Mark B. Colton, of BYU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, addressed students about the need to strengthen their testimonies in this week’s Devotional.
Colton started his talk by recognizing the many dangers this world holds, but he emphasized that losing one’s testimony is the greatest danger of all.
“This is the danger that I worry about: losing one’s testimony, whether through a crisis of faith or through a slow, subtle decline,” Colton said. “Closely related to it is the danger of ‘just getting by’ with a testimony that is inadequate or incomplete.”
Colton went on to outline multiple keys to strengthening one’s testimony by first explaining that a testimony is something we have to fight for.
“Our testimonies are our most valuable possession, and someone is trying to steal them from us,” Colton said. “Can you imagine what our testimonies would be like if we fought for them with the same tenacity with which we fight for other things in life?”
Another key Colton shared was that a true testimony can only come from one source and that people cannot rely on their own knowledge and understanding.
“No matter how impressive your learning, mastery of the scriptures, life experience or logic and reason, only the Holy Ghost can impart the kind of testimony that lasts,” Colton said.
Colton continued by urging students to not let unanswered questions they may have weaken their faith.
“Remember that there are answers and there are reasons,” Colton said. “God knows them and will help us understand them if we don’t let the unanswered questions undermine our faith.”
Finally, Colton invited students to follow Alma’s counsel found in The Book Of Mormon to “experiment upon the word.” He acknowledged that spiritual experiments are hard but that people must complete all of the required steps to be successful.
The last key Colton shared was that students must share their testimonies with others and that he himself is striving to share his as often as possible.
“I need to find simple ways to share my testimony of the gospel,” he said. “Maybe it will benefit others, but it will certainly benefit me.”
