Marriage in the Covenant

In Genesis chapter 24, we read that Abraham was worried about his sons marrying outside of the covenant.  Abraham knew that if his sons married outside of the covenant they would lose their reward and “crown” as Brigham Young warned. He was worried for their eternal salvations while they were only worried about their temporal happiness. Prophets speak about this same problem that is taking place today. Spencer W. Kimball talked about how hard it is to raise children when the parents differ in religion. He talks about all of the promised blessings that we forfeit when we do so and also the heartache that comes with it.

Contrastingly, we see the example of Rebekah. She was a hard worker fair, a virgin, charitable, loving, compassionate and obedient and most importantly she was born under the covenant (Gen. 24: 15-67). When Rebekah’s sons are looking for marriage it troubles her that they might marry outside of the covenant and lose the great blessings that the Lord has promised them.

In Genesis 29 we see the ultimate example of love and hard work. Jacob works for 14 years to marry Rachel. “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen. 29:20). As I read this about Jacob I realized that we should be willing to do whatever it takes to marry inside of the covenant.  I know from experience that this is harder said than done. All of my close guy friends happen to be nonmembers and I find that a lot of the members here aren’t the best examples of the church. I have come to realize that in order for me to marry in the covenant I would have to most likely leave here to find someone to marry. I do know that like Jacob I would be willing to do whatever I have to in order to marry in the covenant and be able to be worthy of those blessings both for myself and my future family.