Uchtdorf - Your Potential, Your Privilege - April 2011

President Uchtdorf uses a story about a man who saved his whole life for a cruise and didn't realize that the cost included all the food and entertainment, as a backdrop to saying the man was living below his privilege.  He asks us if we are similarly living below our privilege when it comes to priesthood service.

• Are we as priesthood holders living below our privileges when it comes to the sacred power, gifts, and blessings that are our opportunity and right as bearers of God’s priesthood?

The Glory and Grandeur of the Priesthood
President Uchtdorf says that we can probably all give rehearsed answers to what priesthood service is, but we need to move past the simple answers and see how the priesthood is demonstrated in our everyday lives.

• The fact that our Heavenly Father would entrust this power and responsibility to man is evidence of His great love for us and a foreshadowing of our potential as sons of God in the hereafter. Nevertheless, too often our actions suggest that we live far beneath this potential. When asked about the priesthood, many of us can recite a correct definition, but in our daily lives, there may be little evidence that our understanding goes beyond the level of a rehearsed script. Brethren, we are faced with a choice. We can be satisfied with a diminished experience as priesthood bearers and settle for experiences far below our privileges. Or we can partake of an abundant feast of spiritual opportunity and universal priesthood blessings.

What Can We Do to Live Up to Our Potential?

• Too often we attend meetings and nod our heads; we might even smile knowingly and agree. We jot down some action points, and we may say to ourselves, “That is something I will do.” But somewhere between the hearing, the writing of a reminder on our smartphone, and the actual doing, our “do it” switch gets rotated to the “later” position. Brethren, let’s make sure to set our “do it” switch always to the “now” position!

In order to understand our priesthood responsibilities, we need the Spirit to be part of our lives.  It is only through the promptings of the Spirit that we can be instructed on who needs help and who God needs us to reach out to.  One key requirement to understanding God's will for us is to be reading the scriptures.

• As you read the scriptures and listen to the words of the prophets with all your heart and mind, the Lord will tell you how to live up to your priesthood privileges. Don’t let a day go by without doing something to act on the promptings of the Spirit.

President Uchtdorf talks about three things we can do to live up to the priesthood that we hold.

First: Read the Owner’s Manual

• The more we study the purpose, potential, and practical use of the priesthood, the more we will be amazed by its power, and the Spirit will teach us how to access and use that power to bless our families, our communities, and the Church.

Second: Seek the Revelations of the Spirit

• A sure testimony of Jesus Christ and of His restored gospel takes more than knowledge—it requires personal revelation, confirmed through honest and dedicated application of gospel principles. If we are not seeking to use this channel of revelation, we are living beneath our priesthood privileges.
• It is our privilege and opportunity as bearers of the priesthood to seek personal revelation and to learn how to know the truth for ourselves through the sure witness of the Holy Spirit.

Third: Find Joy in Priesthood Service

• You may want to ask yourself if you are merely going through the motions as a priesthood bearer—doing what is expected but not experiencing the joy that should be yours. Holding the priesthood gives us abundant opportunities to feel the joy that Ammon expressed: “Have we not great reason to rejoice? … We have been instruments in [the Lord’s] hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory … in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice.”

He concludes with these words.

• Too often we fail to experience the bliss that comes from daily, practical priesthood service. At times assignments can feel like burdens. Brethren, let us not pass through life immersed in the three Ws: wearied, worrying, and whining. We live beneath our privileges when we allow worldly anchors to keep us away from the abundant joy that comes from faithful and dedicated priesthood service, especially within the walls of our own homes. We live beneath our privileges when we fail to partake of the feast of happiness, peace, and joy that God grants so bountifully to faithful priesthood servants.

We all have the chance to become more than we currently are.  When it comes to priesthood service, we will gain a deeper understanding of our responsibilities when we let the Spirit be our guide.  Reading the scriptures will allow us to know God's will for us.  It will open the heavens to our understanding and we will be instructed on better ways to live our lives and how we can magnify our priesthood callings.  I hope we can all seek have the Spirit more in our lives and if we do, we will be closer to becoming the type of priesthood holders that the Lord would like us to be.