The Law of Consecration

 This week in Come Follow Me, we are introduced to the Law of Consecration. What I hadn't remembered until this week was that some of the new converts to the church, the Campbelites, had already been living a version of the Law of Consecration based on passages from the book of Acts.  However, in their version all property was held in common.  In practice, if someone needed a tool, they could take any tool in the community and use it.  If someone needed a new shirt, and saw one in the community, they could take it as if it were their own.  Of course, this was problematic. People couldn't depend on things they needed being available to them at any specific time. Also, some people, just because of their personality, would be more likely to take things, and others more likely to be taken from. This could not help but cause hard feelings in the group.

The revelation in section 42 sets out a more functional form of consecration.  Verses 30-34 explains that the member of the church make a "first consecration " (v. 33) at which time they acknowledge that all they own belongs to the church. Then they are given stewardship over part or all of what they have consecrated. They have responsibility and control over that portion and are expected to use it to support themselves and meet their family's need, and then if there is any left over, it is given to the bishop and put in the storehouse to care for the poor and needy.  

This is a much more practical way to administer consecration, but still this ended up being problematic.  One of the biggest problems was that there were so many poor and needy in the early church.  When the original members who lived in New York gathered to Ohio, many arrived without enough resources to support themselves.  Some new converts in the Ohio area gave up great amounts of money and land to help the needy saints. Then a few years later new converts from England start to arrive, also without many personal funds or property, and the established saints were expected to help support them. Until the saints were established in Nauvoo, most were pretty poor. It must have been frustrating, once they were established and started to flourish in Nauvoo, to then be driven out again, left destitute again, and have to migrate again, this time to Utah. 

I have been thinking about my ancestors who joined the church during this period, and ended up as some of those who made and sacrificed their fortune several times over because of their belief in the church.  Why would then put up with that?  Some didn't.  Some came into the church, even migrated to Utah, and then became disillusioned and left. So why did the ones that stayed, stay?  All I can think is that they must have seen or felt something so powerful that it galvanized their testimonies. Without the witness of the spirit, without experiences that built and strengthened the early saints, the church would have withered and dried up like so many other utopian schemes that were rather popular in this time period.  But it didn't.  It grew and spread until it is starting to be a real force in the world. 

All those who take on temple covenants still promise to keep the law of consecration.  We do not, at this time, formally turn over all our worldly possessions to the church and then be assigned a stewardship.  The formal process is not the important part. The important part is that in our hearts we turn over all that we have to the Lord. We decide that we are only stewards over our income, possessions, time, and resources, and that we will use them to righteously support ourselves, and help those around us. I must admit I am not perfect in this. I try to be generous, and I try to keep God as the focus of my actions and decisions, but I am also selfish, and I feel ownership over my possessions. 

As we face upcoming reductions in our personal income, this has become an issue I have thought about more. Will I be as generous as I have been with fast offerings and donations to humanitarian projects once my personal income is cut in half, or even more than half? Do I need to be? Will I sacrifice a standard of living in order to remain generous? My standard of living will still be so much higher than many saints across the world.  I guess I need to seek guidance from the Lord in this matter.