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.