2.4 Purpose and Priorities
Show Notes
Allen Roberds reflects on a pivotal moment in "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith," where a heavenly messenger cautioned Joseph against seeking the plates for riches, emphasizing the sole purpose of glorifying God and building His Kingdom. This episode invites listeners to examine their own purpose and priorities in the new year, ensuring they align with divine goals and are reflected in how they spend their time and money.
Key Points
- The messenger explicitly warned Joseph Smith against seeking the ancient plates for personal financial gain, stating it would prevent him from obtaining them.
- Joseph Smith's singular purpose for receiving the plates was to glorify God and contribute to the building of His Kingdom on earth.
- Listeners are prompted to regularly assess their personal purpose and life priorities, particularly their involvement in God's Kingdom.
- True priorities are often revealed by an individual's financial expenditures and how they allocate their time, as noted by a past mentor.
- Aligning one's personal purpose with divine objectives, even if it requires a period of learning and adjustment, is crucial for spiritual development.
I think it's worth time reflecting into our own purpose and doing it regularly to remind ourselves where we're going and what we're trying to accomplish.
Episode Resources
Full Transcript
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, great to have you with me.
Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. You know after yesterday looking at "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith" I continued reading through that and it led to the thought that we're going to look at today. So we're going to spend two days inside of "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith" today before going back to "The Restoration Proclamation" to wrap that up for this week in terms of our study.
The verse for today is going to come, as I mentioned, from "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith". We're going to fast forward. Yesterday we looked at what happened with Joseph as he sat musing and meditating upon the things that had happened with his visitation with that messenger.
Now we're going to fast forward to he's now been visited again, and we're going to get to the third visit here. And so the paragraph we're going to look at today starts out with "By this time." And it says, "By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind that sleep had fled from my eyes. And I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard.
But what was my surprise when again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside. And heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before, and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's family, to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates, but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his Kingdom.
Otherwise, I could not get them." Now this one's interesting. We tend to kind of say the messenger came three times and then he woke up and then he goes outside and the situation with his dad happens and everything. But I thought it was interesting that this added caution comes into play after the third visit.
And what is the caution here? The messenger cautions Joseph about his priorities and his purpose. If his purpose is anything other than the building of the Kingdom of God, if his priorities are anything other than glorifying God in finding out about these golden plates, then he's not going to be able to bring that to pass.
He's not ever going to get them. And I think for us today, it's worth pausing and doing a little check on ourselves as we get into this new year here. What is your purpose?
Let's bring that up. What are you trying to accomplish day by day? What are the priorities of your life?
I had a good mentor tell me years ago that you could tell anyone's priorities by looking at two things in their lives. Their wallet and their calendar. He told me, he said, if you look at the way people spend money and the way that people spend their time, you will see what priorities they have in their lives.
And so as you identify what you're doing this year, or maybe even this month, or maybe even this week, take some time to ask yourself where your priorities are. What role do you play in the building up of the Kingdom of God? What priority or what pecking order do you have in glorifying God or building his Kingdom?
Where does it show up in your calendar or your wallet? I think it's worth time reflecting into our own purpose and doing it regularly to remind ourselves where we're going and what we're trying to accomplish. It took Joseph, we know, four years to figure this out.
He had to learn through things. He had to struggle through them. And that's okay.
The Lord stayed with him and let him work through it. I think we can do the same as we begin to align ourselves and find our purpose and the role that we play in the building up of the Kingdom of God today. That's all for today, my friends.
Lift up your heart and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you've made. And together, we will be savory salt.
This transcript was generated using AI and may contain errors. I do my best to review and edit them when I can.