3.111 When The Lord Calls Us Names, We Should Listen

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Names matter to the Lord. And if that's the case, what name does he choose to call us? We are reading this week Exodus 19-34, a big old chunk, although it is divided for Come Follow Me purposes into 19-20, 24, and 31-34.

Although this will probably be the last time I divide all of those out, I'll let you dive in and see the reading for the week. We're going to jump right into our verse for today on the front end of Exodus here. Who they are and how it applies to them.

And then he gives them a name of sorts here—I think it a key name, at least. Those of you that have been members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a while, you may have heard this term used even in modern terms because it comes up in Doctrine and Covenants as well. Let's look at Exodus 19, verse 5.

And I'm going to do this through two versions. I'm going to do this through the King James Version and then the New King James Version as well. And then we're going to take a look at a conference talk as well as we look at this one.

It says, Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. Now I'm going to switch over to my New King James Version here. See if you can catch a difference here.

It says, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, Then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. Did you catch the translation differences there? Between peculiar treasure and special treasure.

Now I want to share the thought here by switching over to a conference talk given to us by, at the time, it was Elder Nelson, then became President Russell M. Nelson, from April of 1995 called "Children of the Covenant." And he gives an interesting perspective here that I wanted to share with you. He says Peter used uplifting terms in a prophecy regarding our day.

He identified members of the Church as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a peculiar people. The adjectives chosen, Elder Nelson continues: "The central term peculiar signifies valued treasure made or selected by God. For us to be identified by servants of the Lord as his peculiar people is a compliment of the highest order." My friends, I hope that you and I can remember to talk to ourselves the way the Lord would talk to us and does talk to us today.

These terms that he provides and calls us—peculiar, valued, treasured, selected by. I love these terms, the terms that Peter uses: chosen, royal, holy nation. My friends, may you and I remember that as we make and keep our covenants with the Lord, we too become these adjectives, these descriptors.

We should see ourselves in such a way as the Lord sees us and it will in turn uplift us, guide us, and continue to help us on our paths as we do this. Love that one. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.