Who Do You Follow?

by Clark Smith, EFY speaker, ESPN cameraman

 

Do you follow sports? How about the stock market? I'll bet you could tell me who just won eight Grammy's. How about naming three of the five Oscar nominees for Best Picture? Do you watch E.R., Seinfeld, or Friends every week? Now for a tougher question: Could you tell me what our living prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, has said most recently concerning you? So, whom do we REALLY follow?

 

I know friends who wake up every morning and can't start the day without reading the sports page. That's how I was in high school. I could read it completely in 2-3 bowls of Frosted Flakes. Now it's the business section of the paper and Grape Nuts. In order to "follow" somebody or something we need to read, study, or update ourselves constantly with what they are doing or saying.

 

If you really have a passion for something you are always seeking information about it. You look it up on the Internet, buy magazines about it, and watch TV programs that cover it. You really want to gather all you can concerning this passion. My friend is a huge Michael Jordan fan. He has collected all his trading cards and paid big money for some of the early ones. He has saved all the Sports Illustrated magazines with Mr. Jordan on the cover. He buys his shoes, his clothes, and even his cologne. Ask him anything about Michael and he'll not only give you the facts, he will even quote it to you in his best Michael Jordan voice. Prophets don't have trading cards, but wouldn't it be great if we followed President Hinckley with more devotion and enthusiasm?

 

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having a passion or being interested in sports and entertainment figures. There is plenty of time to enjoy such things. I only suggest that we all find more time to pursue the things that will last eternally. Shouldn't the Lord and his servants, the Prophets, be getting just as much time as your non-eternal passions in life?

 

Humble followers of Christ speak to us in quiet, reverent settings. The Spirit speaks to us in a still small voice. The world, on the other

hand, is screaming at us: television, movies, sports, videos, radio, billboards, magazine, the Internet. Many of these things do their best

to keep your mind as far away from the Lord as possible. If you think of how much of your daily time is spent with the above-mentioned items and compare it with how much time you spend studying the word of God, what is your ratio? 3/1? 10/1? Average people spend 2 to 3 hours a day watching TV. Some kids watch 5 to 6 hours, then play Nintendo for a couple of more. Satan know that if he can over stimulate our minds with the nonessentials, we will have a harder time hearing that still, small voice. The more we let Satan keep us from hearing the quiet words and promptings of the Lord, the closer he gets to victory.

 

Recently, a close friend of mine told me that might only have five to seven years remaining on this earth. He then told me that he doesn't waste time on non-eternal things anymore. He never watches TV. He studies the gospel more than ever before. He spends as much time with this wife and children as possible. He has learned to sacrifice worldly momentary pleasures for eternal rewards.

 

Remember how, in the movie "City Slickers," Billy Crystal kept asking Curly the secret of life? Curly would hold up his index finger and tell Billy that life was all about that "one thing." It was a secret Billy had to figure out on his own. The other day my brother Mike pointed out something interesting in the scriptures. In Amos 3:7 it says, "Surely the Lord will do nothing but that he will reveal his secret, through his servants the prophets." I have always thought it said "secrets"- plural. But it is "secret"-singular. Do you know what that secret is? Wouldn't we all like to know? There is only one way to find out. Follow and study the words of the prophets.

 

Read your Church magazines. Study the Conference talks on the Internet instead of visiting in the chat rooms. Study the scriptures at night instead of watching reruns of your favorite shows. Memorize your seminary scripture mastery cards as you eat your Cocoa Pebbles. Are your going to wait for the doctor to tell you about a terminal illness to spend time on things that matter most? To paraphrase something Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said: In the end, if we are not following the Lord and his servants the prophets, it really won't matter what we were following instead.

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