Receiving God’s Law

When you receive commandments from God, how do you incorporate them into your life?

As ancient Israel prepared to enter the promised land, the Lord gave the following instructions:

These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

There is no room for grudging obedience in this description of a devout life. The law is not ancillary, a box to be checked before getting on to the real work of living. It is an integral part of daily life, intentionally kept front and center.

The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi expressed a similar wholehearted engagement with the gospel when he wrote:

We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

2 Nephi 25:26

In 1831, after giving the much-anticipated Law of the Church (Doctrine and Covenants 42), the Lord taught church members how to receive it:

I give unto you a commandment, that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments, which I have given.

And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church, and be sanctified by that which ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me.

Doctrine and Covenants 43:8-9

A few observations about this passage:

1. It’s not as simple as hearing the law and complying with it. We may not fully understand it or appreciate its implications the first time we hear it.
2. Talking about it with other people and hearing their perspectives can help you understand it better.
3. When we love the law, we want to obey it completely. You will not only want to live generally in harmony with it, but also to “act upon the points” of the law—the details.
4. The law brings us closer to God, so that we can be sanctified. (See also Doctrine and Covenants 88:34.)
5. We also receive the law by binding ourselves to follow it. Just as the ancient Israelites would symbolically tie the law to their hands and to their foreheads, we make covenants in which we commit to act and think in accordance with God’s law in every circumstance in which we may find ourselves.

Today, I will strive to fully receive God’s law. I will speak of it. I will reflect on it. I will seek not just to comply but to incorporate it into my life with wholehearted devotion.