Elder Ruel M. Barker’s Devotional entitled, “Perfecting the Saints- Purifying Our Souls” focused on how everyone needs to focus on becoming the pure in heart. Elder Barker, Adjunct Professor of Exercise Science at BYU–Hawaii, spoke in the McKay Auditorium on June 21, 2011.
Elder Barker said to the audience in attendance, “You will be the doers; you will be the trench workers— yes, you will be the leaders of tomorrow. Your greatness will be manifest in your giving, helping, serving, caring, loving, and staying true to the covenants you have made as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in other words as you ‘perfect and purify your souls.’”
Barker spoke about the following responsibilities members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have:
(1) Redeeming the Dead,
(2) Proclaiming the Gospel, and
(3) Perfecting the Saints
Elder Barker mostly focused on the third responsibility, perfecting the saints. Barker focused on the importance of having a body, and keeping it spiritually as well as physically healthy. Moral purity, Barker describes is the “goodness of mankind; the gracious heart; the honest soul.”
“You qualify as the Lord’s ‘stouthearted men and women.’ To be of worth to the Master and to achieve the destiny you want for yourselves and your families you must be personally pure—morally, physically, and spiritually,” he said.
Elder Barker suggests that everyone have a motto or slogan to use for a guide in his or her life. His is Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” He spoke about the ability Pahoran had to forgive in the Book of Mormon, which led to peace in the land.
Barker concluded his Devotional by summarizing his favorite poem, “Maud Muller” by John Greenlief Whittier. At the conclusion, the two main characters wonder what might have been if they had married. “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, /The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’” He hopes that all the audience carries on and that they will not wonder what “might have been.”
Watch or read Elder Barker's full devotional talk at devotional.byuh.edu.
Photo by Mei Yin