The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
In his opening devotional for the fall semester, BYU President Kevin J Worthen drew his message from “an extraordinary event” he attended in May when President Russell M. Nelson — the Prophet of the Lord — invited young adults throughout the world to a special meeting.
Young adults filled the 20,000-seat Conference Center and the overflow areas on Temple Square. Hundreds of thousands more viewed the broadcast online, President Worthen recalled.
“President Nelson’s message was powerful and profound.” Still, it wasn’t until after he had read and studied the talk several times that President Worthen noticed the title: “Choices for Eternity.”
“As I read those three words, the thought forcefully hit me that President Nelson had not only provided prophetic counsel on fundamental truths and inspired direction on individual topics of immediate relevance to young adults, he had also given an overarching sermon — some would call it a meta-narrative — on choices and decisions,” President Worthen told students gathered Tuesday, Sept. 6, in the Marriott Center on the Provo, Utah, campus.
In his May address, President Nelson stated that his purpose was “to make sure that your eyes are wide open to the truth that this life really is the time when you get to decide what kind of life you want to live forever.”
President Nelson then asserted, “During this life, we get to choose which laws we are willing to obey … and, therefore, in which kingdom of glory we will live forever.”
There it is in plain terms, President Worthen said. “We get to decide — we get to choose — the most important thing in our existence — our eternal destiny. God will leave that up to us.”
That does not mean that individuals can simply check a box on an eternal menu and say, “I choose this kingdom,” President Worthen explained. “Our eternal destiny is not determined solely by a single act, but through a lifetime of actions and decisions. Those actions and decisions prepare us to live in accordance with eternal laws. Which laws we are prepared to live, in turn, determine our ultimate destiny.”
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
