We live in marvelous modern times – technology allows us to accomplish tasks that previously would have been impossible to do. The way is prepared, for us to do His work. Don't bury your talents! Use them for good. Focus. Learn to index. Expand your studies. Keep in contact with friends and family. Share your testimony. Reach out and help others. And when appropriate, turn that Liahona off during Sacrament Meeting and at the Temple and occasionally at home so we can “Be Still and Know”, so we can feel and follow the Holy Spirit. |  |
We live in marvelous modern times – despite the weather outside we can be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We can have light at night with the flick of a switch and a wealth of entertainment and information delivered to the device in the palm of our hand via high speed internet. We can hop into a warm vehicle and travel a few short hours to an airport where we could, in theory, travel about anywhere we wanted to in the world. Or, we can just sit at home and watch the world go by .. from the comfort of our couch and the glow of our television screen or current device. We can text, tweet, browse, post, email, google, shop, fax, phone, tune in or tune out, or visit distant family and friends on facebook, facetime or google hangouts. We have volumes of webpages to read, audio clips to listen to, video of all sorts to watch. Some of it is even inspiring. We have decades of church materials now online: scriptures, talks, images, movies served up on youtube, mormonchannel and lds.org.
All this at for small monthly fee and presuming the power is currently operational. Not too long ago I recall our power going off for a short time in Magrath. Suddenly our evening plans were canceled and revised. Usually I 'work' on a computer or two and listen to the noise on TV. That night, with no lights or TV or internet or computers .. and no heat, we located and lit our emergency candles and found extra warm fuzzy slippers and sweaters and ended up sitting around the table in a dark house with very little to do but read or talk and watch the flickering candle light. It was disconcerting at first, but it was a stark contrast to our normal routine.
Elder Ballard gave this 'Prophetic Counsel' in a talk in May 2014 (M Russell Ballard CES Devotional May 2014):
“It is important to be still and listen and follow the Spirit. We simply have too many distractions to capture our attention, unlike any [prior] time in the history of the world. Everyone needs time to meditate and contemplate. Even the Savior of the world, during His mortal ministry, found time to do so: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23) We all need time to ask ourselves questions or to have a regular personal interview with ourselves. We are often so busy and the world is so loud that it is difficult to hear the heavenly words “be still, and know that I am God.”(Psalm 46:10; also Doctrine and Covenants 101:16) Handheld devices, such as smartphones, are a blessing, but they can also distract us from hearing the “still, small voice.” They need to be our servants, not our masters. For example, if later tonight you share inspiring thoughts from this devotional on social media, your smartphone is a servant. If you randomly surf the Internet, your [device] is [the] master. Remember what Elijah learned: “The Lord was not in the wind; … the Lord was not in the earthquake: … the Lord was not in the fire,” but the Lord spoke in the “still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11–12)"
[…] President Ballard continues:
“We need a special place of refuge where we can wean ourselves from the distractions of our electronic devices by unplugging them so we can connect to the Spirit of God. One of the best places to connect with the Spirit is in the temple—the house of the Lord. Of course, the same can be said of our other dedicated Church buildings, including seminary and institute classrooms. We can find refuge in our homes or apartments when we choose to simply shut things off and be still and know of the things of God. To help us discover the world where Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Joseph and Mary found God, and to help us find a place to feel and hear the voice of the Lord today, I invite you to go to the temple. Go as often as you can, and turn off your smartphones and put them away before you enter the temple grounds. In all the ordinances in the house of the Lord, you will hear beautiful language, words, and promises given by the Lord to His children. It is the only place you can hear those beautiful, inspiring words.
If you do not qualify for a temple recommend right now, visit the temple grounds. Let me make a very important point in case you have never heard it before: Nothing prevents you or anyone else from visiting the temple grounds. The Lord wants you to prepare yourself to be worthy of a temple recommend and come to the temple as soon as you can. Walking the grounds will plant in your heart a desire to get a recommend and attend the temple regularly.”
In our family with growing children my good wife took a lot of pictures. Many of these photos are of our children and their friends at various temples we stopped at on vacations. Instead of traveling on by, she liked to stop and get a have the kids in a photo with the temple in the background, sometimes with them touching a part of the temple walls or gate or sitting on a bench or wall. When we had friends visit from far away (Edmonton is far away for us), she often took them to the temple grounds for a quick photo session – perhaps as a stop off on the way to Waterton or some other local attraction. Later on, we were blessed to have them also take their wedding pictures there after their own wedding ceremonies. Perhaps walking the grounds did plant in their hearts a desire to get a recommend and attend the temple themselves.
I find it instructive that when attending the temple, all electronic devices are to be turned off and left outside or in the lockers. As we unplug from the world, we reconnect with the spirit.
In our current scripture readings, our family recently reviewed 2nd Nephi chapters 31-33 where Nephi gives his final words to us. In these chapters he says .. “and now I, Nephi, make an end of my prophesying unto you” .. urging us to have faith, to pray and repent and be baptized in Christ's name, to receive the Holy Ghost and to endure to the end. His words: “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20) and closing with “And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good. And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day;” (2 Nephi 33:10-11).
Sister Sherry L Dew, in a 1999 Women's Conference 'Famous Last Words' address said this:
“It is significant that the famous last words of prophets ancient and modern inevitably point us to Christ. Ether admonished us in his last words to "seek this Jesus of whom the prophets . . . have written" (Ether 12:41). Moroni sealed the Book of Mormon with his plea that we "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him" (Moroni 10:32).
“In King Benjamin's last recorded address, he bore this resounding witness of Christ: "If ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, . . . and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world . . . —I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation. . . . Believe in God; believe that he is." Then he counseled us to "always retain in remembrance the greatness of God" (Mosiah 4:6-11). Yet, how quickly we forget. The word remember is used in the Book of Mormon 136 times—which is not surprising in the story of a people with roller-coaster spirituality who experienced visions and miracles, only to forget with lightning speed what they knew and had felt. Repeatedly they were admonished to remember the covenants they had made, to remember the purpose for their existence, and to remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel (2 Nephi 9:40). Helaman's last words to his sons included this powerful counsel: "Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation" (Helaman 5:12)."
Yes, it is significant that the famous last words of prophets ancient and modern point us to Christ, to making and keeping covenants for ourselves and for our families in His name and to enduring to the end.
[aside: Christ doesn't really have any 'last words' .. his final words on the cross were not his 'last words' .. the instructions to the twelve and to 'doubting Thomas' were also not his last either. We know He came and instructed twelve others here in the Americas in Book of Mormon times .. and that he continues to visit prophets and apostles in our day – starting with his appearance with His Father to Joseph Smith and continuing on, I suspect, to today. In the Book of Mormon, however, His last recorded words to the twelve there were: “the Father and I are one; And the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and the Father giveth the Holy Ghost unto the children of men, because of me. And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he touched every one of them with his finger save it were the three who were to tarry, and then he departed.”(3 Nephi 28:10-12)]
I would like to close by reviewing some of the final instructions that Alma, the Book of Mormon prophet, gave to his own son Helaman (as he was about to leave on a mission). (Alma 37:38-46):
“38 And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.”
As I read this chapter, I thought that perhaps the Liahona wasn't all that different from some of the amazing devices we use today or will have tomorrow. We can't make one, but we sure can use them.
“39 And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness.”
President Spencer W. Kimball, in 1974, describing the future of missionary work, stated: "I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse. … Since 1974, how many marvelous inventions can you count. How are or can these devices to be used today? How did the Liahona work?
“40 And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day.
Answer: These devices are to be operated “according to our faith in God” to accomplish His work.
“41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey;”
It's just a phone. Only a webpage. Why would you consider these devices miraculous? Youth today accept it as the new normal, but looking back a few short decades – what an amazing time! Just as with the Liahona, if we neglect or misuse this technology, we can easily get distracted by so many other things .. For Lehi and his family, it says:
“42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.”
For us in our day, we can also find ourselves running in circles and becoming spiritually hungry and thirsty ..
“43-44 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual. For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.”
The parallel, we will not prosper as we should if we misuse these gifts .. we can search, ponder and pray, index, learn and grow if we use these devices for His good, as they were intended.
“45-46 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise. O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.”
We live in marvelous modern times – technology allows us to accomplish tasks that previously would have been impossible to do. The way is prepared, for us to do His work. Don't bury your talents! Use them for good. Focus. Learn to index. Expand your studies. Keep in contact with friends and family. Share your testimony. Reach out and help others. And when appropriate, turn that Liahona off during Sacrament Meeting and at the Temple and occasionally at home so we can “Be Still and Know”, so we can feel and follow the Holy Spirit.
This is my prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
All this at for small monthly fee and presuming the power is currently operational. Not too long ago I recall our power going off for a short time in Magrath. Suddenly our evening plans were canceled and revised. Usually I 'work' on a computer or two and listen to the noise on TV. That night, with no lights or TV or internet or computers .. and no heat, we located and lit our emergency candles and found extra warm fuzzy slippers and sweaters and ended up sitting around the table in a dark house with very little to do but read or talk and watch the flickering candle light. It was disconcerting at first, but it was a stark contrast to our normal routine.
Elder Ballard gave this 'Prophetic Counsel' in a talk in May 2014 (M Russell Ballard CES Devotional May 2014):
“It is important to be still and listen and follow the Spirit. We simply have too many distractions to capture our attention, unlike any [prior] time in the history of the world. Everyone needs time to meditate and contemplate. Even the Savior of the world, during His mortal ministry, found time to do so: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23) We all need time to ask ourselves questions or to have a regular personal interview with ourselves. We are often so busy and the world is so loud that it is difficult to hear the heavenly words “be still, and know that I am God.”(Psalm 46:10; also Doctrine and Covenants 101:16) Handheld devices, such as smartphones, are a blessing, but they can also distract us from hearing the “still, small voice.” They need to be our servants, not our masters. For example, if later tonight you share inspiring thoughts from this devotional on social media, your smartphone is a servant. If you randomly surf the Internet, your [device] is [the] master. Remember what Elijah learned: “The Lord was not in the wind; … the Lord was not in the earthquake: … the Lord was not in the fire,” but the Lord spoke in the “still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11–12)"
[…] President Ballard continues:
“We need a special place of refuge where we can wean ourselves from the distractions of our electronic devices by unplugging them so we can connect to the Spirit of God. One of the best places to connect with the Spirit is in the temple—the house of the Lord. Of course, the same can be said of our other dedicated Church buildings, including seminary and institute classrooms. We can find refuge in our homes or apartments when we choose to simply shut things off and be still and know of the things of God. To help us discover the world where Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and Joseph and Mary found God, and to help us find a place to feel and hear the voice of the Lord today, I invite you to go to the temple. Go as often as you can, and turn off your smartphones and put them away before you enter the temple grounds. In all the ordinances in the house of the Lord, you will hear beautiful language, words, and promises given by the Lord to His children. It is the only place you can hear those beautiful, inspiring words.
If you do not qualify for a temple recommend right now, visit the temple grounds. Let me make a very important point in case you have never heard it before: Nothing prevents you or anyone else from visiting the temple grounds. The Lord wants you to prepare yourself to be worthy of a temple recommend and come to the temple as soon as you can. Walking the grounds will plant in your heart a desire to get a recommend and attend the temple regularly.”
In our family with growing children my good wife took a lot of pictures. Many of these photos are of our children and their friends at various temples we stopped at on vacations. Instead of traveling on by, she liked to stop and get a have the kids in a photo with the temple in the background, sometimes with them touching a part of the temple walls or gate or sitting on a bench or wall. When we had friends visit from far away (Edmonton is far away for us), she often took them to the temple grounds for a quick photo session – perhaps as a stop off on the way to Waterton or some other local attraction. Later on, we were blessed to have them also take their wedding pictures there after their own wedding ceremonies. Perhaps walking the grounds did plant in their hearts a desire to get a recommend and attend the temple themselves.
I find it instructive that when attending the temple, all electronic devices are to be turned off and left outside or in the lockers. As we unplug from the world, we reconnect with the spirit.
In our current scripture readings, our family recently reviewed 2nd Nephi chapters 31-33 where Nephi gives his final words to us. In these chapters he says .. “and now I, Nephi, make an end of my prophesying unto you” .. urging us to have faith, to pray and repent and be baptized in Christ's name, to receive the Holy Ghost and to endure to the end. His words: “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20) and closing with “And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good. And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day;” (2 Nephi 33:10-11).
Sister Sherry L Dew, in a 1999 Women's Conference 'Famous Last Words' address said this:
“It is significant that the famous last words of prophets ancient and modern inevitably point us to Christ. Ether admonished us in his last words to "seek this Jesus of whom the prophets . . . have written" (Ether 12:41). Moroni sealed the Book of Mormon with his plea that we "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him" (Moroni 10:32).
“In King Benjamin's last recorded address, he bore this resounding witness of Christ: "If ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, . . . and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world . . . —I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation. . . . Believe in God; believe that he is." Then he counseled us to "always retain in remembrance the greatness of God" (Mosiah 4:6-11). Yet, how quickly we forget. The word remember is used in the Book of Mormon 136 times—which is not surprising in the story of a people with roller-coaster spirituality who experienced visions and miracles, only to forget with lightning speed what they knew and had felt. Repeatedly they were admonished to remember the covenants they had made, to remember the purpose for their existence, and to remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel (2 Nephi 9:40). Helaman's last words to his sons included this powerful counsel: "Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation" (Helaman 5:12)."
Yes, it is significant that the famous last words of prophets ancient and modern point us to Christ, to making and keeping covenants for ourselves and for our families in His name and to enduring to the end.
[aside: Christ doesn't really have any 'last words' .. his final words on the cross were not his 'last words' .. the instructions to the twelve and to 'doubting Thomas' were also not his last either. We know He came and instructed twelve others here in the Americas in Book of Mormon times .. and that he continues to visit prophets and apostles in our day – starting with his appearance with His Father to Joseph Smith and continuing on, I suspect, to today. In the Book of Mormon, however, His last recorded words to the twelve there were: “the Father and I are one; And the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and the Father giveth the Holy Ghost unto the children of men, because of me. And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he touched every one of them with his finger save it were the three who were to tarry, and then he departed.”(3 Nephi 28:10-12)]
I would like to close by reviewing some of the final instructions that Alma, the Book of Mormon prophet, gave to his own son Helaman (as he was about to leave on a mission). (Alma 37:38-46):
“38 And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.”
As I read this chapter, I thought that perhaps the Liahona wasn't all that different from some of the amazing devices we use today or will have tomorrow. We can't make one, but we sure can use them.
“39 And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness.”
President Spencer W. Kimball, in 1974, describing the future of missionary work, stated: "I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse. … Since 1974, how many marvelous inventions can you count. How are or can these devices to be used today? How did the Liahona work?
“40 And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day.
Answer: These devices are to be operated “according to our faith in God” to accomplish His work.
“41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey;”
It's just a phone. Only a webpage. Why would you consider these devices miraculous? Youth today accept it as the new normal, but looking back a few short decades – what an amazing time! Just as with the Liahona, if we neglect or misuse this technology, we can easily get distracted by so many other things .. For Lehi and his family, it says:
“42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.”
For us in our day, we can also find ourselves running in circles and becoming spiritually hungry and thirsty ..
“43-44 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual. For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.”
The parallel, we will not prosper as we should if we misuse these gifts .. we can search, ponder and pray, index, learn and grow if we use these devices for His good, as they were intended.
“45-46 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise. O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.”
We live in marvelous modern times – technology allows us to accomplish tasks that previously would have been impossible to do. The way is prepared, for us to do His work. Don't bury your talents! Use them for good. Focus. Learn to index. Expand your studies. Keep in contact with friends and family. Share your testimony. Reach out and help others. And when appropriate, turn that Liahona off during Sacrament Meeting and at the Temple and occasionally at home so we can “Be Still and Know”, so we can feel and follow the Holy Spirit.
This is my prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
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