Elder Spencer J. Condie asked the crowds gathered at BYU for Campus Education Week to be like many of the ancient Nephites and "yield their hearts unto God."

In his devotional address Aug. 22 in the Marriott Center, Elder Condie of the Seventy said the book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon tells of the ancient Nephites, who four decades before the Savior's birth, began to experience great pride within the Church. But many of the Nephites were a humble people, he explained, who "did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ. . . ."Elder Condie spoke of making "connections," and cited the experiences of Joseph Smith that led to his prayer in the Sacred Grove. "It all began," he said, "when a young man made a connection between a scripture and a sacred grove and yielded his heart to God."

Continuing, Elder Condie said, "The purpose of our sojourn in mortality is to learn and to do those things necessary to qualify us to regain the presence of God. In order to do so, we must continually make connections between actions and consequences.

"One extremely important connection to make early in life is that wickedness never was happiness," he emphasized.

Elder Condie continued that another important connection is the discovery that "when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. Those who share the gospel with others and who engage in family history and temple work claim blessings and joy which simply cannot be gained any other way."

Still another valuable insight, he added, is "that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven."

Elder Condie said that the Lord, with all His wisdom, calls His servants through divine inspiration. "Sometimes the most obvious man in the ward is not called to be the bishop so that he may continue learning humility, and the one who is called may become perfected enough to receive inspiration and guidance for the entire ward," he said.

He advised the audience not to follow the course of Oliver Cowdery and look down on a leader when called upon to sustain him.

"Oliver had been a man of great native intellect, of eloquent speech and of unflinching loyalty to the Prophet as he served as Second Elder of the Church and later as Assistant President of the Church," he said, adding that Oliver threw it all away because he refused to accept the counsel of others.

He told his audience that there is "safety in counsel," explaining that making decisions takes longer when several people are involved, but when others are involved, "they serve as an error-correction mechanism. Others see the blind spots that elude our own view of the vicissitudes of a given problem."

"We may well be the brightest person in the bishopric, Young Women presidency, or high council, but unless and until we subordinate our will to the law of common consent and are willing to receive counsel as well as to give counsel, and are willing to concede and compromise and obtain consensus, then our potential influence for good will be greatly limited," he said.

Then Elder Condie cited John the Baptist as the perfect example of one who yielded his heart unto Christ, for John the Baptist told his followers, who were concerned because so many people were beginning to follow the Savior, that "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30.)

"And so it is in each or our lives," Elder Condie explained. "If we are to become true disciples of the Savior, He must increase, but we must decrease."