Covenants with God Are Liberating, Not Limiting

By President Camille N. Johnson

Relief Society General President

The world tells us that making covenants with God is limiting, but they yoke us with the Savior, giving us a measure of His strength and power.

The Savior invites us to be yoked with Him, and He tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (see Matthew 11:28–30). Being yoked with Him means we are connected, similar to how oxen are connected in a yoke. Two oxen, yoked and working on the same objective, can carry more weight than a single ox. This is what it means to be bound to the Savior through covenants: He will share our burdens and help us lift our load on the uphill climb toward exaltation.

Korihor’s Deception

Let us not be deceived by Satan on this point. The story of Korihor, in Alma 30 in the Book of Mormon, is instructive.

Korihor, the anti-Christ, mocked the people for believing the traditions of their fathers and mothers. He said they were “bound down under a foolish and a vain hope,” saying, “Why do ye yoke yourselves with such foolish things?” (verse 13).

He preached that there is no need for a Savior because we prosper according to our own genius and conquer according to our own strength. He called the believers frenzied and deranged. He taught that you must see in order to know. He preached that death was the end—so do whatever makes you feel good. (See verses 13–28.)

Of priesthood ordinances, he said, “I do not teach this people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordinances … which are laid down by ancient priests, to usurp power and authority over them, to keep them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, but be brought down” (verse 23).

Do we see similar teachings in our day?

Are we similarly mocked and called foolish for believing in the Savior?
Are we told our minds must be frenzied to believe in something we haven’t seen?
Have we heard that being bound to God through ordinances and covenants is restrictive?

Photograph © Steve Callahan | Dreamstime.com

A Covenant Relationship Is Liberating

The same tactics Korihor used to lead away many women and men are being used against us now. Like Korihor, the world tells us that being bound or yoked with the Savior means we are “bound down” or “bound up,” incapable of movement or progression. We must discover for ourselves that a covenant relationship with God is liberating, not limiting! “There is no other head whereby ye can be made free,” King Benjamin taught. “Therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ” (Mosiah 5:8).

Covenant keepers are blessed by God’s power. Keeping our covenants liberates, empowers, and brings us peace. President Russell M. Nelson has taught that “the reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to His higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God.”

I know that is true.

By choosing to be bound to my Savior through the covenants I have made with God, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). My efforts to keep my covenants—though not perfect—have been rewarded with an increased capacity to do what has been asked of me. I have been blessed with a greater capacity to serve. I have been blessed with the inspiration I need to do the Lord’s work in the ways He would have me do it. With faith in the Lord, I have been blessed to face my challenges with optimism. It is God’s power that eases my way—albeit a way that is uphill!

But we must exercise our agency to access this power. As my counselor Sister Anette Dennis taught, “When we use our agency to choose to enter a covenant relationship with [God], we are witnessing to Him that we want Him to be more deeply involved in our lives and that we are willing to pay the price to receive the increased power and privileges that come with that covenant relationship.”

Come to the Temple

We receive that power as we walk on the covenant path back to our heavenly home. We enter the covenant path when we are baptized and confirmed. We enter it more completely in the house of the Lord. As a Relief Society General Presidency, we desire that all our sisters have access to the liberating blessings of a covenant relationship with God, including the power of God available to those who make and keep covenants and worship in the house of the Lord.

President Nelson taught: “Everything taught in the temple, through instruction and through the Spirit, increases our understanding of Jesus Christ. His essential ordinances bind us to Him through sacred priesthood covenants. Then, as we keep our covenants, He endows us with His healing, strengthening power.”

The blessing of receiving God’s power depends on our making covenants with God by participating in priesthood ordinances, which yoke us with Him.

As a presidency, we seek to help each sister desire and develop a covenant relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We desire to see our sisters endowed in the house of the Lord, opening the door to spiritual privileges and exaltation, bound to the Savior and empowered through ordinances and covenants. We promise that as you make and keep covenants, you will be blessed by the liberating power available to covenant keepers.