"Many ignore consecration because it seems too abstract or too daunting. The consientious among us, however, experience divine discontent." - Elder Neal A. Maxwell

"The law of sacrifice and the law of consecration are not done away with and are still in effect."

            &nb sp;     - President Gordon B. Hinckley

Many of us in the church have this notion that the law of consecration is something that the Lord instituted in the early restored Church but the saints could not live it so God gave the lower law, the law of tithing. According to the Prophets today, the Law of Consecration is still in effect. It may be instituted and practiced in a different way, but members are still under covenant to obey this law.

Another incorrect notion is that to live the Law of Consecration is to live in poverty and dispair. This false concept can be easily corrected by reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and the book of 4th Nephi of the Book of Mormon.

One of the reasons why we struggle with the Law of Consecration is because our minds are fixated on the ideals of Market Capitalism. The concept of ownership clouds our minds so that we cannot see that all we have is not ours but God's. God has given us all we have and expects us to be stewards. Stewards watch over what is given them and use it for righteous purposes.

The Law of Consecration is based on three principles and every one is equally important.

These principles are Agency, Stewardship, and Accountability.

Agency is the power to act either in obedience or disobedience to the law. Stewardship is what we have to act upon. Accountability is the inevitable responsibility a steward has to explain to the actual owner of the stewardship how they used their agency to act upon it.

We are expected to covenant with the Lord to consecrate ALL we have. All includes not only our goods, but our talents, services, and hearts to the Lord and His Church. Afterall, it is our Church too. When we give to the Church, we are recieving much more. Think of all the chapels and facilities and services done by the Church. Have any of us given as much to fund any one of these things? The answer for 99 percent of us is no. We recieve MUCH MORE than we give.

In the early Church, this was the case. The Church would pool its resources and then the Bishop would give according to want and need to each family. The families would use the resources and any that were not used would be returned to the Bishop. Often the Bishop would give more than what was given.

Section 42 shows that the Lord wants us to be good stewards and consecrate to the Church, yet he doesn't want us to live in poverty and dispair.

Jesus tells Joseph,

"every man shall be made ^baccountable unto me, a ^csteward over his own property, or that  which he has received by consecration, as much as is sufficient for himself and ^dfamily....that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants. "

Interestingly the Lord uses the words "recieved by consecration" and "amply supplied and recieve according to wants." He does not want us to live in poverty. We will not live in poverty by living the law of consecration.

We can use the Nephites in the Book of Mormon. In 4th Nephi, they lived the Law of Consecration and "there were no poor among them."

Babylon would have us seek after the riches of the world. And as we step one closer to "wealth" another step is added to the ladder. We become in bondage to wealth.

The Lord told several  in the early Church to seek after the riches of the Kingdom of God.

"And if ye seek the ^ariches which it is the will of the Father to give unto you, ye shall be the richest of all people, for ye shall have the riches of eternity."

The great Christian paradox is taught by the Lord Jesus Christ in Mark 9, "Whosoever loseth his life for my sake, shall find it."

The paradox is that whatever you give, you get back in abundance. The Lord doesn't just give us life, but life in abundance.

So we should remember to consecrate ALL we have that we may recieve life abundantly from the Lord.

For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul?

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