“There are few other activities we can engage in that will bring greater benefits to us than the daily, consistent study of the scriptures,” said Elder Michael John U. Teh of the First Quorum of the Seventy in his address to the BYU–Hawaii ohana on Tuesday, March 22, 2011.
Elder Teh serves as Second Counselor in the Area Presidency for the Philippines Area.
He related a story of a time when, as a bishop, he visited members living in the humblest of circumstances, in cardboard houses beside the train tracks. “It amazed me that people were able to live in those conditions. What disturbed me was they seemed to be content in living out their entire lives in that manner.”
One of his counselors came from a family in this situation, yet was able to move on to a better life. “How did the father manage to pull his family out form those conditions?” Elder Teh wondered. He went on to quote Alma 31:5, “…the preaching of the word… had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them…”
Elder Teh quoted the words of President Ezra Taft Benson: “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of the people, and they would take themselves out of the slums…Christ changes men, who then change their environment.”
He discussed the vision of the tree of life as recorded in the book of 1 Nephi, and that only those who held fast to the iron rod made it to the tree of life. “It is time that we re-awaken our desire to know the mysteries of the kingdom, to once again make the reading of the scriptures a high priority in our lives.”
He closed with three questions to invite personal reflection and renew commitment:
“Do I take time to study the scriptures every day?
“If not, what excuse do I have for not doing so?
“Will my excuse be acceptable to the Lord?”
“I challenge you to begin today to read the scriptures daily. Do not go to bed tonight until you have done so. As you do, there will come to you a greater desire to do the will of the Lord.”
Photo by Meimei Yin