Ezra Taft Benson Gems

While I was doing my research for my post yesterday, I came across this article in the July 1994 Ensign. This is not the entire article, just a few gems from President Benson. President Benson is the prophet who signed my mission call. So, I have a special affinity for him. He was a very wise man who taught us many wonderful things while he served as prophet. Here are just a few of them. By the way, if you would like to read the entire article, click on the title.

We Will Know Him
“Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us” (Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 6).

Commitment to the Lord
“We must put God in the forefront of everything else in our lives. He must come first, just as He declares in the first of His Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’ (Ex. 20:3).

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities” (Ensign, May 1988, p. 4).

Faith and Works
“I believe that, while we should ask the Lord’s blessing on all our doings and should never do anything upon which we cannot ask his blessings, we should not expect the Lord to do for us what we can do for ourselves. I believe in faith and works, and that the Lord will bless more fully the man who works for what he prays for than he will the man who only prays” (God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, p. 329).

Food Storage
“The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah” (Ensign, Jan. 1974, pp. 69, 80).

Debt
“[One] reason for increase in debt … is the rise of materialism, as contrasted with commitment to spiritual values. Many a family, in order to make a ‘proper showing,’ will commit itself for a larger and more expensive house than is needed, in an expensive neighborhood. Almost everyone would, it seems, like to keep up with the Joneses. … As a result, there is a growing feeling, unfortunately, that material things should be had now, without waiting, without saving, without self-denial” (Ensign, June 1987, pp. 3–4).

Work
“The earth was cursed for Adam’s sake. Work is our blessing, not our doom. God has a work to do, and so should we. Retirement from work has depressed many a man and hastened his death. … We should work at taking care of the spiritual, mental, social, and physical needs of ourselves and of those whom we are charged to help. In the church of Jesus Christ, there is plenty of work to do to move forward the kingdom of God. Missionary work, family genealogy and temple work, home evenings, receiving a Church assignment and magnifying it are but a few of our required labors” (Ensign, Oct. 1986, p. 2).

Importance of Good Homes
“No nation rises above its homes. In building character the church, the school, and even the nation stand helpless when confronted with a weakened and degraded home. The good home is the rock foundation—the cornerstone of civilization. There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from a good home, with the old-fashioned virtues at its base. If your nation is to endure, the home must be safeguarded, strengthened, and restored to its rightful importance” (in Conference Report, April 1966, p. 130).

There Is a Power in the Book
“[The Book of Mormon] helps us draw nearer to God. Is there not something deep in our hearts that longs to draw nearer to God, to be more like Him in our daily walk, to feel His presence with us constantly? If so, then the Book of Mormon will help us do so more than any other book.

“It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words of life’ (see D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance” (Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 7).

Scripture Study
“When individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, … other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow” (Ensign, May 1986, p. 81).

Following the Counsel of Leaders
“One who rationalizes that he or she has a testimony of Jesus Christ but cannot accept direction and counsel from the leadership of His church is in a fundamentally unsound position and is in jeopardy of losing exaltation” (Ensign, May 1982, p. 64).

Humility and Pride
“The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. … Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done.’ As Paul said, they ‘seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s’ (Philip. 2:21). …

“The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives (see Hel. 12:6). They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works. …

“Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. … Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion” (Ensign, May 1989, pp. 4–7).

Improving Individuals
“Some may ask why we as a people and church quietly and consistently seek to change individuals while there are such large problems all about us. … But decaying cities are simply a delayed reflection of decaying individuals. … The commandments of God give emphasis to improvement of the individual as the only real way to bring about the real improvement in society” (A Plea for America, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975, p. 18).

“The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature” (Ensign, Nov. 1985, p. 6).