3.046 There are no Spiritual Shortcuts or Quick Fixes

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

You know what? I had an extra thought after yesterday's episode. I'll share it here quickly.

If you missed yesterday's episode, feel free to go back and it'll get you caught up. Otherwise, you'll kind of be in the middle of the road here, but that's okay. We are reading this week Genesis chapter 6 through 11 as well as Moses chapter 8.

And today we're going to take a look actually at an additional reading. We'll get to that in just a second. But first, you know, after we talked yesterday about whose name you're building in, another thought came to mind.

And while it's not Christmas time when I make this recording, perhaps at some point you'll think about Christmas time when you hear this. I'm thinking about "The Mansion," which is a book that is typically read during Christmas time because the season in the book is kind of Christmassy. But isn't it interesting, if you haven't read "The Mansion," it's a father and son at the beginning of the book, and they have kind of a quarrel about some finances.

And the father falls asleep and has a dream about being guided through the mansions of heaven. And inside of that, he really discovers that his pursuit of his own name was his mansion here on earth. And it didn't result in a mansion in heaven.

So I just wanted to kind of place that idea there. I know that I'm kind of extending yesterday's episode just a little bit, but I wanted to kind of bookmark that there because it does still tie in to what we're going to look at today. Today, I chose to use actually a talk.

I think it's absolutely phenomenal. I think you should read both of them. I'll make sure that the resources are in the episode here, but there was a worldwide devotional for young adults by Elder Bednar in November of 2024: "Things as They Really Are 2.0." It does pose an interesting parallel to the building of the Tower of Babel in terms of this idea of how we no longer need anything but AI to solve all of our problems and do all of our things.

All the way down to write our own assignments, our own papers, our own church talks, as I'm sure you've heard—maybe you haven't—but the whispers in the deep dark corners of wards have already got people talking about using AI to make sure that their church talk is taken care of. My friends, there's a quote from Elder Bednar that I want to capture here that helps us maybe remember these Tower of Babel moments that we may experience in our lives. He says: "As you strive to learn the gospel of Jesus Christ and perform the work you have to do, I specifically exhort you to be wise in your use of contemporary technological tools.

Innovations such as artificial intelligence can both, one, assist you in receiving magnificent blessings, and two, diminish and suffocate your moral agency. Please do not allow the supposed accuracy, speed, and ease of modern technologies to entice you to avoid or circumvent the righteous work that invites into your life the blessings you will need. My beloved brothers and sisters, there are no spiritual shortcuts or quick fixes." My friends, I love that counsel by Elder Bednar.

It's a wonderful reminder to us that despite the speed of the world we currently live in—and it is getting faster, mind you—the AI abilities are getting faster and faster. More can be done faster. We're here, and yet here is counsel from Elder Bednar: "There are no spiritual shortcuts or quick fixes." I hope that you and I can remember as we seek to build that we may build on the foundation that is Jesus Christ.

I hope you'll take an opportunity to read these two talks. They are lengthy. They are so insightful and they can provide such great direction for us in our lives.

As we see things truly as they really are through the spiritual eyes given us through the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.