The first covenant I remember ever making with the Lord was to never accept money when I used my musical abilities to serve him. I wanted those occasions to be true service - not a job. That is not a problem usually since the LDS church is a lay church with no paid positions here on the local level. However it has come up occasionally regarding weddings and funerals. I always chose to live by my covenant.
A covenant is much like setting a goal. We either float through life aimlessly or we make decisions about what we hope to accomplish and what we hope to become. Some call this living with a purpose.
"A purpose sets the entire context for our lives. It is a master plan that defines our goals and expectations. It can make life much more enjoyable and effortless. Purpose is not something that others choose for us; rather, it is something we must choose for ourselves."
Living on Purpose by Brad Klontz, September 23, 2013 Psychology Today
I believe this is what Alma was asking the members of the church to do. As members they had already committed their lives to the Savior. He is now asking them to check and see if they are living by that commitment.
In a series of questions he shares what he feels is important:
Have ye spiritually been born of God?
Have you received his image in your countenances?
Have you experienced this mighty change of heart?
if you have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can you feel so now?
I find it interesting that his ministry began as a response to a crisis in his community. He was seeing contention and inequality among his people. He see some "turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry, and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted."
"There were envying, and strife, and Malice, and persecutions and pride." And he goes on to say he is talking about those who profess to follow Christ and that they were exceeding "the pride of those who did not belong to the church."
I cannot help but compare this to the crisis that is taking place in the United States right now. A black man, George Floyd, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis - an out-and-out murder while other officers stood by watching.
The black community is outraged. There is a long history of racial profiling and the unjust treatment of black men in particular in our communities across the nation.
Protests have begun everywhere. Many of those have led to violence and looting. Our major cities have had to set curfews to protect their citizens and businesses.
How will it end? Thankfully there are sane voices among our leadership who are reminding people that the cause is just but violence is not. There is a call out to get serious about America's unresolved racial discrimination.
We like Alma are beginning to ask questions. It is a time for self examination.
Can we use our anger to find solutions instead of inflicting violence?
And that takes us back to covenants and purposeful living.
What covenants does a nation make to its citizens?
Is the Constitution a covenant?
Is it time to ask whether those covenants are reflected in the lives of all its citizens?
And to the white population is it not time to ask if we are living purposely as those who have been in the positions of leadership for most of America's history?
Or are we just going along not caring about others, turning our backs on their needs, while our "white privilege" has afforded us such good lives?
Alma's questions later in chapter 5 are also applicable to our present situation.
Are you stripped of pride? (Are we ready to listen to our black neighbors?)
Is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother or that heapeth upon him persecutions? (How do we as individuals help to insure this doesn't happen?)
Yea, will you persist in supposing that ye are better than one another? (Do we truly see all others as our equals?)
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