STIMULATOR message for the week of July 25, 1972
Message from President Merlin W. Sant, July 25, 1972
“Our chief want in this life is someone who shall make us do what we can. This is the service of a friend.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Dear Fellow Missionaries, District and Branch leaders:
Sister Sant and I rejoice in the great opportunity that has come to us to live in this lovely country and labor with you to build our Father’s Kingdom. When the call came from President Harold B. Lee, we accepted with no reservations. He gave us about six weeks to get ready and we soon discovered what miracles can happen when the Lord wants something done. In that limited time, we sold our home, sold two cars, disposed of all our furniture and arranged for our more personal items to be stored. So here are, ready to work with you and help spread the Gospel to all who will receive it.
Although we agree in principle with Emerson’s quotation shown above, we would like to challenge the idea that anyone should MAKE us do what we can. Compulsion has no place in God’s church. This is made clear in Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-42: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by longsuffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul, without hypocrisy and without guile.” What a wealth of counsel the Lord has given in that revelation, and it applies to all of us, whether we are engaged in proselyting or in directing HIs work in the district and branches.
The true value of a friend is realized when he succeeds in persuading us to do what we can. Someone has said that the greatest untapped resource in the world is man’s unused ability. So let’s all be better and closer friends in getting the Lord’s work done, thereby encouraging each other to perform to our full potential.
To the Lord, the most acceptable kind of service is that which we do voluntarily. As witness, we refer to Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-29 — “Be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of our own free will.” This is the kind of service that produces joy, not only for us but for all with whom and for whom we serve.
Let’s all be mindful that we are on the Lord’s errand and we are all He has right now to get it done. By encouraging and sustaining each other and with the help of our Heavenly Father, we can utilize our maximum abilities in accomplishing His purposes.
Your friends in the gospel,
President and Sister Merlin W. Sant
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