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Elder
Marlin K. Jensen, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught people at Tuesday’s
devotional how to strive for the pearl of great price.
He
began with the parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of
great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew
13:45-46).
“With
so much competing for your time and attention, and with the world pressing
in so mightily upon you, you will be tempted to minimize the unequaled
value of what you have been given and may unwittingly exchange it for
something of far lesser value,” he said. “It would be a sad day
indeed if what you lost during your college years was far more important
than what you gained.”
Elder
Jensen continued by sharing the legend of Ali. It tells of a farmer who was
discontented with his wealth and wanted more. He was told to search for a
river with white sands where he could find diamonds. After searching for
years, a broken and penniless Ali walked into the ocean and ended his life.
After his death, a large diamond was discovered behind Ali’s house.
The river of diamonds was in his own backyard.
“With
all the feeling I can muster, I beg of you young Latter-day Saints—as
concerns your faith and activity in the restored gospel and church—please
stay at home,” he said. “The pearl of greatest price is within
your grasp. You need only to spend your days giving ‘your all’
for it and in that process you will gain ‘peace in this world and
eternal life in the world to come’ (D&C 59:23).”
He
shared a few reasons why he has “stayed at home” in the gospel.
The first being the gospel embraces all truth.
“I
am grateful to have lived my life with the confidence that the restored
gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. Nevertheless, as the Apostle Paul taught, ‘we see now through
a glass darkly,’ knowing much only in part,” he said. “But
as Paul assured the Corinthians, ‘But when that which is perfect is
come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians
13:10).
Another
reason for “staying at home” in the gospel is the gospel is
inclusive.
“The
inclusive spirit of the gospel begins for me with our Heavenly Father’s
offer to share with us all that he has, on condition that we give him all
we have,” he said.
“A
Heavenly Father who desires to give us all that he
has certainly wants us to prepare for that moment by becoming all that he
is,” he said. “He knows what it takes to grow to that stature
and has organized his church to help us achieve it.”
The
gospel also teaches the concept of eternal marriage and family life.
“I
know that love, like life, is eternal,” he said. “I know that
the deepest joys and sometimes the greatest sorrows of this life are
experienced in the setting of marriage and family. I know that this setting
was divinely appointed as a necessary laboratory in which we can acquire
the attributes eventually to become like God.”
The
gift of the Holy Ghost is another blessing received through the gospel.
“I
want to assure all of you today that through proper priesthood authority
this church can validly confer upon us the gift of the Holy Ghost,”
he said. “If we live worthily, we will be guided by that spirit and
be entitled to the comfort and spiritual gifts that it brings, including a
firm testimony of the truth of the gospel.”
Next
week’s devotional speaker will be Steve Allen, managing director of
the Church Missionary Department. Devotionals are broadcast live on
Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. on KBYI, FM 100.
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