Priesthood magnified when lives are lived righteously
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"Immorality and infidelity are totally inconsistent with the priesthood of God," said President Gordon B. Hinckley at the priesthood session Saturday evening.
"The boy who has the strength to say `no' to drugs, the youth who has the strength to say `no' to beer and other forms of alcohol, the young man who has the strength to say `no' to immorality magnifies his calling as a deacon, or teacher or priest," said President Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency.He held up a pair of binoculars to illustrate his address on magnifying the priesthood. Binoculars, he explained, magnify objects and bring them closer to view. Priesthood holders, like binoculars, can also magnify. Priesthood is magnified "when we live up to our high and holy calling, when we show love for God through service to fellowman, when we use our strength to build faith and spread truth," said President Hinckley.
However, he noted, when binoculars are turned, and looked through at the wrong end, objects appear reduced in size and farther away. "When we live lives of selfishness, when we indulge in sin, when we set our sights on the things of the world rather than the things of God, we diminish our priesthood."
President Hinckley suggested that even as Scouting has an oath, so might priesthood holders make a pledge. He lifted his right arm as he suggested such a pledge would be to "do my best to magnify my priesthood of God which has been conferred upon me."
To live only unto ourselves, he continued, or serving grudgingly, "diminishes our priesthood just as looking through the wrong lenses of a binocular reduces the image and makes the object more distant."
He noted that there is "much of distress in this world," many who have "a desperate need for listening ears and understanding hearts. There are single parents struggling to rear families. There are houses that need painting, yards that need cleaning whose owners have neither the strength nor means to get it done. There are strong young men among us. There are thousands of you in these congregations tonight."
