Put Aside Distractions During Sacrament Meeting, Especially Our Cell Phones

 

Reverence for Sacred Things

By Elder Ulisses Soares

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Brothers and sisters, we do not need to climb to the top of a mountain, like Moses did, to discover reverence for sacred things and convert our discipleship into a deeper level of spirituality and devotion. We can find it, for example, as we strive to protect our home environment from worldly influences. This can be accomplished by sincerely and fervently praying before our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and seeking to better know our Savior through our diligent study of the word of God found in the scriptures and in the teachings of our prophets. Additionally, such spiritual transformation can come as we strive to honor the covenants we have made with the Lord by living in obedience to the commandments. These efforts can bring a quiet and certain stillness to our hearts. Focusing on such actions can surely help transform our homes into reverent places of spiritual refuge—personal sanctuaries of faith where the Spirit resides, much like the mountain experience of Moses.

We can also experience such spiritual transformation as we faithfully participate in the Church’s worship service, including tuning our hearts to the Lord through our sincere singing of sacred hymns. Turning aside—like Moses—from worldly distractions, especially our cell phones or anything not in harmony with this sacred moment, enables us to turn our full attention to partaking of the sacrament, with our minds and hearts focused on the Savior and His atoning sacrifice along with our own covenants. Such sacramental focus will foster a reverently renewing moment of our communion with the Savior and will make the Sabbath a delight and transform our life.

Fundamental Spiritual Maintenance

 

Divine Helps for Mortality

By President Dallin H. Oaks

First Counselor in the First Presidency

Just as our physical muscles cannot be developed or maintained without straining against the law of gravity, so mortal growth requires us to strain against Satan’s temptations and other mortal opposition. Most important for spiritual growth is the requirement to choose between good and evil....

Thus, President Joseph F. Smith taught that the Holy Ghost will “enlighten the minds of the people with regard to the things of God, to convince them at the time of their conversion of their having done the will of the Father, and to be in them an abiding testimony as a companion through life, acting as the sure and safe guide into all truth and filling them day by day with joy and gladness, with a disposition to do good to all men, to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong, to be kind and merciful, long suffering and charitable. All who possess this inestimable gift, this pearl of great price, have a continual thirst after righteousness. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit,” President Smith concluded, “no mortal can walk in the straight and narrow way.”

IV.

With so many powerful helps to guide us in our mortal journeys, it is disappointing that so many remain unprepared for their appointed meeting with our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. His parable of the ten virgins, spoken of so frequently in this conference, suggests that of those invited to meet Him, only half will be prepared.

We all know examples of the unprepared: returned missionaries who have interrupted their spiritual growth by periods of inactivity, youth who have jeopardized their spiritual growth by separating themselves from Church teaching and activities, men who have postponed their ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood, men and women—sometimes the posterity of noble pioneers or worthy parents—who have departed the covenant path short of making and keeping covenants in the holy temple.

Many of such deviations occur when members fail to follow the fundamental spiritual maintenance plan of personal prayer, regular scripture study, and frequent repentance. In contrast, some neglect weekly renewal of covenants by not partaking of the sacrament. Some say the Church is not meeting their needs; those substitute what they perceive as their future needs ahead of what the Lord has provided in His many teachings and opportunities for our essential service to others.

Humility and trust in the Lord are the remedies for such deviations.

Jesus helps us mend and heal

 "Eternity's Great Gifts: Jesus Christ's Atonement, Resurrection, Restoration" by Elder Gerrit W. Gong from April 2025 General Conference 

"Easter and Jesus Christ helps us mend, reconcile, make right our relationships, on both sides of the veil. Jesus can heal grief; he can enable forgiveness. He can free us and others from things we or they have said or done the otherwise bind us captive."

Circumstances beyond our control

 " Compensating blessings" by Bishop Gerald Caussè, April 2025 general conference 

" When circumstances beyond our control prevent us from fulfilling the righteous desires of our hearts, the Lord will compensate in ways that allow us to receive his promised blessings...

What matters to the Lord is not merely whether we are able, but whether we are willing to do all we can to follow him as our Savior."

In Diving Lesson They Factor in the Degree of Clothing

 

Your Repentance Doesn’t Burden Jesus Christ; It Brightens His Joy

By Sister Tamara W. Runia

First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

We don’t stay on the covenant path by never making a mistake. We stay on the path by repenting every day...

I grew up taking diving lessons and learned that when judges score a dive, they watch the execution. Was the entry perfectly vertical, with toes pointed and a small splash? Then they do something extraordinary. They factor in the degree of difficulty.

Everyone is diving with their own degree of difficulty. And your Savior is the only one who truly knows the difficulty you are diving with. I want a relationship with the one person who gets me, who knows my heart and how hard I’m trying!...

Let’s try this. Tonight, before you pray, imagine Jesus Christ close by. He is your Advocate with the Father. Ask yourself, “What would my Savior say to the Father about me?”

And then become silent.

Listen for that voice that says good things about you—the voice of the Savior, your finest friend, and your Father in Heaven, who is really there. Remember, Their love and your worth are always great, no matter what!

Stop Asking What God Will Permit and Ask What God Would Prefer

 

Participate to Prepare for Christ’s Return

By Elder Steven D. Shumway

Of the Seventy

When we say yes to serving, we are saying yes to Jesus Christ. And when we say yes to Christ, we are saying yes to the most abundant life possible...

We engage in God’s work not because God needs us but because we need God and His mighty blessings....

Callings do not determine or validate a person’s worth or worthiness. Rather, as we labor with God in whatever way He asks, we grow into the measure of our own creation....

When we serve because we love God and want to live our covenants, service that seems dutiful and draining becomes joyful and transformative....

Our preparation to meet Jesus Christ accelerates when we stop asking what God will permit and start asking what God would prefer....

We will fall many times as we engage in God’s work. But in our effort, Jesus Christ catches us....When we consecrate our meager but best effort, God magnifies it. When we sacrifice for Jesus Christ, He sanctifies us. This is the transformative power of God’s grace....

Callings are sacred gifts from a loving Heavenly Father to help bring others with us to Jesus Christ. So I invite leaders and each of us to more intentionally seek those without callings. ...

When we serve to magnify Christ and not ourselves, our service becomes joyful. When others leave our class, meeting, ministering visit, or activity remembering Christ more than they remember us, the work is energizing.

Worship and Idols

 

Worship

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Whatever takes precedence over worship of the Father and the Son becomes an idol....

Ultimately, how we live may be the best, most genuine form of worship. Showing our devotion means emulating the Father and the Son—cultivating Their attributes and character in ourselves.