Consecration Quotes
Turning our lives over to God is not really a sacrifice, but it is a great opportunity and blessing. President Ezra Taft Benson said: "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.
He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life to God will find he has eternal life."
In President Benson's opening address of the April 1988 general conference he said:
"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities."
(Ensign, May 1988, p. 4)
"I'm not ashamed to say that I want to be good. And I've found in my life that it has been critically important [to establish this intention] between me and the Lord so that I knew that he knew which way I committed my agency.
I went before Him and said, "I'm not neutral, and you can do with me what you want. If you need my vote, it's there. I don't care what you do with me, and you don't have to take anything from me because I give it to you-- everything, all I own, all I am--," and that makes the difference.
(Boyd K. Packer - "To Those Who Teach in Troubled Times,"
address delivered at seminary and institute conference, Summer 1970, Salt Lake City; quoted by Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ--Gifts and Expectations," Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 4)
"Conversion requires consecrating our lives to caring and serving others who need our help and to sharing our gifts and talents..."
Elder Robert D. Hales, Gen. Conf., April, 1997
"For now, consecration may not require giving up worldly possessions so much as being less possessed by them."
Elder Neal Maxwell, Gen. Conf., Oct. 1992
"Some would never sell Jesus for thirty pieces, but they would not give Him their all either!
Unfortunately, we tend to think of consecration only in terms of property and money. But there are so many ways of keeping back part. One might be giving of money and time and yet hold back a significant portion of himself…One might accept a Church calling but have his heart more set on maintaining a certain role in the world…Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus!
Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory. It brings release from…selfishness and emancipation from the dark prison of pride…Consecration may not require giving up worldly possessions so much as being less possessed by them…Brother and sisters, whatever we embrace instead of Jesus and His work will keep us from qualifying to enter His kingdom and therefore from being embraced by Him."
Neal A. Maxwell: Ensign, Nov. 1992, pp. 66-67 (as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 424)
"Brethren, as you submit your wills to God, you are giving Him the only thing you can actually give Him that is really yours to give. Don't wait too long to find the altar or to begin to place the gift of your wills upon it! No need to wait for a receipt; the Lord has His own special ways of acknowledging."
Neal A. Maxwell, "Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been," General Conference, April 2004
Topic: Consecrating Ourselves
"We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God. Heart, soul, and mind were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first commandment, which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see Matt. 22:37). If kept, then our performances will, in turn, be fully consecrated for the lasting welfare of our souls (see 2 Ne. 32:9)."
Neal A. Maxwell, "Consecrate Thy Performance," Ensign (CR), May 2002, p.36