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Move Forward in Faith to Bless the World, Says Elder Paul V. Johnson at BYU

Young adults ‘now are ready to right wrongs, do God’s work, preach the truth and make a difference in the world,’ Seventy

This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.

By Valerie Walton, Church News

English Baptist preacher Frank W. Boreham made an observation about the year 1809.

One of the Napoleonic Wars, the War of the Fifth Coalition, was raging across Central Europe and the Netherlands. Great battles were fought, capturing worldwide attention. And who were the greatest heroes of 1809?

Babies. The year 1809 saw the births of legendary people such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Abraham Lincoln, Alfred Tennyson, Frederic Chopin and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

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Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy speaks during a BYU campus devotional on March 14, 2023. Photo by Brooklynn Kelson, BYU Photo.All rights reserved.

“[Which] of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809?” Boreham wrote. “We fancy that God can only manage His world by big battalions ... when all the while He is doing it by beautiful babies. ... When a wrong wants righting, or a work wants doing, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it.”

Having quoted the above, Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy told BYU students gathered for a devotional, “You are those beautiful babies who were born not long ago and now are ready to right wrongs, do God’s work, preach the truth and make a difference in the world.”

Speaking in the Marriott Center on the campus of BYU in Provo, Utah, on March 13, Elder Johnson asked, “So how will you, the beautiful babies of some years ago, go forward to bless the people of the world?”

 
A number of people in the audience will go on to be leaders in science, medicine, education, government, the arts and more. Most will not be famous or prominent, “but will still have ample opportunity to make a difference in the world and be instruments the Lord can use in His work,” Elder Johnson said.

The greatest impact one can have comes from moving forward with faith, such as keeping covenants, submitting to the Lord’s will and letting God prevail, Elder Johnson said.

Countless individuals doing just that have changed the course of history, he said. For instance, a small group of people saved the Nephites during a precarious time of war. “We don’t know the name of even one of these individuals who saved the nation, but we do know them as the mothers of the stripling warriors who taught their children so well that their sons received miraculous intervention and protection when they fought,” Elder Johnson said.

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Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy speaks during a BYU campus devotional on March 14, 2023. Photo by Brooklynn Kelson, BYU Photo.All rights reserved.

“Think about the faithful rank-and-file members of the Church who keep their covenants, follow the Lord’s direction, love others and bless countless lives. Individually they are not widely known in the world, but their influence is immense. This group carries the bulk of the heavy lifting in the mortal part of the Lord’s vast work.”

One’s ancestors are among those faithful, nameless people who change the course of history and bless countless lives. Elder Johnson spoke of his mother’s parents, both Swiss immigrants to the United States and converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His grandmother, Amalie, wrote that the birth of their third child, Winifred, was a terrible blow. Winifred would eventually be Elder Johnson’s mother. Amalie explained, “It was a terrible blow to us because we wanted to raise at least six boys for missionaries to pay back what the missionaries had done for us.”

What Amalie could not have known was that Winifred would go on to have eight children of her own — six of them boys — 55 grandchildren and 190 great-grandchildren. Seven children, 35 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren would serve as missionaries. “My grandparents wanted missionaries and ended up with many through my mother,” Elder Johnson explained. “My mother was one of the beautiful babies God sent to help bless the world.”

The effort to raise children in love and righteousness is often behind the scenes, not glamorous, but heroic and vital to the Lord’s work, he said.

“You who will have the chance to marry and have children will find raising your own children is challenging, but I’m confident you will find eternally significant ways to help prepare these babies born into your homes for their important work,” Elder Johnson said.

Each generation faces their own challenges, and the generations of today are no different. He said that, despite those challenges, each person can fulfill their divine destiny and do the work the Lord wants them to do.

“We can choose to walk in faith even in very challenging times when it seems difficult to see how things will work out, especially when things don’t go according to our thoughts, plans and desires,” Elder Johnson said. “But it is God’s work, and if we follow Him, we will be able to bless others and receive blessings in our own lives. We lay our efforts on the altar and allow the Lord to do what He will with them. As we do, He changes us and helps us fulfill our mission and our destiny.”

Submitting one’s will to God’s is the ultimate and most difficult test one will face in life. The Savior, who drank the bitter cup that the Father gave Him, had the most challenging task in atoning for the sins of the world. Yet he was willing, and because of that, His Atonement blesses each person and makes it possible for them to return to Heavenly Father.

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Student gathered at the Mariott Center in Provo, Utah, listen to Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy speak during a BYU campus devotional on March 14, 2023. Photo by Brooklynn Kelson, BYU Photo.All rights reserved.

 
Wrongs needed righting, works needed doing, and truths needed preaching. And God sent a baby into the world to do it, Boreham wrote. “That is why, long, long ago, a babe was born at Bethlehem.”

In closing, Elder Johnson invited the students — babies born not so very long ago who are now ready to bless the world — to stay close to the Lord so with His help, they can unlock their full potential. “I know you have the gifts necessary to make a difference, to bless many people and to accomplish critical things for the Kingdom,” he said. “But my confidence in the future and in you is because of Him.

“Because of Him, you will have the inspiration, the power and the path to bless others and accomplish things beyond what your innate abilities would allow. Because of Him, you will be powerful instruments He will utilize to shape the future. Because of Him, you will have access to the eternal blessings you desire.”

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Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Presidency of the Seventy speaks during a BYU campus devotional on March 14, 2023. Photo by Brooklynn Kelson, BYU Photo.All rights reserved.

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