled with pure and lasting love. We reach out to others in kindness, with compassion, and stand as witnesses of God. We become a Zion people, of one heart and one mind, a pure people who dwell together in unity and righteousness. “For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness.”
    

She reminds us that holiness is a gift of the spirit and is given to us as we are worthy to receive it.

• Holiness is a gift of the Spirit. We accept this gift when we choose to do those things that will increase the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost in our lives.
  

Sister McConkie uses the story of Mary and Martha visiting with the Savior to encourage our personal reflection on how we are coming to the Savior in our personal lives.

• If we would be holy, we must learn to sit at the feet of the Holy One of Israel and give time to holiness. Do we set aside the phone, the never-ending to-do list, and the cares of worldliness? Prayer, study, and heeding the word of God invite His cleansing and healing love into our souls. Let us take time to be holy, that we may be filled with His sacred and sanctifying Spirit. With the Holy Ghost as our guide, we will be prepared to receive the Savior in the beauty of holiness.
  

Sister McConkie ask us several questions that will encourage our personal reflections on where we stand with the Lord.

• Do we see our utter dependence on the grace and mercy of Christ, our Lord? Do we recognize that every good gift, temporal and spiritual, comes to us through Christ? Do we remember that according to the Father’s eternal plan, peace in this life and the glories of eternity are ours only in and through His holy Son?
  

She concludes with her testimony of the Savior.

• I testify that as we come unto the Holy One of Israel, His Spirit will come upon us, that we may be filled with joy and receive a remission of sins and peace of conscience.
  

I appreciate Sister McConkie's words about personal reflection.  Becoming holy is a process.  It is not an overnight occurrence but is built upon day after day as we enhance our relationship with the Savior.  Through baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost and the sacrament, we are able to show our commitment to the Savior to follow Him.  As we follow Him, we learn to be more like Him.  As we are more like Him, our thoughts and actions are inline with His teachings and we gradually have our thoughts and actions become what He wants us to have.  When we are making decisions and having thoughts that are inline with the Savior, we are reaching that holiness that Sister McConkie is referring to.  When we reach this level of holiness, we are truly becoming one with God on a daily basis.  It is my prayer that we can all grow in holiness to this point of oneness with God through Christ.