--- title: Temple Covenants date: 2025-11-10T08:42:00-07:00 author: Matt Bloomfield canonical_url: "https://www.mlj.one/church/talks/temple-covenants" section: Blog --- [ ← Church Talks ](https://www.mlj.one/church/talks) Talk November 10, 2025 # Temple Covenants I gave this talk on April 21, 2024 in the White Mountain YSA Sacrament Meeting at the historic Social Hall in Snowflake, Arizona, per an assignment from President Todd Burk. . --- In recent conference addresses, President Russell M. Nelson taught: - “The safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!” - “Everything we believe and every promise God has made to His covenant people come together in the temple.” - “Each person who makes covenants … in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ.” He also taught that “once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy.” ### Temples & Covenants In General Conference a few months ago we heard a lot about temples and covenants. Strangely, I don’t think I’d realized how tightly bound temples and covenants were. We often talk about sealings, initiatory, baptisms for the dead, the endowment. But I’d never made the connection that each one of those is either directly a covenant or preparation for making a covenant. Everything we do in the temple is to help either ourselves or others make covenants with the Lord. Is it any wonder, then, why President Nelson and other recent presidents of the church have focused so much on building more temples throughout the earth? As President Nelson taught in the most recent conference address, “Priesthood keys give us the authority to extend all of the blessings promised to Abraham to every covenant-keeping man and woman. Temple work makes these exquisite blessings available to all of God’s children, regardless of where or when they lived or now live. Let us rejoice that priesthood keys are once again on the earth!” ### Love & Covenants God’s love is manifest to us via covenants. Elder Christofferson taught us a few years ago that while there are many wonderful descriptors of God’s love, “unconditional” is not a phrase that appears in the scriptures. This understanding is key to our understanding of who God is. When I was a missionary in Sweden, I was teaching a young man who was Christian about the Book of Mormon. I was excited because not many people believed in God at all. But as he read the account of Nephi and Laban, he grew angry. “This is not the God I believe in,” he told me. I talked to him about the Old Testament, but to no avail. His understanding of God didn’t match what he read and this affected his understanding of the text and his relationship with God. Similarly, if we understand God to love unconditionally, it could lead us to believe that he doesn’t require anything of us. That he does not want us to change. - D Todd Christofferson: Nevertheless, God’s greater blessings are conditioned on obedience. President Russell M. Nelson explained: “The resplendent bouquet of God’s love—including eternal life—includes blessings for which we must qualify, not entitlements to be expected unworthily. Sinners cannot bend His will to theirs and require Him to bless them in sin \[see Alma 11:37\]. If they desire to enjoy every bloom in His beautiful bouquet, they must repent.” ### Restoration of Covenant Knowing how important our covenants are helps us grow our appreciation for Joseph Smith’s role as the prophet of the restoration. It is through his sacrifices that much of the covenants were revealed. Indeed, the purpose of the restoration of the gospel is to restore the new and everlasting covenant and bring us into the fold of God. ### Promises Made Covenants require things of us. They bind us to God. They are promises we make that let us trust more fully in his love and blessings for us. When we talk about the covenant path, there are four major milestones in which me make covenants. These are serious commitments. As President Nelson reminded us, “once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever.” - Baptism - we covenant to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, - to always remember Him, and - to keep His commandments. - We also promise “to serve him to the end” - Oath & Covenant of the Priesthood - Live worthy of the priesthood - Magnify our callings - Endowment - Too sacred to discuss - our promise to obey and sacrifice, to consecrate unto the Father, and His promise to empower us with ‘a great endowment.’” - Sealing - Faithfulness to God - Faithfulness to spouse ### Repentance & Forgiveness Covenants give us access to the atonement of Jesus Christ and make it possible to repent. After all, it is through the covenant of baptism that we are promised a remission of our sins. One of the primary mechanisms of repentance is the opportunity to renew broken covenants. This is the purpose of the sacrament. When we take the sacrament we not only renew our baptismal covenants but all covenants we have made with the Lord. ### Reminders of Covenants Just as the sacrament allows us to renew our covenants, it also reminds us we have made them in the first place. What good is it to make sacred promises to the Lord but then forget you made them? Again, when I was a missionary, I was talking with a recently returned missionary about why we wore nametags and dressed in a shirt and tie. My companion and I were talking about how it makes us recognizable, professional, and straightforward. The recent RM had a different view which changed my understanding, “When I call you Elder Bloomfield, it reminds you that you are set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ. When you look down and you see Jesus Christ on your nametag, worn over your heart, it reminds you who you serve. When you look at your white shirt and tie you can think of the priesthood you hold and the ordinances you can perform. President Kimball was known for talking about the word “remember.” - When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be remember. Because all of \[us\] have made covenants our greatest need is to remember. That is why everyone goes to sacrament meeting every Sabbath day to take the sacrament and listen to the priests pray that \[we\] may always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given \[us\] What other reminders do we have of our covenants? President Oaks made it clear that the Temple Garments, worn by each endowed member of the church, are a reminder of those covenants we make. - we are instructed to wear temple garments continuously, with the only exceptions being those obviously necessary. Because covenants do not “take a day off,” to remove one’s garments can be understood as a disclaimer of the covenant responsibilities and blessings to which they relate. In contrast, persons who wear their garments faithfully and keep their temple covenants continually affirm their role as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Additionally, pictures of the temple, the Savior, and even having scriptures around our home can be reminders of the covenants we have made. These pictures can be in our homes but also on our phones and in our cars. Anywhere we feel we need a reminder is a good place to put one! ### Conclusion God loves us and wants to make sacred covenants with us. Covenants are largely made in the Holy Temple. Our access to the atonement of Jesus Christ increases as we make covenants. As imperfect people, we need opportunities to repent and renew our covenants. Each of us needs reminders of the covenants we have made. I want to bear my testimony that covenants bring us closer to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. Covenants are a sign of God’s love for us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and his love is perfect, infinite, and healing. We need Him, and he wants to be bound with us so that he can heal us and our burdens may be light. I bear testimony of his ability to do so, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.