Elder Jörg Klebingat of the Seventy challenged students to see the “Y” on Y Mountain as a reminder to say yes to God’s grace during the BYU devotional held on Oct. 22.
Elder Klebingat spoke on the challenging nature of the covenant path and offered assurance of the strength that comes from Jesus Christ's “costly grace.”
“The truth is, regardless of where we currently are on the covenant path, all of us are weak, all of us are fallen and none of us are converted as we wish to be nor as good as we want or pretend to be. We know it and we know that the Lord knows it,” Elder Klebingat said.
Elder Klebingat shared the teachings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer — a German pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident — to explain the cost and reward of the covenant path through “cheap grace” and “costly grace.”
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, (forgiveness) without personal confusion,” Elder Klebingat said. "Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it cost a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”
Elder Klebingat pointed out that Christ’s Atonement not only “protects us from our sins, but also from our weaknesses.” While the covenant path is tough, Christ and His infinite “personal and practical Atonement” are there to help along the way, he added.
Elder Klebingat shared the words of Church President Russell M. Nelson and reminded students of the nobility of their spirits and the confidence God has in them.
“As President Nelson taught, 'Our Heavenly Father has reserved many of his noble spirits — perhaps, I might say his finest team — for this final phase. Those noble spirits — those finest players, those heroes — are you!'” he said.
As airplanes are to Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve, fitness is to Elder Klebingat, he said. He compared the covenant path to the gym.
“Brothers and sisters, thinking that the covenant path won't be hard is like going to gym and hoping there won't be any weights there,” he said.
While encouraging students to seek the joy of daily repentance and “letting God prevail,” Elder Klebingat did not ignore the difficulties it brings.
“It’s so hard, that without the Savior's help, without drawing upon the redeeming and enabling power of His Atonement, it’s game over,” he said.
Elder Klebingat shared two key things BYU students should differentiate between in order to receive aid on the covenant path — “disdain for self” and “divine discomfort.” He explained the difference between the two using the teachings of the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
“(Elder Maxwell) once differentiated between feeling disdain for self, which is unhelpful, and feeling ‘divine discontent,’ the spiritually healthy and uplifting yearning for the Savior's 'costly grace' which He so generously and conditionally offers,” Elder Klebingat said.
He further explained that the battle between the Spirit and the natural man will always persist and that learning to exercise command over one’s body will increase spiritual power and make it easier to keep the commandments.
Concluding his remarks, Elder Klebingat challenged students, faculty and staff to look at the “Y” on Y Mountain and use it as a reminder to say “yes” to God, His Son Jesus Christ and the grace found walking the covenant path.
“Starting today, let the ‘Y’ also stand for 'yes' when He asks if you will have Him to be your God, and 'yes' when asked if you will give away all your sins to know Him, and 'yes' when asked if your love for Him is sufficient to seek costly grace, and 'yes' when invited to take the Lord’s side on every issue ... and therefore 'yes' to Him being your judgment day advocate with the Father,” Elder Klebingat said.
If students can say “yes” to these questions, he said, they can and should have confidence in the covenants and challenges that He prepares them with.