Experience God's Love | Dale G. Renlund

Our ability to experience God’s love directly relates to how dutifully we repent, study the scriptures, and partake of the sacrament.

This speech was given on December 3, 2019.

Read the speech here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dale-g-renlund/experience-gods-love/

Read more from Dale G. Renlund here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/speakers/dale-g-renlund/

Subscribe to BYU Speeches for the latest videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXbCVJ79-JVyHoBIDhpvEQ

Read and listen to more BYU Speeches here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/

Follow BYU Speeches:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byuspeeches
Twitter: https://twitter.com/byuspeeches
Instagram: https://instagram.com/byuspeeches
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/byuspeeches

© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

Brothers and sisters, I would like to compare our physical and spiritual health in a discussion about receptors. Our physical health depends on hormones and their receptors. Hormones, such as thyroid hormones, insulin, and many others, are substances produced in glands and then transported in the bloodstream to specific cells, and they stimulate those cells by interacting with specific receptors. Illness can occur when either the gland does not produce enough hormone or the receptor is dysfunctional. You can imagine that the signs and symptoms of an illness can be similar in either case. Hormone and other treatments can resolve or mitigate the illness in many situations.

There is a type of receptor dysfunction that is eternally consequential: the inability to sense God’s love and feel His Spirit. God’s love is infinite and perfect. There has never been nor will there ever be a deficiency of God’s love. The apostle Paul said:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . .

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.1

But what do you do if you do not feel the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? I know with certainty that the problem is not with Their love. The problem is with your receptors for Their love. If you have dysfunction of your receptors for God’s love, you can lose your way and succumb to dangers such as hopelessness, helplessness, and loneliness.

If you experience dysfunction of these receptors, God’s influence in your life is minimized. With complete dysfunction, you will not sense Their love or Their caring concern for you. The prophet Mormon described this condition in his people. He lamented:

For behold, . . . they are without Christ and God in the world. . . .

They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father.

But now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they.2

Without Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and Their influence in our lives, we have no shepherd. Without Them, there is no sail—meaning there is no power. Without Them, there is no anchor—meaning there is no stability, especially in times of storm. Without Them, there is nothing with which to steer—meaning there is no direction. No power, no stability, and no direction are all consequences of dysfunctional receptors for Their love.

A Cautionary Tale
In my experience, receptor dysfunction for God’s love happens slowly and imperceptibly over time—not all at once. I will relate an embarrassing experience that I did not tell my wife for years. I learned for myself that I was vulnerable. Because I suspect you might be at risk too, I will share my cautionary tale. It highlights this warning by the Savior:

But there is a possibility that man may fall from grace and depart from the living God;

Therefore let the church take heed and pray always, lest they fall into temptation;

Yea, and even let those who are sanctified take heed also.3

After I finished medical school, my wife, daughter, and I moved to Baltimore, Maryland, for further training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. At that time the training years were brutal, time intensive, and exhausting.

Toward the end of my first year, I was weary. Because interns worked every day and every second or third night, I worked every Sunday and was able to attend church only about half the time. Our ward met in a suburb of Baltimore at 2:30 in the afternoon. We lived across the street from the hospital and had only one car. Some Sundays I could finish my work and join my wife and daughter as they left for the meetings at 2:00 p.m. Other Sundays I could not.

Видео Experience God's Love | Dale G. Renlund канала BYU Speeches