2.133 The Best Gifts Just Keep Going

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. Gifts for you, gifts for you, gifts for you, gifts for everybody. That's the message the Lord has for us inside of our reading and our verse for today.

We are reading Doctrine and Covenants sections 46 through 48, as well as Mosiah chapters 17 through 20 this week. And inside of Doctrine and Covenants 46, we get an interesting view because the Lord tells us that there are spiritual gifts that we can find and have in our lives. But it brings an interesting question at play.

What kind of gift is your favorite? Now, think about that for a second. Maybe you're thinking of some sort of shiny object thing, thinking of the favorite gifts that you had in your childhood or throughout your life.

The Lord is going to tell us today that the best gifts are a specific type of gift, and that is what I want to dive into in our verse for today. As we get there, you're going to see that in verse 8, he tells us to seek earnestly for these best gifts. We want to find them, we want to seek them out, but then he gives us the context for what the best gift is like.

It's in 46, verse 9, he says, "For verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me, and keep all my commandments. And him that seeketh so to do, that all may be benefited, that seek or that ask of me, that ask and not for a sign, that they may consume it upon their lusts." Now there's a lot inside of that, but did you catch why we're hunting and using these gifts? See, the best gifts are gifts that help us help others.

Now, that might have been a curveball. You might be like, wait a second, I don't know if my favorite gifts are gifts where I got it and I got to give it to somebody else. But think about the power that comes when we have gifts given to us that we can benefit the lives of those we love around us.

That is truly an exponential gift. That's a multiplying gift. The gift that just keeps giving.

The gift that just keeps going. These gifts are opportunities for us to, one, realize that they come from our Heavenly Father who loves us and, two, realize that we were granted with them so that we can bless the lives of others. It's almost like, I don't know if I'm, I don't mean this to be demeaning from the spiritual gift nature at all.

But if you think about the powers that superheroes have in comic book stories, those powers are initially, they think that, 'Oh, it's me, and I get to use this power for me!' until they realize, 'Wait a second!' I can use this power for others and that's the blessing that comes inside of the spiritual gifts. And then we're going to dive in through 46 and we're going to see some listed by the Lord. We're going to see specific ones.

My friends, if you're wondering why you are here, perhaps some of that answer is because you're here because you specifically can help other people on their life journey as well. And you get to do so through the specific gifts that the Lord has given you. Now, what does that look like, sound like, feel like?

For me, one of the things that it looks like, sounds like, and feels like is my patriarchal blessing. If you have not had the opportunity to consider to have a patriarchal blessing, I would encourage you to do so. And if you have had a patriarchal blessing, go back and take a look at what the Lord is encouraging you to have in your life in terms of spiritual gifts.

There have been times in my life where people have said phrases to me, 'Allen, you do things like this.' And they have used exact phrases from my patriarchal blessing. And I see that as Heavenly Father giving me a little bit of a nudge, a little side hug, and saying, 'Hey, good job for using that gift to uplift the life of somebody else.' My friends, the best gifts are the gifts that just keep going. 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. Bud Dorton.