Shima Baughman, Professor at BYU Law, encouraged students and faculty to devote the entirety of their hearts to Jesus Christ in her devotional address on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Professor Baughman began her devotional, “Giving All Our Heart to Christ,” by recounting her Iranian background as the daughter of a brain surgeon. From there, her fascination with the human body, particularly with the function of the heart, began to materialize.
After her brief introduction, she began drawing comparisons between the bodily function of the human heart and the covenants made in the temple by faithful Latter-Day Saints: “By divine design, our hearts beat around the clock, without volition, even while we sleep. Our hearts pump life-giving blood throughout our bodies. Likewise, our Savior is constantly there, loving us, without a beat skipped.” She then explained that for us to show our own devotion to the Savior, the Law of Obedience acts as an outward manifestation of our inward commitment to Him.
To illustrate her point of exact obedience, she shared a story from the band Van Halen. In the band’s contract, they required the elimination of all brown M&M’s from the backstage area. At first, this stipulation seems like little more than a random nitpick, but the exactness of the command required strict attention to detail. If, when the band arrived, there were brown M&M’s in the backstage area, it was a sign that the contract was not read closely and the more intricate parts of the performance, including pyrotechnics and skydiving, may not proceed safely.
For us, Baughman explained, our brown M&M’s manifest themselves through minor acts of disobedience to the divine law: “Those brown M&M sins may seem petty, but the scriptures are replete with petty disobedience, leading to overt acts of defiance.” If we ignore the warning signs, eventually, we find ourselves off course, crashing into the metaphorical flames in the drama of life.
As Latter-Day Saints, we use outward reminders of the covenants we have made, including wearing the temple garment. Baughman explained it as follows. “God has given us a way to feel a lasting hug from heaven. When we leave His house, wearing the garment of the Holy Priesthood, our hearts are both physically and metaphorically covered by our Savior Jesus Christ.”
Drawing on the Christian tradition, Baughman used the analogy of marriage to illustrate the relationship between us and Christ. Our obedience to His laws is analogous to the bride awaiting the wedding date: “When God is our greatest love, it becomes much easier to be faithful to his laws.”
Through the ultimate victory of Christ’s atonement, Baughman encouraged us to remember our Savior through obedience to the Lord’s standards to the best of our ability. She urged us to have faith in Christ through obedience: “Whatever shame Satan is putting in your heart, remember that Jesus has conquered it. . . . So go to the temple—or if you have the gift of the holy garment, put it on—and let Satan know your heart is taken.”
She closed with her testimony of the gospel: “You are a unique daughter or son of Heavenly parents, with a heart beating in your chest, cleansing you 60 to 100 times per minute of unclean blood, to remind you of His purifying power, available just as often to cleanse you of sin. May we remember that He has got us covered when we mindfully wear our garment. May we wed our hearts to Him with ardent devotion and with the exactness with which he keeps our hearts faithfully beating. May we remember to seek his love in his holy house so we can give Him all our heart. I pray in his Everlasting name. Amen.”
Written by: Ian Farris
Senior Contributor and Opinion Editor at the Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Cover Photo Source: https://www.law.utah.edu/news-articles/professor-shima-baughman-interviewed-by-newsy-about-bail-reform/
That brown M&Ms analogy works for me!