Blessings That Come from Sacrifice

This is a talk that I gave in sacrament meeting on August 11, 2019. I usually don't write out my talks word-for-word, but I did this time. Joseph also spoke, and there were about 250 in the congregation! My mind wasn't nervous, but my body seemed to think that I should be; I had those nervous feelings in my stomach, which just plain wasn't fair because it kept tricking my mind into thinking I was nervous!

Anyway, here it is :)

The Gospel Principles manual defines sacrifice as “giving to the Lord whatever He requires of our time, our earthly possessions, and our energies to further His work.” To me, creating an eternal family is the thing most worthy of sacrifice.

When I think of sacrifice, I always think of my dad. My dad hadn’t even heard of the Church before meeting my mom. At the time they met, my mom was a hardworking single mother of two little boys, and my dad was a nice, cigarette-smoking, alcohol- and coffee-drinking Harley Davidson rider. But he didn’t fail to notice his pretty neighbor taking her two- and four-year-old sons to church every Sunday, a sacrifice of her own.

My parents married and had three more children. My dad took the missionary lessons, and for years, he had known that the Church was true. The only thing holding him back from making the covenants he knew to be right was his struggles with the Word of Wisdom—particularly his smoking addiction.

After a long and difficult fight, my dad was finally free of the addiction which had bound him for years. When I was six years old, I sang “I Am a Child of God” at his baptism. When I was seven years old, my family was sealed in the Chicago, IL Temple. My little brother was born into the covenant less than a month later. When I was eight years old, my dad baptized and confirmed me a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was there for me when I went through the Mesa Temple almost exactly two years ago, and he was a witness when Joseph and I were sealed in the Provo City Center Temple on May 3, 2018. He has given me numerous priesthood blessings throughout my growing-up years and in my adult life.

None of these blessings would have been possible without sacrifice. Smoking, in particular, had been an important part of his life—a physical need that his body craved. But he gave it up for something even more important: eternal family.

Another example of sacrifice from my dad was his treatment of my mom’s two sons, my oldest brothers. He adopted them, raised them, and loved them just as any good father loves a son. He went from living the life of a single twenty-something-year-old to being the father of two little boys.

Of course, I couldn’t speak of sons and sacrifice without mentioning our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. A primary song poignantly illustrates sacrifice from three people. As I read the lyrics, listen and see if you can identify the people who sacrifice:

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?

He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?

He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?

He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?

Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.

What does he ask? Live like his Son.

To me, the three people to sacrifice in this song are Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and each of us individually.

First, Heavenly Father. In order for many, if not all, of His children to return to live with Him, He sent His Son to this Earth, where He knew, as recorded in Isaiah 53, His Son would be

“despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;… stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted… wounded for our transgressions… bruised for our iniquities… oppressed… taken from prison and from judgment… [and] cut off out of the land of the living.”

Do you think that Jesus Christ’s health and well-being were important to Heavenly Father? Of course. But “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Heavenly Father sacrificed something important for something even more important: eternal family.

The second to sacrifice in this song is the Savior Himself. I’ve already described much of His sacrifice. Jesus Christ was born, lived, died, and was resurrected for us. He atoned for us, “which suffering,” He said Himself, “caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink…”

Was comfort of spirit and body important to Jesus Christ? Surely it was. But He sacrificed that for something more important: eternal family. “Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:18–19).

Finally, the primary song asks, “What does the Father ask of us?” Each of us, individually, is the final person to sacrifice in this song. I invite you to initiate an attitude of righteous sacrifice in your own life. Perhaps begin by considering the following questions:

What is important to me? What is more important to me? How can I show the Lord what is most important to me?

Perhaps the answers are obvious. In my dad’s case, the promise of eternal family easily beat out smoking and drinking as the most important thing in his life. But the answers aren’t always so clear. President Oaks has said,

“More common are those choices between one action or another. These include choices between good or evil, but more frequently they are choices between two goods.”

Whether sacrifice in your life means giving up an addiction, changing your work habits, putting your education on hold, pursuing your education, paying a full tithe, going out of your comfort zone to share the gospel, or simply choosing between two goods, I promise that Heavenly Father will see and know and recognize your sacrifice. He will give you the strength you need to overcome the pain and discomfort that inevitably accompanies sacrifice. When we give up something important for something more important, Heavenly Father will reward us more than we can imagine.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.