I spoke in church today so I thought I'd post the basic text of my talk. They gave me an option of several broad topics, including the Temple. . . . So. . since the Temple is such a big part of my life. . . I chose to speak on Temples. I thought the High Councilman speaking after me was going to talk on the same general topics. . . so I kind of geared my talk thinking it would build up to his talk. . . . He talked about a different subject. Oh well. Here's the text of my talk. I know there are some typos, but I'm too lazy to fix them at the moment. :)BUILDING FAITH THAT MOTIVATES ME TO GO TO THE TEMPLE
The Temple is something that is on my mind often, for many reasons. I see the Temple all the time. I see Temples when I go to work. I see our Temple whenever I go anywhere and even when I close my daughter's curtains before we tuck her in bed. I hear about the Temple in the hymns and primary songs we sing at home. I feel the Temple through keeping the covenants I have made with God in the Temple and I feel the pull to the Temple when I learn of my ancestors and feel their need to go to the Temple as my need.
Yet as often as the Temple is on my mind and in my heart, I often need to build the faith to go to the Temple. I go to the Temple about once a month. . sometimes more. . sometimes less. Those months where I go more than once a month are typically good months for me. Those are months when the things I have chosen to think about and do build my faith. Faith, more than belief, is a motivating force to action. As we build our faith, it is as if our lives are woven into an intricate pattern, the center of which is Christ and His Temple. The Temple is the great symbol of our membership in the church.
So I'd like to share with you a few things I think about and do that build my faith to the point that I am not content until I go to the Temple. These things also help make my Temple experience more worthwhile.
1. Build faith that you will learn and feel something in the Temple.
2. Build faith that Temple work is essential service to those in need.
3. Build faith by experimenting on the words of our living prophets.
4. Build faith that the Temple is God's house and by being there you will be close to God.
5. Build faith that by going to the Temple, you can't help but bring a little of it home with you.
BUILD FAITH THAT YOU WILL LEARN AND FEEL SOMETHING IN THE TEMPLE
My Faith to go to the Temple grows out of my need for a deeper understanding of what I think I already know. Life-changing knowledge and sacred feelings do not come from some search for something mysterious and unrevealed. Searching for light and truth in the Temple is not like a scientific archeology dig. A Typical archeologist hopes to find something that no one knows about and with little purpose other than knowing more. . . being an "expert". When they find something, what do they think it will teach them to do? Or is their purpose merely academic? At best they might find a few of the simple truths that I can find every day in the study of my scriptures.
For example, one of the greatest discoveries in archeology is the Rosetta stone which basically taught the world how to translate Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Since that discovery much has been learned about the history of the world in and around Egypt and many portions of the Biblical record have been confirmed. Truly it is an amazing discovery.
Now compare all the historical facts, dates and cultural clarifications that the Rosetta stone brought with only a few verses in Alma (7:23-25). I have always felt that the deepest doctrines are the simple truths of the gospel and those are the seeds that grow best in the temple. Things like "What does it really mean to be humble?" The Temple is the greenhouse where we can take the seeds of our understanding, and the Lord will help those seeds grow into a tree of life.
In the Temple we can be focused wholly on that which is holy.
BUILD FAITH THAT TEMPLE WORK IS ESSENTIAL SERVICE TO THOSE IN NEED
I ask myself the question, or sing these words in my heart, "have I done any good in the world today?" When I have been to the temple on a day I ask that question, the answer is easily yes.
By serving others who need our help outside of the Temple, I understand more fully what it means to be what Obadiah calls "saviors on mt Zion". Service to others outside of the Temple is part of what prepares me to get the most out of the Temple. For, surely, inside the Temple I can serve people who cannot serve themselves. Saviors on Mt. Zion. My Mt. Zion is a short walk up the hill. Will I not serve those in need?
Outside the Temple, to serve others often means being at the right place at the right time. But inside the Temple I don't have to worry about what the right time is, or even what time it is. I don't have to worry where the right place to be is, or even what the right words are to say there is always someone there to assist me in my service to others. Everything is right. Everything is beautiful. Everything is holy.
BUILD FAITH BY EXPERIMENTING ON THE WORDS OF OUR LIVING PROPHETS
Our living prophets urge us to be a Temple-going people. They remind us of the blessings that come from the Temple as often as they can. Is what they say true? How can we know? We experiment. . we go. And we go again. I gain a testimony of prayer by praying. I gain a testimony of tithing and fast offerings by paying my tithes and paying a generous fast offering. I gain a testimony of home teaching by doing my home teaching. The same is true for gaining a testimony of Temple attendance. I go to the Temple to gain a testimony of what going to the Temple regularly will do to my life. . . my soul.
BUILD FAITH THAT THE TEMPLE IS GOD'S HOUSE AND BY BEING THERE YOU WILL BE CLOSE TO GOD
What does it feel like to be in the presence of God? As a mortal who has not seen God in the flesh, I can't say I know what that is like. But my spirit and your spirit knows what it is like to be in our Heavenly Father's presence. Because as surely as we are here today, we were with him before. And our spirits know and long to be in His presence again. Where God is, is our home and the Temple is the house of God. I think of this and my faith surges and I go to the Temple. Will you go to the Temple?
BUILD FAITH BY BRINGING A LITTLE OF THE TEMPLE HOME WITH YOU
One of the best ways I find to get me to go to the Temple again is by bringing some of the Temple home with me. I do that by writing about my feelings in my journal, sharing those feelings with my children and my wife. I realize that I always come out of the Lord's house better than when I went in and I should share that better person with all those around me before it starts to wear off. When I do that, my friends and family will want to be around that better person and they'll be the first to start hinting at things that will get me to come back to the Lord's house and progress and not digress.
