“Temple covenants ask us to build the kingdom of God, which is sharing the joy and peace of the Savior’s love. From this perspective, we can’t be charitable, benevolent, tolerant, and pure in a vacuum; relationships are where we practice being benevolent, tolerant, and pure.

“There are no qualifiers on the charge to whom we need to devote both talent and material means. Our covenant means that we should treat a homeless person with dignity and that we could let someone go ahead of us in traffic.

“The parable of the good Samaritan teaches us that we can be charitable and benevolent to those who are different and unknown.⁸ It also teaches us to have healthy boundaries. The good Samaritan did what he could to take care of the beaten traveler for two days, and then he trusted that others could continue caring for the traveler. We can be benevolent and have healthy boundaries.”

-Ellie L. Young

This quote is taken from a BYU devotional titled “The Transformative Power of Covenants”, by Ellie L. Young. The transcript for this talk can be found in this link.