To Learn, To Do, To Be - Part One

This post is based on an October 2008 General Conference talk from Priesthood Session called "To Learn, to Do, to Be" by President Thomas S. Monson. This post is part one. I would like to share with you some highlights while I was reading the talk.

President Monson mentions, "First, learn what we should learn. Second, do what we should do. And third, be what we should be.

First, learn what we should learn. The Apostle Paul placed an urgency on our efforts to learn. He said to the Philippians, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And to the Hebrews he urged, “Lay aside … sin[;] … let us run with patience the race … set before us, looking [for an example] unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

President Harold B. Lee, 11th President of the Church and one of the great teachers in the Church, put his counsel in easy-to-understand terms. Said he: “When one becomes a holder of the priesthood, he becomes an agent of the Lord. He should think of his calling as though he were on the Lord’s errand.

President Stephen L Richards, who served for many years in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and then in the First Presidency, spoke often to holders of the priesthood and emphasized his philosophy pertaining to it. He declared: “The Priesthood is usually simply defined as ‘the power of God delegated to man.’ This definition, I think, is accurate.”

He continued: “But for practical purposes I like to define the Priesthood in terms of service and I frequently call it ‘the perfect plan of service.’ I do so because it seems to me that it is only through the utilization of the divine power conferred on men that they may ever hope to realize the full import and vitality of this endowment. It is an instrument of service … and the man who fails to use it is apt to lose it, for we are plainly told by revelation that he who neglects it ‘shall not be counted worthy to stand.’”

The purpose of temples was taught. Covenants and promises became much more than words. The desire to be worthy to enter those temple doors entered those youthful hearts. Heaven was very close. Learning what we should learn was assured.

Stay tuned until next time.