3.159 A Matter of a Few Degrees

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 ye this day whom you will serve.

In light of our conversation yesterday, I wanted to share with you one of the talks that I didn't let hit the ground, perhaps. We are shifting into 1 Samuel, the second half of it. Basically, just finish out the book, but 1 Samuel 8-10, 13 and 15.

The Rise and Tragic Fall of Saul. Now to get kicked off, our verse for today is actually going to come from a conference talk from April of 2008. At the time it was President Uchtdorf speaking, when he was President Uchtdorf, I should say.

And this is one of those talks that President Uchtdorf had a section of time for whatever reason in my life, where his talks, like, I feel like I—I feel like they were the talk just six months ago, or they were the talk, like, last year. These talks just kind of stuck in my mind, and this is one of them. It is a talk entitled "A Matter of a Few Degrees." And I want to share from it as our verse for today, and then let's talk about it a little bit.

He does mention Saul as his primary example in this talk. But in the talk he says, 'Suppose you were to take off from an airport at the equator, intending to circumnavigate the globe, but your course was off by just one degree. By the time you return to the same longitude, how far off course would you be?

A few miles? The answer might surprise you: An error of only one degree would put you almost 500 miles off course, or one hour of flight for a jet. No one wants his life to end in tragedy, but all too often, like the pilots and passengers of the sightseeing flight, we set out on what we hope will be an exciting journey, only to realize too late that an error of a few degrees has set us on course for spiritual disaster.' Now that may sound like a danger, danger thing, and it is.

It's a warning from an apostle and prophet of the Lord. But he also comes with counsel inside of this talk as well. I think Saul's an interesting example here because as we see, when we get through the front end of our conversations this week, we're going to see that Saul is an amazing human being.

But then we're going to see these small degrees of change that he chooses in his life that turn him on a completely different course. I want to add one more piece from this talk by President Uchtdorf. It was a priesthood session, by the way.

So as he references this, everyone listening, you know that when I'm just quoting directly, take it for you specifically. 'My dear brethren, you are truly choice and precious sons of Heavenly Father. He has entrusted you with the sacred power of the priesthood. Please do not drift off course—not even a few degrees.

Hearken unto the Lord your God, and He will do for you what He promised to do for Saul. He will give you a new heart, make of you a new man, and always be with you.' My friends, may we be mindful of our trajectory. May we be mindful of the paths that we're taking, and may we stay true to the course that the Lord has set for us to navigate is my hope and prayer as we get down this week studying Saul: the good things that he chooses to do and the degrees that he chooses to go off course from the direction of the Lord.

And may we use that example in our lives to be better as we continue to be Savory Salt. That is 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.