Exactly one year ago today, my sweet mother quietly slipped through the veil into the hope-filled embrace of countless ancestors and other family members—including my oldest brother and dear father. What a marvelous reunion that must have been! Just 10 days prior to her passing, mom experienced a collapsed lung due to a large cancerous mass. When the young doctor suggested treatments for the cancer, my nearly 91-year-old mom laughed and quickly countered, “No, it’s my turn. I’ve waited a long time to see all my people.” And that was it! Her decision was made and she’d been provided a ticket “home.” Without question, mom felt completely at peace with the work she’d been called to perform in mortality and knew she had more work to accomplish elsewhere.
Like Nephi of old, I will forever be grateful for “having been born of goodly parents”[1] who loved and taught me the things that would be most important in my life—including the value of good, honest, hard work. It is the principle of work that I would like to address today and, more specifically, the work each one of us can do to follow the Lord’s latter-day prophet in helping prepare the way for His Second Coming.
Although it is certainly difficult to observe firsthand the departure of loved ones from this world to that of the spirits, I have learned that such experiences are actually tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father who has permitted us to literally participate in His “bring[ing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,” which is God’s ultimate “work and glory.”[2] As Elder Neal A. Maxwell observed:
Consider the significance of the Lord’s use of the word work. What He is doing so lovingly and redemptively is, nevertheless, work—even for Him! We, likewise, speak of “working out our salvation,” of the “law of the harvest,” and of the “sweat of the brow.” These are not idle phrases. Instead, they underscore the importance of work. In fact, . . . work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity.
Elder Maxwell continues:
I remind you that the gospel of work is part of the “fulness of the gospel.” Though joyful, missionary work is work. Though joyful, temple work is work. . . . Whatever the mix of work, the hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting.[3]
Of becoming more selfless through dedicated missionary work, I long have been impressed by the life-changing experience President Gordon B. Hinckley shared about his mission to England. Assigned in 1933 to Preston as his initial field of labor, he related:
I was not well when I arrived. Those first few weeks, because of illness and the opposition which we felt, I was discouraged. I wrote a letter home to my good father and said that I felt I was wasting my time and his money. He was my father and my stake president, and he was a wise and inspired man. He wrote a very short letter to me which said, “Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself, and go to work!” [4]
At this point, one might ask: What is work, and how might work refine or ennoble us? And most importantly, how might we more fully engage as active participants, rather than passively remaining on the sidelines, in our efforts to “[hasten] the Lord’s work in His time?”[5] Of the principle of work and achieving a more consecrated life, Elder D. Todd Christofferson explains that:
A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires. A consecrated life is a life of labor. Beginning early in His life, Jesus was about His Father’s business (see ?Luke ??2:48–49?). God Himself is glorified by His work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children (see ?Moses 1:39?). We naturally desire to participate with Him in His work, and in so doing, we ought to recognize that all honest work is the work of God.
Elder Christofferson concludes, stating that:
God has designed this mortal existence to require nearly constant exertion. . . . By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the mortal experience. Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God.[6]
Work has always entailed intentional effort or exertion on the part of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and so it must be with us in our journey to become more like Them. To bring about God’s perfect plan for each of us as His literal spirit children, surely we must continue to undergo the mortal and ofttimes painful process of being “hammered,” “scraped,” “pressed,” and “stretched” in order that He might “fashion” us into that “useful or desired product.”[7] In addition, Elder L. Tom Perry teaches us that:
Work is something more than the final end result. It is a discipline. We must learn to do, and do well, before we can expect to receive tangible rewards for our labors. . . . Let us also teach our children to see that the work assigned is carried to its completion, to take pride in what they accomplish. There is a real satisfaction that comes from finishing a task, especially when it is the best work we know how to do.[8]
I really appreciated reviewing your discussion board insights about how the ability to work has been a blessing in yours and others’ lives. One person responded:
Being able to work has been such a blessing in my life. When I am able to do something by myself, there is a great deal of satisfaction and growth that comes from it. [Work] has taught me how to be patient, serve others, and that I can endure hard things.
Another person shared:
We work to provide for things we need. We learn to discipline ourselves when we receive a salary. We [then] understand the blessing[s] of tithing as we pay it. Paying our tithes and fast offerings can [then] bless the lives of others by building [temples]. . . . [Because of work,] there can be humanitarian aid in countries that have very little. In this way, we are helping progress the work of the Lord.
A few years ago, Church News contributor, Boyd Matheson, provided a glimpse into President Russell M. Nelson’s efforts to hasten the Lord’s work—or, in other words, how the prophet is creating actual “spiritual momentum.”[9]
Hasten means to cause something to happen more quickly. However, it is vital to understand, and important to note, that hastening is not just about acceleration and speed. Hastening is also about strengthening. The prophet is demonstrating that speed, without strength, is like zeal without knowledge, or motion without forward movement. True hastening, as the Lord desires, requires speed and strength.
Brother Matheson then added:
President Nelson has a clear vision that every member is going to need to be strong and swift for the hastening to happen. In Brazil [the prophet] said, “I want our members to know that the Restoration is a continuing process. And we have a lot to do before the Lord will come again. He wants Israel to be gathered and the world to be made ready for the Second Coming of the Lord. So, all I know is that there’s a lot of work to be done. And we’re going to do it, we’re going to receive those instructions when it’s needful and try to respond to each instruction as it comes.”[10]
Consequently, much of our current work should be focused on increasing our personal spiritual strength and speed.
So, how do we come to understand and perform the work God intends for us? Through several pleadings, urgings, and invitations over the past four plus years, President Nelson has provided church members—and really the world—with a step-by-step manual for hastening the Lord’s work. Let me highlight a select few with their corresponding blessings, promises, or warnings.
Increase our spiritual capacity to receive revelation. President Nelson’s warning? “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”[11] Choose to repent daily, choose to change daily. President Nelson’s caution? “This is the only way [we] will keep [our]self and [our] family spiritually safe in the challenging days ahead.”[12] Let God prevail in our life. President Nelson’s blessing? “Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.”[13] Seek prayerfully and consistently to understand the temple covenants and ordinances. President Nelson’s promise? “[We] will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to attend [us], and how better to receive direction from heaven.”[14] Establish a firm spiritual foundation built upon the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. President Nelson’s assurance? “[We will] have no need to fear. As [we] are true to [our] covenants made in the temple, [we] will be strengthened by His power. Then, when spiritual earthquakes occur, [we] will be able to stand strong because [our] spiritual foundation is solid and immovable.”[15] Get on the covenant path. Experience the joy of repenting daily. Learn about God and how He works. Seek and expect miracles. Strive to end conflict in our life. President Nelson promises us “the ability to move forward on the covenant path with increased momentum, despite whatever obstacles [we] face.” He also promises us “greater strength to resist temptation, more peace of mind, freedom from fear, and greater unity in [our] families.”[16]
You might feel overwhelmed, as I have, trying to keep pace with President Nelson—even though we might be taking our vitamins—as he speaks the mind and will of the Lord in the ongoing Restoration of the gospel. My invitation to each of us is to prayerfully review—remembering that “prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings”[17]—and choose one or two of President Nelson’s invitations or pleadings to work on now, then others in the near future.
I am also confident that our ability to follow the prophet and to steadily increase our personal speed and strength necessary to hasten the Lord’s work will be enhanced by seeking to “maintain spiritual balance” in our lives. You’ll remember that during last week’s devotional, Elder Gary E. Stevenson taught that striking a balance between our personal well-being and our personal spirituality—namely, our faith in Christ and in His Atonement—is made possible by keeping the Lord as the center point, the fulcrum, of the balance.[18]
Now, I love the Brethren’s collective positivity regarding our future. For several years, I have been moved by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s stirring testimony about the excitement each of us should have in preparing for the Lord’s Second Coming; let’s watch together.
We are making our appearance on the stage of mortality in the greatest dispensation of the gospel ever given to mankind, and we need to make the most of it. I love the line from the Prophet Joseph Smith saying that earlier prophets, priests, and kings “have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and . . . have sung and written and prophesied of this our day.” What were they so joyful about? I can assure you they weren’t concentrating on terror and tragedy. Brother Woodruff’s words were: “The eyes of God and all the holy prophets are watching us. This is the great dispensation that has been spoken of ever since the world began.” Let me repeat President Hinckley’s words: “Through all the perils of the past, [s]omehow, among all who have walked the earth, we have been brought forth in this unique and remarkable season. Be grateful, and above all be faithful.” I don’t know how all of that makes you feel, but suddenly any undue anxiety about the times in which we live dissipates for me, and I am humbled and spiritually thrilled, motivated at the opportunity we have been given. My theory is that those great men and women, the leaders in those ages past, were able to keep going, to keep testifying, to keep trying to do their best, not because they knew that they would succeed but because they knew that you would. I believe they took courage and hope not so much from their own circumstances as from yours. One way or another, I think virtually all of the prophets and early apostles had their visionary moments of our time—a view that gave them courage in their own less-successful eras. Those early brethren knew an amazing amount about us. Ours, not theirs, was the day that gave them “heavenly and joyful anticipations” and let them to sing and prophesy of victory. Ours is the day, collectively speaking, toward which the prophets have been looking from the beginning of time, and those earlier brethren are over there now still cheering us on! In a very real way, their chance to consider themselves fully successful depends on our faithfulness and our victory. I love the idea of going into the battle of the last days representing Alma and Abinadi and what they pled for, representing Peter and Paul and the sacrifices they made. If you can’t get excited about that kind of opportunity in the drama of history, you can’t get excited![19] I pray that we might all become more excited and more invested in our roles and responsibilities in this, the greatest of all “drama[s] of history.” In fact, might we act as Nehemiah of the Old Testament, who, despite the intense opposition and mocking threats of nearby rulers, stayed the course in his resolve to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, the destroyed city of his ancestors. As the scripture tells us, “So built we the wall . . . for the people had a mind to work.”[20] Admirably, each time his enemies entreated him to cease his important work, Nehemiah boldly responded: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.”[21]
Listen carefully to Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s heartfelt plea and challenge to rise up to our God-given privileges, to never abandon God’s standards for the world’s, to not “come down.”
We live in times of great challenges and great opportunities. The Lord is seeking men like Nehemiah—faithful brethren who fulfill the oath and covenant of the priesthood. He seeks to enlist unfaltering souls who diligently go about the work of building the kingdom of God—those who, when faced with opposition and temptation, say in their hearts, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” ????When faced with trial and suffering, they respond, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” ????When faced with ridicule and reproach, they proclaim, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” ????Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. He seeks those who will not allow the attraction of ease or the traps of the adversary to distract them from the work He has given them to perform. He seeks those whose actions conform to their words—those who say with conviction, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.”[22]
In conclusion, we cannot afford to “come down” in our individual and combined efforts to hasten the Lord’s work. His living prophet has great faith and trust in all of us, and especially in you young adults. Remember President Nelson’s recent invitations and promised blessings during last month’s young adult worldwide devotional.
There is nothing happening on this earth more important than gathering Israel for Him. Let your Heavenly Father know that you want to help. Ask Him to put you to work in this glorious cause. And then stand back and marvel at what happens when you let God prevail in your life. As you do, I promise that you will experience spiritual growth, freedom from fear, and a confidence that you can scarcely imagine now. You will have the strength to have a positive influence far beyond your natural capacity. And I promise that your future will be more exhilarating than anything you can presently believe.[23]
Likewise, I have great faith and confidence in you because I’ve had the opportunity and privilege of learning together with you in the classroom and serving alongside you in Church callings. I have witnessed firsthand the personal strength and speed with which you are capable of hastening the Lord’s work. And I echo Elder David A. Bednar’s recent remarks about your generation having been reserved for this day: “So why would we be surprised? When will we stop being surprised at the valiant efforts of the young people to do what they know they should do because they know who they are?”[24]
In reality, no one can take your place, for “no one can have the influence you have been prepared to have on all who come within your sphere of influence. Without question, no one can fulfill your foreordained mission. No one can do what you were sent here to do. No one.”[25] In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] 1 Nephi 1:1.
[2] Moses 1:39.
[3] Neal A. Maxwell, “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel,” Ensign, May 1998.
[4] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Taking the Gospel to Britain: A Declaration of Vision, Faith, Courage, and Truth,” Ensign, Jul. 1987.
[5] Doctrine and Covenants 88:73.
[6] D. Todd Christofferson, “Reflections on a Consecrated Life,” Ensign, Nov. 2010.
[7] “Work,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/work.
[8] L. Tom Perry, “The Joy of Honest Labor,” Ensign, Nov. 1986.
[9] See Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” Liahona, May 2022.
[10] Boyd Matheson, “Hastening isn’t just about speed—it’s also about strength,” Church News, Apr. 4, 2019.
[11] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign, May 2018.
[12] Russell M. Nelson, “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” Ensign, May 2019.
[13] Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail,” Ensign, Nov. 2020.
[14] Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation,” Liahona, Nov. 2021.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” Liahona, May 2022.
[17] “Prayer,” Bible Dictionary.
[18] Gary E. Stevenson, “The Gospel Perspective,” BYU-Idaho Devotional, Jun. 5, 2022.
[19] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Terror, Triumph, and a Wedding Feast,” BYU Devotional, Sept. 12, 2004.
[20] Nehemiah 4:6.
[21] Nehemiah 6:3.
[22] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down,” Ensign, May 2009.
[23] Russel M. Nelson, “Choices for Eternity,” Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, May 15, 2022.
[24] David A. Bednar, “Reserved for This Day,” Church News Video, Apr. 18, 2022.
[25] Sheri Dew, No One Can Take Your Place, 2004, 195.