Related to the reading
Psalm 51 : 16-17
One day, a friend took me to his ranch. He unlocked the door of a large new automobile, slid under the wheel, and said proudly, "How do you like my new car?" We rode in luxurious comfort into the rural areas to a beautiful new landscaped home, and he said with no little pride, "This is my home."
He drove to a grassy knoll. The sun was retiring behind the distant hills. He surveyed his vast domain. Pointing to the north, he asked, "Do you see that clump of trees yonder?" I could plainly discern them in the fading day.
He pointed to the east. "Do you, see the lake shimmering in the sunset?" It too was visible.
"Now, the bluff that's on the south." We turned about to scan the distance. He identified barns, silos, the ranch house to the west. With a wide sweeping gesture, he boasted, "From the clump of trees, to the lake, to the bluff, and to the ranch buildings and all between—all this is mine. And the dark specks in the, meadow those cattle also are mine."
And then I asked from whom he obtained it. The chain of title of his abstract went back to land grants from governments. His attorney had assured him he had an unencumbered title.
And then I asked from whom he obtained it. The chain of title of his abstract went back to land grants from governments. His attorney had assured him he had an unencumbered title.
There came into my mind the bold statement of Paul: "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof" (1 Cor. 10:26)....
And then I asked, Did title come from God, Creator of the earth and the owner thereof? Did he get paid? Was it sold or leased or given to you? If gift, from whom? If sale, with what exchange or currency? If lease, do you make proper accounting?"
And then I asked, "What was the price? With what treasures did you buy this farm?"
"Money!"
"Where did you get the money?"
"My toil, my sweat, my labor, and my strength."
And then I asked, "Where did you get your strength to toil, your power to labor, your glands to sweat?"
He spoke of food.
"Where did the food originate?"
"From sun and atmosphere and soil and water."
"And who brought those elements here?"
That was long years ago. I saw him lying in his death among luxurious furnishings in a palatial home. His had been a vast estate. And I folded his arms upon his breast, and drew down the little curtains over his eyes. I spoke at his funeral, and I followed the cortege from the good piece of earth he had claimed to his grave, a tiny, oblong area the length of a tall man, the width of a heavy one.
Yesterday I saw that same estate, yellow in grain, green in lucerne, white in cotton, seemingly unmindful of him who had claimed it.
-President Spencer W. Kimball, April 1968 General Conference
Psalms 102-103; 110; 116-119; 127-128; 135-139; 146-150
Proverbs 1-4; 15-16; 22; 31
Ecclesiastes 1-3; 11-12
Read the scriptures
Read Come Follow Me
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