How can decisions from today affect you in the year 2040? Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offers four lessons to learn today that will help you make better decisions in the future.
How often do you consider the future in your everyday decisions? The small choices you make today can help you prepare to confidently make important life decisions in the future. In his 2018 address “We Seek After These Things,” given at BYU, Elder Gerrit W. Gong looks at today as if looking back from the year 2040 and suggests four lessons that we will be glad to have learned now.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
“Lesson 1: Learn How to Learn by the Spirit”
When we choose our friends and environments, we prioritize what we want to learn. By learning skills and attitudes that put the Spirit at the center of our lives, we can maximize our talents and become more useful to the Lord.
“Lesson 2: Learn How Best to Prepare for Eternity”
By focusing on the outcome of our actions and seeking revelation from the Lord, we can make decisions with our time that will allow the strength of the Lord to be expressed in our lives.
“Lesson 3: Learn Our Global Experience Can Contribute to Every Nation, Kindred, and Tongue”
Citizens of every country are important children of our Heavenly Father. We must realize that our countries interact on a global scale. Our global contributions may increase over time, as we gain experience.
“Lesson 4: Learn That We Have Been Spiritually Strengthened”
Our time provides us with opportunities for spiritual strengthening. This spiritual dimension enhances every aspect of our lives, drawing ourselves closer to our friends and families.
Elder Gong explains that the perspective we gain from these lessons is an “invitation to prepare now for a future that will be here tomorrow.” If we learn these lessons now, we will be better equipped in the future to seek after our eternal goals and return to live with our Heavenly Father.
Read the BYU Devotional address “We Seek After These Things” given by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, for lessons on preparing for the future.
Source: BYU Speeches
—Matthew Lee Tyler, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY HARRISON HAINES
Find more insights
Learn more about trusting the Lord Jesus Christ with our decisions in Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s article “Speaking Today: The Prohibitive Costs of a Value-Free Society.”
Take a look at “Created to be Creative” by Teya Jensen for insights on ways to use standards to increase your creativity.
Read Elder Gerrit W. Gong’s address “Hosanna and Hallelujah — The Living Christ: The Heart of Restoration and Easter” for further insights on how to make your plans for the future more specific to today.