Trifle Not With Sacred Things

June 7, 2025

In his recent talk in general conference, Elder Soares encouraged us to develop increased reverence for sacred things. He commented, “Unfortunately, we live in a world where showing reverence for sacred things is becoming increasingly uncommon. In fact, the world celebrates the irreverent, as any perusal of a tabloid magazine, television program, or the internet attests. The absence of respect for the sacred produces an increasing casualness in attitude and carelessness in conduct, which can rapidly spiral one generation into apathy and catapult the next generation into misery.”  In my family we often see this irreverence when it is time to pray together. Inevitably, during the prayer someone will start fighting with a sibling or walk into the kitchen to eat something or start talking while someone else is saying the prayer. They don’t yet have enough respect for the sacred, but the hope is that with time they will learn that. It is only as we come to have true reverence and awe for the Lord that we really draw close to Him. I think we see this, for example, in the way that Enos described how he sought the Lord: “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul” (Enos 1:4). We would more likely describe the experience of prayer with a less reverent description, such as, “I’m going to say a quick prayer.” Perhaps we often get so used to “saying prayers” that we forget that we are speaking to our Father in Heaven, our Maker, to “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). We do so in the name of Jesus Christ, He who described Himself in these words: “Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:1). These descriptions should fill us with a sense of awe for who the Savior and our Father in Heaven are so that our prayers are always accompanied with true reverence.

               Elder Soares also taught, “Irreverence can also lead us away from the bonds that covenants with God provide and diminish our sense of accountability before Deity. Consequently, we run the risk of caring only about our own comfort; satisfying our uncontrolled appetites; and ultimately arriving to the unholy place of despising sacred things, even God, and consequently our divine nature as children of Heavenly Father. Irreverence toward sacred things furthers the adversary’s aims by disrupting our sensitive channels of revelation, which are crucial for our spiritual survival in our day.” The adversary would have us neglect or minimize the sacred nature of the efforts we make to draw close to the Lord, whether that is through the study of the scriptures, partaking of the sacrament, or worshipping in the temple. We must never let these activities become rote or trite or let distractions and notifications rob them of their sacredness. To use the words of Alma to his son Helaman, they must “retain their brightness” for us (Alma 37:5). We must strive to avoid the trap that the Nephites after the time of the Savior’s birth fell into. They had sacred experiences that confirmed the coming of the Lord, but they let themselves lose their sacred feeling: “The people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen” (3 Nephi 2:1). We can protect ourselves from this as we come with purpose and reverence before the Lord in all our spiritual activities: “My brothers and sisters, reverence for the sacred fosters genuine gratitude, expands true happiness, leads our minds to revelation, and brings greater joy to our lives. It places our feet on holy ground and lifts our hearts to Deity.” The Savior summarized His warning for us with these simple words that should guide our experiences: “Trifle not with sacred things” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:12).