Brother and sisters, I bring to you the love of the Stake
Presidency. This year the Lord is hastening his work, and we need to roll up
our sleeves and get to work. We are
promised a lot of blessings, because a lot is required of us. We are asked to
set the expectations we have on ourselves, our families and in our units much
higher. The Lord is asking us to do a lot, so He will qualify us to do a lot.
I came to the United States to study Computer Science and
Mathematics. My first job at BYU was a little strange; I was a math tutor for
the Athletics department. I realized that kids that played for the BYU
athletics teams got private tutoring; and while that seemed a little strange to
me at the time – I was happy to get a job on campus. I had a chance spend hours
with some of the team members of the BYU basketball and football teams. I did
not follow sports much, but one day I got a new guy assigned to me. He was a well-known
“hero” around campus – the young star of BYU’s basketball team. His name was on
the radio, etc.
In our first tutoring session, I noticed that he was pretty
self-confident and felt like he could tackle any problem I would give him. I
also noticed after the first few sessions that he never did his homework or the
additional problems I had given him to work on.
A life lesson soon was apparent to him: “There is no royal path to
mathematics”. No matter how smart a person is; a lot of homework and hard work
is required to master the subject.
The Lord tells us:
23 For
if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a bglass:
24 For
he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was.
25 But
whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deed.
Those are very wise words, and the Lord often reminds us that we need to put to practice the principles we learn. “The doer of the work… shall be blessed”.
Sometimes we think it is sufficient to come and sit and
listen to the speakers / teachers. After all sitting through 3 hours of church
has to count for something… We may even say in our brains; as long as I believe
with the principles taught, I must be on the straight and narrow. Right?
While we can receive invaluable inspiration and learning
from sitting here, that is definitely not sufficient if it does not change our
daily lives. We need to be doers of
the word.
Before the holidays, we had a Stake Priesthood meeting. We
went to the stake center, and once the meeting started, president Fox told us
to split in pairs and visit our brothers and sisters. Those are my favorite
meetings, because instead of just talking about serving, we can actually go out
and serve. I appreciate the inspiration of our President in having us learn
while doing.
In verse 27 of the same chapter of James it says:
27 Pure
religion
and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To bvisit
the cfatherless
and dwidows in
their eaffliction, and to keep himself funspotted
from gthe hworld.
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So how can be good doers of the word?
There are three principles that I would like to share with
you:
1.
Have faith, and understand faith is a principle
of action.
2.
Previous preparation prevents poor performance.
3.
Listen to the Spirit -- it will teach you what to
do.
Have faith, and understand that faith is a principle of action.
My parents are from
Zacapa, the arid and warm part of Guatemala. Even though I did not live in a
farm when I was a kid (By the time I was born my parents were both living in
Guatemala City), I did learn a few elementary things about farm life. One of
those was that you did not want to find yourself wearing red clothes close to a
bull.
On one occasion there were two brothers that encountered a
bull. The bull did not look very happy and started to push dirt with his right
leg. The brothers we really scared; One of them decided he would kneel down
right there and pray that the Lord would save him. The other one was a bit
wiser and decided to pray while he was running. What do you think happened?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we should just run
– there are or will be many challenges in our life that will remind us that we
cannot depend on the arm of the Flesh.
“The weak things of the world
shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not
counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh” (D&C
1:19).
And
the Proverb:
“Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
When I was in High-School, I remember a friend of mine
advising me “Study as if all depends on you, and pray as it all depends on the
Lord.” That formula has been proven to work pretty well.
Previous Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
The 5 Ps: “Previous Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”
is something I learned while serving in the Texas Houston Mission. We need to prepare
now to be an excellent doer.
How can we be “doers” of the word, without first understanding
the “word”? First of all we need to understand the principles of the gospel,
the commandments and get a testimony of them. The pattern: “Listen and Act” is common in the
scriptures.
2 Behold, I am
God; give heed
to my word ,
which is quick and powerful ,
sharper
than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow;
therefore give heed
unto my word.
3 Behold, the field is white
already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his
sickle with his might ,
and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure
up for his soul everlasting
salvation in the kingdom of God.
Doctrine & Covenants
11:2-3
You can serve others better if you prepare to serve them. How
can you help heal someone if you don’t learn a thing or two about nursing? If I
don’t know anything about cars, I won’t be of much help when my neighbor’s car
stops working. Or if I don’t know anything about computers, I won’t be able to
fix my friend’s computer.
There are so many ways we can help others, but the best
doers have put a lot of effort to prepare themselves to be efficient doers.
How can you share a word or two of inspiration or guidance
if you never read the scriptures?
But don’t worry, as President Uchtdorf says “The best time
to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is now.”
Listen to the Spirit, it will teach you what to do
In the same chapter 11 of Doctrine and Covenants, we learn
12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust
in that Spirit
which leadeth
to do good —yea,
to do justly ,
to walk humbly ,
to judge
righteously; and this is my Spirit.
13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my
Spirit, which shall enlighten
your mind ,
which shall fill your soul with joy ;
14 And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things
whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness ,
in faith believing in me that you shall receive.
The most important preparation we can have is to learn to listen
to the guidance of the Spirit. The Spirit will lead us to do the right thing.
It will protect us. It provides direction to our lives.
Of course, there is a virtuous cycle going on here:
1.
As we DO (live the commandments / apply the
gospel) we will be in better shape to LISTEN to the Holy Ghost.
2.
As we LISTEN to the Holy Ghost, we will be
further guided to DO the right things.
Blessing of doing
We will be greatly blessed if we focus on action, on doing.
Christ sure taught us many principles, but most of the time He did that by
acting and living His Gospel. As we follow his example, we will receive many
blessings, among them:
1.
It changes our focus from “me” to “them”. We
will focus on the service of others, that will create a bonding with our fellow
being, and will help us put things in perspective.
2.
We gain a testimony of the commandments, of
service and of obedience.
3.
Living a life in accordance to the principles of
the gospel will bring happiness in this life.
4.
Salvation and Eternal Life.
I testify that you will receive this and many blessing as you work hard on being not only hearers of the word, but excellent doers of the word of our Savior. I say this, in His name, Amen.
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Other experiences / thoughts
1.
Humble servants in Spanish ward, who even though
were not “as well versed” in the gospel – put to practice the principles they
understood.
2.
“Dog that barks does not bite”. Let’s spend more
time out doing and less time talking. Let’s make sure our activities both at
Church and in our families are meaningful and uplifting. What’s the meaning?
How are we serving others? What are we learning? How is this preparing us to be
better servants?
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