TEMPE, Arizona — To emphasize the importance of not overlooking easily accessible and seemingly routine blessings of a living prophet, the ordinance of the sacrament, the scriptures and the commandments of God, Elder Dale G. Renlund cautioned against “looking beyond the mark” and falling victim to spiritual hyperopia, or farsightedness.
Speaking at the Sunday, Jan. 29, devotional at the Tempe Arizona Institute of Religion, at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, Elder Renlund told of Lord Carnarvon, a wealthy Englishman in the early 1900s, who hired well-known Egyptologist Howard Carter in an archaeology partnership.
After 10 years of digging, they turned their focus in 1917 to search for the tomb of King Tutankhamen, who beginning at age 8 ruled for 10 years during Egypt’s height of power and wealth before his early death in 1330 B.C.
Following five years of setting up base camp in the same location and unsuccessful searches throughout the Valley of the Kings, Carnarvon was set to end the endeavor. Carter pleaded for one final season, realizing the last remaining place they hadn’t searched was their base site.
Within days, they found the first steps leading down to Tutankhamen’s tomb. After more digging, Carter peered into the gold-laden tomb on Nov. 26, 1922 — the first to see it in more than 3,000 years.
“This is a story about what can happen when we focus away from our immediate locale — distantly — and go chasing after those things,” said Elder Renlund, who then spoke of when one is hyperopic — farsighted. The common vision condition results in near things appearing blurry and out of focus.
Using the term “spiritual hyperopia,” he said: “I’d like to use this as a metaphor for when we take for granted things that are close to us, that occur frequently, and we then tend to underestimate them or not appreciate them.”
In the archaeology anecdote, the consequence of focusing distantly was extra years of frustrating work. Being spiritually hyperopic, the consequences are far worse, as prophesied by the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob.
Jacob foresaw the people of Jerusalem in Christ’s time, calling them “a stiffnecked people” who were “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14) and missed the Savior of the world.
“In our day,” Elder Renlund said, “we must also guard against spiritual hyperopia. We do not want to miss the treasures that God has placed within our reach because we are focused on other things in the distance.”
Prophet
The teachings of today’s Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, are easily accessible. “And sometimes, because it is so familiar and it is so common, we overlook what it means to have a Moses among us, to have someone whose primary audience is the Lord Jesus Christ, who receives direction and promptings and seeks to have the Savior’s Church become what the Savior wants.”
Elder Renlund spoke of participating in the ordaining and setting apart of President Nelson on Jan. 14, 2018. “There was this overwhelming feeling of joy and peace that came into the room — that was different than I expected. I can’t describe it in any way but Pentecostal, but I knew — I absolutely knew — that I had my hand on the Prophet of God.”
Sacrament
Citing 3 Nephi 18, which describes the resurrected Savior instituting the sacrament among the Nephites, Elder Renlund said the ordinance is “the foundation for the promise of having the Holy Ghost with us” and warned “sometimes we take it for granted, it becomes part of a routine.”
Rather, the sacrament is a renewal of covenants to always remember Him and keep His commandments, he said, adding “the Savior can renew the blessings of baptism, including the cleansing power. And if we approach the sacrament this way, it changes us.”
Scriptures
Elder Renlund referred to Doctrine and Covenants 84:57, where the Lord warned that treating lightly the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and other things would lead to condemnation.
“We so easily and flippantly say, ‘These are just Sunday School kind of answers — that you read the scriptures to solve every problem,’” he said. “It doesn’t solve every problem, but to get out from under that condemnation, we treasure these scriptures that people have given their lives for that people have done all they could to make it possible for us to have in our pocket. And as we live by them and as we study them, that is how God reveals to us.”
Commandments
The commandments of God help one stay on the covenant path, which is the way to come unto Christ, to qualify for eternal life and to transfer divine nature into eternal destiny, Elder Renlund said.
“Choosing to obey God’s commandments eventually results in the greatest personal freedom,” he said, acknowledging the statement seems paradoxical only if one sees commandments as restrictive.
“As we willingly choose to violate God’s commandments, eventually it leads to restriction. It eventually will constrain us and stop us from receiving the freedom that we can. This is all agency, this is choice.”
In her message prior to her husband’s, Sister Ruth L. Renlund spoke of the importance of commandments, relating a time when on a self-drive safari in a South Africa game park, she ignored rules and common sense by opening the car door and stepping up on the running board to see if she could see any lions — and had eight suddenly appear from the tall grass just yards away from her.
“We occasionally think that we can risk our spiritual lives when we rationalize why God’s rules don’t apply to us or why because of our circumstances and our great skill and craftiness, we can avoid the natural consequences,” Sister Renlund said. “But that’s not the way life works. The rules are there to protect us.”
She added: “Keeping God’s commandments helps us steer around the pitfalls and the proverbial lions that are out there that could derail us or waylay us from our divine destiny.”
Elder Renlund concluded by telling the ancient story of a once-wealthy man who suddenly becomes destitute and is told in a dream to leave his hometown of Baghdad and travel to Cairo, where he will find treasure. He eagerly departs but runs into difficulties — including being nearly beaten to death by thugs until rescued by police.
The man despondently tells his dream to the policeman, who laughs at him and says that he too had a dream but is not so foolish to chase it. He describes his dream, seeing a house in Baghdad with a fortune buried under a fountain in the courtyard. The poor man recognizes his own home in the policeman’s descriptions, returns to Baghdad and digs up the treasure buried in his own front courtyard.
“Brothers and sisters, we have treasures buried in our own front yard; we sometimes take them for granted,” said Elder Renlund, adding that having a prophet of God, the ordinance of the sacrament, the scriptures and the commandments of God are key for one to stay on the covenant path. “And we don’t want to treat them lightly.”
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