40 And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.
Nephi begins to teach the importance of what kind of
relationship we have with the Lord. When he says, “he loveth those who will
have him to be their God,” I don’t think it means that the Lord doesn’t love those who will not have him to be their God. I believe
God loves all his children, but I also believe he has a different, deeper, or
more profound love for those who accept him as their God. To illustrate this
Nephi says, “Behold [in other words, look at this example of what I’m talking
about], he loved our [actual] fathers, and
he covenanted with them…and he remembered the covenants which he had made;
wherefore [or “which is why”], he did bring them out of …Egypt” (italics added
for emphasis). I suppose that if the Lord had made a covenant with Egypt to be
their God, things would have turned out differently. But it was Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob who made the covenant, so it was their people the Lord blessed. The
covenant is evidence that a person has accepted “him to be their God.” That
covenant changes the relationship.
I can use my own marriage as an example of this change. In
fact, Christ and his prophets have compared the covenant relationship to a
marriage relationship often. In my case it’s not that I don’t love other
people, including other women, but my covenant is with Sheri, my wife. So my
love for her is different than those others. Where I may love others simply for
being part of the family of Man, my covenant with my wife makes the
relationship deeper, richer, broader, and more profound. In addition, the way I
express my love within this marriage covenant is different than it is for those
outside the covenant. Even other members of the Church, who have made the same
covenant with the Lord that I have made don’t receive the same kind of love and
attention from me that my wife does. In that case, we are all “family,” which
is a covenant relationship, but not the same as the marriage covenant. The love
I have for my parents and siblings is stronger than what I have for other
members of the Church, and that in turn is different than the love I have for
non-members. But none of them matches what I have with my wife. It’s the same
as the covenants we make with God. When we make that covenant, our relationship
with Him becomes deeper, broader, and richer. And He honors those who will make
that covenant and show that they will have him to be their God.
