There is one thing I know after teaching the young single adults of the Church all over the country for the last 18 years: your stories are all different. Your backgrounds, your present circumstances, your struggles and challenges, your strengths and joys, they are all vastly different.
And because of that, I have learned that I can’t really teach to your circumstances. Nor can I possibly know what each of you individually need at this time of your life. Your world is also changing so rapidly, it’s nearly impossible to anticipate what you will hear, see, or be tempted to do tomorrow.
That is why you need to know principles - and then know how to receive personal revelation, so that you can apply and act on those principles.
I know you probably know what principles are. We talk a lot about principles in the Church. So please don’t tune me out here. Because principles –above any other thing – can be one of the most helpful guides in your life, especially right now. And I have found that many of us don’t truly understand what they are or how to use them to govern our lives.
Principles are not just teachings. They are not opinions, or trends, or philosophies of men. Principles are much better than methods or rules. And they are fundamentally different than the ideas the world suggests we live by.
And that is because principles are vertical. Almost everything else we might rely on or use to guide our lives is horizontal.
Principles are enduring, eternal truths that have stood the test of time, circumstance, personality, geography and any other changing facet of life. Indeed, they function completely independent of circumstance. Principles, President Boyd K. Packer taught, “resolve every confusion and every problem and every dilemma that will face the human family or any individual in it.” God has always used principles to guide His children, and principles will always be able to guide His children. In fact, “all the gospel principles that were true for Adam will still be true in the Millennium.”
These enduring truths, Elder David A. Bednar explains, are “doctrinally based guidelines for what we ought to do. . . . Doctrine answers the why questions of our lives. Principles provide us with direction about the what and the how.”
And when you know correct principles and can apply them in your life, you will, as Elder Richard G. Scott taught, have “concentrated truth” available to you that applies “to a wide variety of circumstances” and that “makes decisions clear even under the most confusing and compelling circumstances.”
You will have something that President Boyd K. Packer promised would “anchor” you in the constantly changing opinions, trends, and so-called truth of the world.
Once the Prophet Joseph was asked by an elected official how he was able “to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order” among the Saints of the Church in that day. This man remarked how it was difficult, even impossible, to govern his people the way he had witnessed among the Church.
The Prophet replied, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves."
And that, Elder Bruce R. McConkie later taught, “is the order of heaven. That’s how the Almighty operates. That’s how the Church is supposed to operate. We’re supposed to learn correct principles and then govern ourselves.”
And the reason that’s possible, the reason that’s the way it should be, is because when we use principles to govern our lives, revelation flows. Principles are eternal truths that are not specifically “spelled out in detail,” that are not situation specific. Thus, we can use them to figure out what God needs us to do in our specific situation – whatever that situation may be.
One woman shared with me: “Often when I have been struggling with something I would go to the Lord seeking specific answers from a priesthood blessing. However, a lot of the time instead of telling me what to do, He would give me general counsel about the problem I was facing. Or it would even seem He wouldn’t address my current issue at all. This frustrated me for many years. It seemed that the Lord was insensitive to my needs. Or even wanted me to continue to struggle. Why wouldn’t He just give me answers or tell me what to do?
“But, as I have been learning more about principles, and the power and divine purpose of them, I am beginning to understand what the Lord has been trying to teach me. I have realized that He is trying to empower me with knowledge and understanding of eternal truths that would guide me in many different experiences in my life, not just what was happening at the moment.”