B (2:06)
It is familiar. Okay. And Warne Cowdery gets a calling and it's obviously like a kind of serious calling. You can tell when you read, okay, he's going to preach the gospel and it's going to be like kind of intense. So intense that this is like his calling in verse number three. And he needs to devote his whole time to this high and holy calling which I now give unto him, seeking diligently the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and all things necessary shall be added there unto, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. His calling was not just going to be a part time gig. It wasn't just going to be like, oh, yeah, I'll do that on Sunday mornings. His calling wasn't just like, okay, I'll dedicate Tuesday nights and I'll go to Mutual, and that's going to be fine. His calling was his whole time, every ounce of it was now going to be for that, seeking diligently the kingdom of heaven. And right when I read it, I was like, oh, that like already stresses me out. Because if you're asking for my whole time, it is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, every single hour. That's going to be a lot. And instantly when I read it, which is funny because, like, it was like it was written for me, instantly I was like, oh, well, like, he must have been worried it was going to be a waste. Like, there's like, what if, like he like, what if he had other things to do that were more important? Or what if he had like, chores? Or like, what if he like had a to do list of all the things that he normally did in his everyday life? And then immediately after he gets like this reminder and it's barely, verily, I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night. And I read it and I was like, oh. And instantly I got it. And it almost felt like this instant comfort because immediately he was like, you're gonna need to dedicate your whole entire life to this. All your time you have is going to be to building up the kingdom, to preaching the gospel, to finding people to bring them in. And the reason it's gonna be worth it is because the Lord is coming soon. But even more than that, it's that phrase overtaketh the world that is the most intriguing to me because it almost as if he is just whispering, there is nothing more important you could be doing. Because in the end, this is the only thing that matters. Anything else that you think of that you're like, no, this is a priority for me. This is what I need to be doing. This is my responsibilities. This is important. He pauses and says, listen, all of that is gonna be consumed when Jesus comes, so don't waste your time. And I, like, sat here and I paused and I just wrote down everything that I'm worried about right now and all my responsibilities and everything I'm doing. And that quote from President Nelson just kept, like, ringing in my head of, like, there is nothing more important you could be doing on the earth right now than gathering Israel. And I started realizing the reason why is because everything else is gonna be consumed by that anyways. So why am I wasting my time building up things that aren't gonna matter when we know what is going to matter? And it made me pause and just wanna reflect on my life and be like, how can I go through bit by bit, piece by piece of my schedule, and say, I wanna dedicate my whole time to building the kingdom? And that doesn't mean job. And, like, not clean my room. But it made me want to pause and be like, what can I do? But I won't clean my room if I don't have to. And I already don't make my bed, so that explores. Like, that is like, don't laugh so hard. Don't laugh so hard. It's hurting my feelings. Okay, I have a clean room, everyone. But it made me want to pause and be like, wait, if this is the most important thing, why would I not dedicate my life to that? If at the end of everything, I'm going to look back and the most important thing I could be doing is preparing the world for Jesus to come back? Why would I not want to spend every single second building that up? And I went to this conference once a couple years ago, and it was like this Christian conference for people in their 20s. And we, like, got there, and it started talking about how each generation in the scriptures is known for something. Like, there's the generation. There's, like, Noah's generation. They built the ark. There's going to be the generation with Moses. Like, their people got set free, the Promised Land generation. And they went through all these different generations. And the question at the end was, what will your generation be known for? And I remember sitting there and all I could think is, I want to be part of the generation that welcomes Jesus back. And obviously I don't have all control over that. Like, I don't get to choose the date. I wish I could. I don't have any say. But I do have a role that I can play. And if that's, like, what is on the table, why would I not dedicate my whole time to that?