This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the April 2009 Conference.
I have always loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk "We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down." I still think about it frequently. But there were a few parts I didn't remember. I know we've all been struck in the last several General Conferences (2020 and on) with how seriously and urgently President Nelson and the apostles are talking about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, so I was interested to notice that this talk was no less urgent about it:
Dear brethren of the priesthood, we live in the latter days. The gospel of Jesus Christ is restored to the earth. The keys of the priesthood of God are given again to man. We live in an era of anticipation and preparation, entrusted by God to prepare ourselves, our families, our world for the approaching dawn—the day when the Son of God will “descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” and usher in His millennial reign.We have been entrusted with the holy priesthood and charged with the responsibility, power, and right to act as agents of our Heavenly King.These are the things that matter most. These are the things of eternal value that deserve our attention.
It's so easy, even now, to forget the larger picture about the work of building God's kingdom. I was saying to my mom the other day (when she asked me what I was making for Easter dinner, haha) that it takes a supreme effort to wrench my awareness toward anything beyond what urgently needs my attention in the next 7 days. I do plan ahead, because I have to, but there are specific times I set aside for figuring out the next week's dinners or the next year's curriculum, and other than that I'm mostly just trying to keep my head above water! So it's definitely important for me to make that supreme effort and remember why am I really doing any of this at all:
Our Heavenly Father seeks those who refuse to allow the trivial to hinder them in their pursuit of the eternal. He seeks those who will not allow the attraction of ease or the traps of the adversary to distract them from the work He has given them to perform. He seeks those whose actions conform to their words—those who say with conviction, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” …My dear brethren, like Nehemiah, we have a great work to do. We stand overlooking the horizon of our age. It is my fervent prayer that in spite of temptations, we will never lower our standards; that in spite of distractions, wherever they may come from, we will not lose focus on what matters most; that we will stand resolute and together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Other posts in this series:
Interesting that we chose the same talk. All of them were so good!
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