2.78 Lay Aside the Things of This World

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. I've got a new activity for you today.

We've never done this one on Savory Salt. Welcome to Doctrine and Covenants sections 23–26 this week, as well as 2 Nephi chapters 24–27. We're going to be diving back into Doctrine and Covenants as yesterday we had a quick jaunt over to the Book of Mormon.

Doctrine and Covenants sections 24, 25, and 26 are interesting because they come kind of as a package deal. And their timing is quite telling for us as well. If we look inside of Doctrine and Covenants section 24 in the heading there, it explains that they're experiencing some intense persecution, right?

They're having some difficulties in growing the church and in their own leadership and those types of things. And so 24, 25, and 26 are these sections. Doctrine and Covenants 24 is focused with Joseph and Oliver. 25 gets into Joseph's wife, Emma Smith.

And that is where we're going to dive in. And actually, as short as this section is—it's 16 verses—we're actually going to have three different verses, three different podcast episodes from these 16 verses because there are some pieces in here that I think are really telling for those of us that are experiencing, or facing, challenges and difficulties in our own ways, and yet I think each one of these messages are unique and independent while all being shared to Emma Smith. Our first one comes today in Doctrine and Covenants, section 25, verse 10.

It says, "And verily I say unto thee, that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better." Now the activity for today, if you choose to accept it, is to just get a blank sheet of paper and fold it in half. And on the left side, write down "things of this world." And on the right side, write down "things of a better world." And I want you to take some personal reflective time to think into the things in your life of this world. What are the day-to-day things that come to mind for you?

What are the different descriptors that you use? Maybe these are job assignments, maybe these are aspects of your life. Whatever it is that comes to mind, I want you to just reflect on that left column.

And then I want you to think into what a better world would look like and start making a list there. If you had better conditions and circumstances, what might be there? If, I don't know, maybe you even consider the days of Jesus Christ coming to the earth, well, what would it look like?

What kind of things and activities, what kind of daily activities would that look like? And then I want you to look at the two of them and decide where, if any, you will change your focus. So that you can do as the Lord instructed Emma Smith to do, to lay aside the things of this world and seek for the things of a better.

This has been kind of an 18-month journey for me of sorts. I did this in a way after a conversation that I had with a good friend of mine and a current mission president. I've talked before about him having me and a group of others fly down to Papua New Guinea, where he's currently the mission president.

And I remember he and I were getting on the plane to fly out to the area that we were going to run this YSA conference. And I just said, "You know, President, I love where you are in life right now. How is it to just focus all day, every day?

Like, what's it like to just focus all day, every day on building the kingdom and working with missionaries and doing those things?" He said, "Allen, it's absolutely amazing." I'm just not there yet. Like, I'm not at a position where I'm ready to go and do that, even if it's not a mission presidency, right? I mean, obviously, I have no control over that.

But even to just put my papers in, like, my family's not old enough for me and my wife to go on a mission. And so I just said, "I want to do that all day. I want to build the kingdom all day, every day." And he said something to me that mattered all the way up to this moment in my life.

He said, "Allen, all things in the world are..." And as I left Papua New Guinea and I keep this lens here, it's really helped me modify and change the priorities in my life. I, in a way, have taken time to lay aside the things of this world and seek for the things of a better. And my life is better for it.

My friends, the Lord knows what he's talking about. Take his advice, lay aside the things of this world and seek for the things of a better, and you too will find great enjoyment in living the life the Lord wants you to live. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice, cleave unto the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. I'm Allen Roberds.