3.275 Declare Things That Are Right

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. "Choose ye this day whom you will serve." You and I have an opportunity every day to declare things that are right. Do we do that, or do we find ourselves the way that most people are having conversations?

Let me get into today's topic and see if I can explain better about what I mean there. We are reading this week Isaiah chapters 40 through 49. There's something inside of Isaiah 44.

I don't know if I can formulate it, and I'm hoping I can get something before the end of the week there, but we're not going to be in Isaiah 44 today. We're going to go to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45:19 is our verse.

Let's see if we can kind of connect this to today a little bit. It says, "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.

I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." Now, the first thing that I want to capture inside of this one is, "I've not spoken in secret." My friends, we can use Savory Salt as an example. It's one that I get excited about, so let's just share it. But Savory Salt has now expanded to 87 different countries over the seasons that we've been sharing.

It's gone to countries where podcasts, or especially religious podcasts, are not a popular thing, as I've tracked around where the countries are that this has been downloaded in. But those 87 countries is nothing compared to the missionary efforts of the 500-plus missions that the Church has going forward. The Lord's word is going forward.

So, there's the first one: It is not in secret. If you want to find the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're going to be able to find it. The second part is what's interesting, and I think it's our call to action for us.

It says here, "I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." Let me give you an understanding of kind of one of the ways that I see the world here. When I listen to whatever side—okay, pick your side, I don't know—here's what I hear from both sides of whatever thing is being argued. They don't argue from a place of what is right and what is wrong.

They argue from a place of "what your side did that was more wrong than my side did." And that's really interesting to me because we've left the idea of right and wrong out of the conversation. And instead, we simply say, "Well, what we're doing is in response to the bad thing that..." The Church does that regularly. It does it sometimes through letters to certain wards and stakes and branches around the world.

It does it certainly from General Conference podiums as the servants of the Lord stand and declare things that are right. A great example for you and for me when it comes to sharing our opinions: to share those opinions of things that are right—things that we know to be true, commandments of the Lord, covenants we have made, our own experiences of what we have had as we've chosen the right. Let's you and I take an opportunity to speak righteousness and declare things that are right, rather than just taking the side of who's less wrong.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.