50. The Scriptures

A talk given by Rebecca Cleverly on Sunday, August 30, 1981, just four days after her seventh birthday, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was printed in the September 1981 issue of the Family Journal. At this time Rebecca was starting as a second grader at Bountiful Elementary.

Today I am going to talk about the scriptures. In our family we have a scripture reading contest. Each person who can read is supposed to read the scriptures every day. And when we read for ten days without skipping a day, we get a prize. But when we skip a day, we have to start all over again.

In our Church we have four scriptures—the Book of Mormon, the Bible, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Now I’m going to read you a story from the Bible about Jesus:

“And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.

“And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.

“Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

“And their eyes were opened” (Matthew 9:27–30).

I love to read the scriptures all by myself with no help. And I know that they are true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

42. An Undelivered Talk

A talk I prepared for the first sacrament meeting of the new school year (on Sunday evening, August 31, 1975) in the BYU 11th Branch, Brigham Young University First Stake, where I was serving as first counselor in the branch presidency. Student congregations at this time were organized into branches rather than wards so that young counselors such as I (I was 26 years old at the time) could continue to serve as elders after leaving the university rather than being ordained high priests. This was about four and a half years before the consolidated meeting schedule was introduced, and sacrament meetings were usually held in the afternoon or evening separate from other Sunday meetings. For various reasons now lost to memory, I never actually gave this talk.

I’m going to try an experiment on you tonight. Never before in my life have I written a talk that I was going to give in church. In the work I do, I sometimes write for others, but I’ve never done it for myself. For a variety of reasons, which I won’t bother you with now, I’m doing it tonight for the first time—partly because there’s a lot I want to say and if I didn’t control myself I would take at least twice as much time as I should.

Let me tell you a bit about me and my family. I have a wonderful wife named Claudia and three precious little children—Michael Adam, who will be two the day after tomorrow; Rebecca, who turned one last week; and Rachael, who is just a little over three weeks old. Both Claudia and I graduated from BYU—she in elementary education, I in English and Portuguese. I served my mission about five years ago in what was then the Brazil North Mission.

For about the last year and a half, I have been working in Salt Lake City for the Presiding Bishopric. I guess my profession would be classified as a technical writer.

My family is very important to me. And I suppose I should mention right now at the beginning that we hold Monday nights sacred. For you home evening is supposed to be only one hour long. For us, because we are a real family, home evening is exactly that—all evening long, from 6:00 P.M., which is when I get home from work, until the next morning when I get up. What I’m saying is simply this: please do not call us on Monday nights. I’m happy to serve you any other day, at any other time, but please Monday night is sacred.

Now, after that little plug, let me get to my talk.

The late Richard L. Evans once said, “Meetings are where you go to learn things you already know but don’t have the time to do because of so many meetings” (quoted by President Harold B. Lee, Regional Representatives’ seminar, Apr. 3, 1969). Somehow I hope we don’t fall into that trap.

The Lord gave us some compelling reasons for being here tonight in sacrament meeting. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read: “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go up to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day” (D&C 59:9).

Elsewhere we read: “And now, behold, 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” (D&C 43:8–9).

So here are two reasons for our being here tonight. First, to partake of the sacrament and, second, to be instructed and edified. I would like to spend a few minutes on this second reason.

President Harold B. Lee made this statement: “One of our brethren who was asked to speak in a sacrament meeting made a statement I would wish could be trumpeted throughout this entire Church. The brother said: ‘No person has a right to occupy the pulpits of this Church in our sacrament meetings unless he is there to preach the gospel.’ I wish that could be understood—that the very purpose of the invitation is to preach the gospel” (Regional Representatives’ seminar, Oct. 3, 1968).

I mention this because throughout this coming year, during these next two semesters, most of you will have an opportunity to stand here to give a talk—either in Sunday School or sacrament meeting. The way we’ve handled it in the past, and we expect to continue again this year, is to invite each of the groups to prepare and provide the services each Sunday. Our experience over the past two years has been that we’ve had some marvelous, inspirational, and instructive meetings—the kind of meeting I think President Lee was referring to in this quote I just read.

One thing I’ve noticed is that often the best talks are those that draw heavily on personal experiences. In fact, it bothers me to have someone stand and excuse himself for using personal examples. I wonder if they’ve ever heard a General Authority speak. President Kimball, for example, has often masterfully used examples from his childhood or youth to teach the great lessons he has to teach. The most powerful witness of the gospel you can bear will grow out of your own struggles, your own confrontations, your own obedience to specific principles. That which you struggle with and overcome is that which the Spirit will bear witness of to you. So never feel ashamed to share yourselves, as the Spirit moves you, in teaching a gospel principle or in bearing witness.

I think one of the most moving experiences in my life came at the close of the October conference two years ago as President Lee was closing the conference. (And, incidentally, it was his very last conference address before he died.) This is what President Lee said:

“And so, in the closing moments of this conference, I have been moved as I have never been moved before in all my life. If it were not for the assurance that I have that the Lord is near to us, guiding, directing, the burden would be almost beyond my strength, but because I know that he is there, and that he can be appealed to, and if we have ears to hear attuned to him, we will never be left alone. . . .

“I thank the Lord that I may have passed some of the tests, but maybe there will have to be more before I shall have been polished to do all that the Lord would have me do.

“Sometimes when the veil has been very thin, I have thought that if the struggle had been still greater that maybe then there would have been no veil.”

And then he makes this powerfully humble statement: “I stand by, not asking for anything more than the Lord wants to give me, but I know that he is up there and he is guiding and directing” (Ensign, Jan. 1974, 129).

I think contained in that last sentence is a great lesson for each of us. “I stand by, not asking for anything more than the Lord wants to give me, but I know that he is up there and he is guiding and directing.” If we could all have that kind of faith! How often do we ask for that which the Lord, in His wisdom, is not yet willing to give us? I’m sometimes guilty of that.

It reminds me of Alma’s exclamation: “O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!” (Alma 29:1).

Now that certainly sounds like a righteous desire, especially today in light of President Kimball’s far-reaching and inspired vision of missionary work. But then Alma wisely and humbly adds this: “But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me” (Alma 29:3).

Now, if we can change gears a little, there are two other things I want to mention before I sit down. First is about the payment of fast offerings. My wife Claudia tells me that when she came here to BYU as a student it was well into her second year of school before it ever occurred to her that she was supposed to be paying fast offerings. She had grown up in the Church in an active, faithful home, where her parents were always faithful in paying their tithes and offerings. But growing up Claudia had never paid fast offerings herself.

So I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to any of you. A minimal offering, and let me emphasize the word minimal, is defined as the cost of the meals that you don’t eat while you are fasting. If we fully understand the law of the fast, then we know that our fast is incomplete until we have given a generous offering to the bishop, who uses these sacred funds to care for the poor, the needy, and the destitute.

The Lord has said this about it: “I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.

“And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.

“But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.

“For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare” (D&C 104:14–17).

And then to us who have been blessed with this abundance He mentions, the Lord gives this significant warning: “Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of the gospel, unto the poor and needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment” (D&C 104:18).

If we give according to the law of the gospel, if we give in the Lord’s own way, we will pay a generous fast offering—for that is the Lord’s way. There is no system of charity that I know of that is more selfless or more pure or more effective. In the first place, when we give to the poor by paying fast offerings no one ever knows who paid the money. Because the giving is in secret, the reward in heaven will be greater. Second, the system is so much more effective than any other charity on earth. I read in the news that some well-known charities in this country have an overhead as big as 60 percent or more. That means that 60 percent of the money I might give them does not go directly to the purpose for which I give it. Even the best charities have a 25 to 30 percent overhead. When I pay fast offerings, I can be confident that every single penny, without exception, goes to benefit the poor. There is no overhead.

President Kimball has said: “I think that when we are affluent as many of us are that we ought to be very, very generous. . . . I think we should be very generous and give, instead of the amount we saved by our two meals of fasting, perhaps much, much more—ten times more where we are in a position to do it” (General Welfare Services meeting, Apr. 6, 1974, 12).

Obviously, many of you are not in a position to do that. But listen to this promise President Marion G. Romney makes: “If we will double our fast offerings, we shall increase our own prosperity, both spiritually and temporally. This the Lord has promised, and this has been the record” (talk to the Priesthood Board, Mar. 6, 1974, 10).

I can personally bear record that that statement is true. Every time Claudia and I find that our budget is too tight, and we see no possible way to make ends meet, we just pay a little more fast offerings. We have never been failed; the Lord has stood by His promise every time, and we have always had enough somehow.

I mentioned that I had two other areas I wanted to discuss with you. Paying fast offerings was one of them. I’ll be brief on the second, since the time is running fast. President Lee a few years ago asked these questions in a Regional Representatives’ seminar, and I quote:

“Are you brethren continually increasing your testimony by diligent study of the scriptures? Do you have a daily habit of reading the scriptures? If we’re not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner, our spirituality isn’t increasing in depth” (Regional Representatives’ seminar, Dec. 12, 1970).

And then President Romney has said this: “The older I grow in the service, the more I turn to the scriptures and try to understand the meaning of what the Lord has said. . . . It is worth our time to study the scriptures and see the depth, as far as we can, of the Lord’s teachings” (General Welfare Services meeting, Oct. 5, 1974, 12).

Scripture study is to the spirit what food is to the body. And some of us seem to be on spiritual diets. We can go days and even weeks at a time never feeding our spirits, and consequently our testimonies grow thinner and thinner until we find ourselves spiritually malnourished.

I can make this promise: If you will consistently and prayerfully search the scriptures for a few moments each day—for 15 minutes if that’s all the time you have—your testimonies will increase, your faith will grow, and you will understand more fully the meaning of what the Lord has said.

And remember, if you’re too busy to study the scriptures, you’re simply too busy.

29. Deliverance and Redemption

A pastoral message written on Tuesday, May 30, 2000, as the bishopric message for the June 2000 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. The same thought was also printed as “A Final Word” in the June 2000 issue of the Cleverly Newsletter. It was also posted on June 4, 2008, on the blogsite The Dawning of a Brighter Day.

When the Lord God brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of Egypt into the promised land, He reminded them that He was giving them cities which they had not built, houses full of good things they had not filled, wells they had not dug, and vineyards they had not planted (see Deuteronomy 6:10–11). Sort of like us today at the dawn of the 21st century.

“Beware,” He cautions them, “lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deuteronomy 6:12).

“And thou shalt remember,” He says unto them later, “that thou wast a bondsman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee” (Deuteronomy 15:15).

This pattern of remembrance runs throughout the scriptures: We are in bondage and the Lord delivers and redeems us. And we are to remember that deliverance and redemption.

Indeed, an important purpose of the scriptures is that “they have enlarged the memory of this people . . . and brought them to the knowledge of their God” (Alma 37:8).

We are enjoined in many places throughout the scriptures to remember the Lord our Redeemer and what He has done both for our fathers and for us. The word “remember,” in some form or another, appears 454 times in the scriptures.

The summer that spreads before us is strewn with opportunities to remember our past, to recall what the Lord has done for our fathers, to recount what blessings we enjoy at His hand.

This past Monday was Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember specifically those who sacrificed their lives in the defense of freedom and more generally all loved ones who have passed on to the other side.

In another ten days is Flag Day, a chance to remember the symbol of our God-given freedoms, a chance to reflect on the opportunities and responsibilities of living in this “sweet land of liberty” (Hymns, 339), “the land of the free and the home of the brave” (Hymns, 340). The Lord Himself referred to it as “a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth” (Ether 1:42).

Three weeks later, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate the birthday of our country and remember again that the Lord has particular designs for the destiny of this nation. He declared, “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I have raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).

And finally, we celebrate Pioneer Day, a wonderful commemoration of the great migration of our forebears to these western valleys. We remember their sacrifices, their devotion, their faith as they fulfilled the ancient prophecy that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose” (Isaiah 35:1) as the Lord “set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people” (Isaiah 11:11; 2 Nephi 21:11).

Deliverance and redemption. May each of us remember. And may each of us declare, as did the Psalmist anciently, “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old” (Psalms 77:11).

10. Searching the Scriptures

A bishopric message written on Thursday afternoon, January 29, 1987, and published in the February 1987 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. This would be my final message as a counselor in the bishopric. In March 1987, after having served as Bishop Delbert H. Strasser’s second counselor for only twenty months, I was called by President F. Michael Watson to serve as a high councilor in the Bountiful Utah South Stake.

The Savior, during His earthly ministry, taught us the importance of studying the scriptures. He said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).

On other occasions He taught similarly. To the Nephites He said, “Behold they [the scriptures] are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them” (3 Nephi 20:11).

In our own day He has said, “Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled” (D&C 1:37).

Apparently the Lord is serious about our searching the scriptures. Why? So that we might come to know Him better. So that through Him we might have eternal life.

The Apostle John wrote that “these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31).

We know that the Book of Mormon was written for the express purpose of convincing people in our day that “Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations” (Book of Mormon title page).

President Ezra Taft Benson has repeatedly counseled us to make a daily study of the Book of Mormon a lifetime pursuit. From his seeric vantage point, he can see the blessings that will come to us as individuals, as families, and as a people if we make the Book of Mormon a thorough and complete part of our daily lives.

In addition to our daily reading in the Book of Mormon, we have this year the great opportunity of studying the New Testament as the adult curriculum in Sunday School. We have sensed an excitement among ward members as we have begun anew the study of the four gospels. We also deeply appreciate the faithful efforts of our two Gospel Doctrine teachers— Eugene Hamilton and Jody Pratt—who are helping to engender this excitement. Their efforts in their classes each Sunday and their marvelous sermons in sacrament meeting on January 11 are helping to promote the kind of love affair we hope each of you will come to have with the holy scriptures.

As I search the holy scriptures,
Loving Father of mankind,
May my heart be blessed with wisdom,
And may knowledge fill my mind.

As I search the holy scriptures,
Touch my spirit, Lord, I pray.
May life's myst'ries be unfolded
As I study day by day.

As I search the holy scriptures,
May thy mercy be revealed.
Soothe my troubled heart and spirit;
May my unseen wounds be healed.

As I search the holy scriptures,
Help me ponder and obey.
In thy word is life eternal;
May thy light show me the way.
(C. Marianne Johnson Fisher, Hymns [1985], 277)

Such is our earnest wish for each of you.

8. Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

A bishopric message written on Tuesday afternoon, July 29, 1986, and published in the August 1986 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. The new hymnbook had been published just the year before, replacing the hymnal that had been in use since 1948. The consolidated meeting schedule, which placed all Sunday meetings in a three-hour block, had been introduced six years earlier.

One of the new hymns in our hymnbook reminds us of one of the important reasons why we keep the Sabbath day holy:

In sweet remembrance of thy Son,
We gather in thy house as one
To join in prayer, to sing thy praise,
To worship thee and learn thy ways.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us gathered here, we pray.

The Lord’s day, as the very name suggests, is “in sweet remembrance” of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a day set apart to help us remember Him more fully, to come to know Him, and to become more like Him. Our thoughts and our actions on this day should all be directed toward these ends: remembering Him, coming to know Him, and becoming more Christlike. Any thought or action that does not help us accomplish these ends is probably not appropriate for the Sabbath day.

Formal worship—which includes singing, praying, partaking of the sacrament, studying His word—is a central and important part of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Our Sabbath observance cannot end, however, when we leave the chapel and return home from our meetings. As this same hymn continues:

And may our thoughts still turn to thee,
With loved ones, friends, and family.
In all we do till day is gone,
May worship still continue on.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our homes, we pray.

An important reason for the change in the Church meeting schedules some years ago was to allow more time for families to be together in home-centered gospel living.

“We are confident,” said President Kimball at that time, “that . . . we will indeed see an upsurge in quality family life, in Christian service, and in attendance at Church meetings” (Ensign, May 1980, 4).

He also said, “We hope our parents are using the added time that has come from the consolidated schedule in order to be with, teach, love, and nurture their children” (Ensign, Nov. 1980, 5).

Finally, we hope that Sunday provides a rich opportunity for studying the scriptures in some depth (even more than the half an hour a day President Benson has asked us to read the Book of Mormon each day during the week).

Help each to seek a quiet hour
To read thy word and feel thy pow’r,
To hear thy voice, though small and still,
Renew our strength to do thy will.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our hearts, we pray.

Clearly, there are few better ways to remember the Lord and come to know Him better than to invest ourselves in serious study of the scriptures, those sacred works which testify of Him and His grace toward us.

May the Lord bless each of us in our keeping His day holy so that we may “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18) and thus have eternal life (see John 17:3).

3. Are Our Testimonies Growing Thinner?

A pastoral message written in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, October 9, 1975, and published in Heaven-11, the BYU 11th Branch newsletter on Monday, October 13. I was serving at the time as first counselor in the branch presidency. Gene Dalton was serving as branch president.

President Harold B. Lee a few years ago asked these questions in a Regional Representatives' seminar: "Are you brethren continually increasing your testimony by diligent study of the scriptures? Do you have a daily habit of reading the scriptures? If we're not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner, our spirituality isn't increasing in depth" (Dec. 12, 1970).

If such counsel is necessary for seasoned and experienced servants of the Lord, men who are mature in the gospel, how necessary it must be for us then—those of us who are just beginning along the path—to read and study and ponder the scriptures every day.

It may be useful to remember that scripture study is to the spirit what food is to the body. And some of us seem to be on spiritual diets. We can go days and even weeks at a time never feeding our spirits, and consequently our testimonies grow thinner and thinner until we find ourselves spiritually malnourished.

Fortunately, the adult curriculum of the Church is designed to help us study the scriptures. This year we are studying the second half of the New Testament—Acts through Revelation. For priesthood bearers, the Melchizedek Priesthood study guide this year takes a doctrinal approach to these particular scriptures. For the sisters, the Relief Society spiritual living lessons are based in these same scriptures. And then for all of us, the Sunday School gospel doctrine lessons provide historical and other background to enrich our overall study of the New Testament. In addition, the Church magazines offer invaluable resource material.

With all this help, if we can't study the scriptures this year and understand them, when will be able to?

President Marion G. Romney, of the First Presidency, has said, "The older I grow in the service, the more I turn to the scriptures and try to understand the meaning of what the Lord has said. . . . It is worth our time to study the scriptures and see the depth, as far as we can, of the Lord's teachings" (General welfare services meeting, Oct. 5, 1974, 12).

As a branch presidency, we would like to challenge each of you to study the scriptures for at least fifteen minutes a day. And we can make this promise: If you will consistently and prayerfully search the scriptures, your testimonies will increase, your faith will grow, and you will understand more fully the meaning of what the Lord has said.

2. Are We on Spiritual Diets?

A pastoral message from the BYU 11th Branch newsletter, Heaven-11, as a message from the branch presidency on February 2, 1975.

In the preface to His Book of Commandments, the Lord mentions one of the reasons He gives us scriptures: "That faith also might increase in the earth" (D&C 1:21). Obviously, our faith will not increase unless we read and study and ponder the scriptures. Scripture study becomes to the spirit what food is to the body.

President Harold B. Lee, speaking to the Regional Representatives of the Twelve, put it this way: "Are you brethren continually increasing your testimonies by diligent study of the scriptures? Do you have a daily habit of reading the scriptures? If we're not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner, our spirituality isn't increasing in depth" (Regional Representatives' seminar, Dec 12, 1070).

Some of us seem to be on spiritual diets. We can go days and weeks at a time never feeding our spirits, and consequently our testimonies grow thinner and thinner until we find ourselves spiritually malnourished.

I was impressed when I recently encountered this statement by President Marion G. Romney, of the great prophets of this dispensation: "The older I grow in the service, the more I turn to the scriptures and try to understand the meaning of what the Lord has said. . . . It is worth our time to study the scriptures and see the depth, as far as we can, of the Lord's teachings" (Welfare session of general conference, Oct. 5, 1974).

If you will consistently and prayerfully search the scriptures for a few moments each day—for fifteen minutes if that's all the time you have—I can promise that your testimonies will grow, that your faith will increase, and that you will understand the meaning of what the Lord has said.