followHIM - What does it mean to give to the poor? Should I give away everything I own? : follow HIM Favorites

Episode Date: January 23, 2022

The followHIM Favorites episodes now entail Hank Smith and John Bytheway answering a question from the Come, Follow Me study questions from the youth.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers/SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week's Follow Him Favorites. We're doing a little something different this year. Maybe you've seen it by now, where we pick a question that we've received from youth or even our own students and kind of bringing that up as part of this week's lesson. So, John, the question that I've received from students is this idea in, and it comes up in different places, but in Moses 7, the Lord says there was no poor among them. It comes up in 4th Nephi, comes up a little bit in the book of Acts, this idea of there's no poor among them. And I've had students say before, am I supposed to be giving everything I have away if I don't do that? Am I a bad person if I see a homeless person on the street If I don't do that, am I, am I a bad person? If I don't, you know,

if I, if I see a homeless person on the street and I don't go over and, and give them money or get them and take them to dinner. And, you know, uh, that's what Jesus would do. Like where, where's the line between me living my life and moving forward and, and trying to reach this ideal. So do you have any thoughts on that? What would you say? Wow, that's a great one. And it comes up, I teach down at the BYU Salt Lake Center. And we're like on 4th West, 3rd West. We see it.

Right downtown Salt Lake. We are. Yeah, some of that. And I think sometimes I like to look at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Take no thought for the morrow. What you shall eat. What you shall wear. What you shall put on.

Right. Like literally, we're supposed to go to the park and play hacky sack and expect, you know, who's going to, we don't have to, we should just have others feed us. And then the Book of Mormon makes it clear, he was speaking to the 12, I'm going to take care of you. But we all, we have to do that. We have to provide for our families. We look at the proclamation to the world on the family.

I'm supposed to be a provider, but then I can also have a donation and pay my tithing and fast offerings. And that is one of the fun challenges of life. What is the right balance here for me to take care of my family, my home, provide for my children, and also do what every Christian wants to do, and that

is help provide for the poor in fast offerings. And I'm really grateful for fast offerings because I know that those are going to be distributed by people who are trying their best to be inspired, and how the church helps with the natural disasters and stuff in there. It's not just throw money at it. It's much more careful than that. And so that's a great question that's kind of hard to do and to follow him favorite.

But I think it's good that you're thinking about it. It's a good challenge to try to have what's the right balance to prayerfully figure that out. What do you answer, Hank? Right, well, I would say, you know, obviously the Lord wants you to get an education. He wants you to get a career. He wants you to move forward. So this is one of our many Christian imperatives that we're working towards. I would say that the Lord often says it is not requisite that a man or

woman should run faster than they have strength. He doesn't expect us to all be Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa is exceptional. But that doesn't give us the idea of being like, well, then I don't have to worry about it at all. No, I don't think that's true. But I would start, I then let's get Zion in your close relationships, right? And then let's build from there. Do you remember that old Ezra Taft Benson quote? The Lord doesn't work from the outside in. Do you remember that one? Yeah. He works from the inside out.

Inside out. He said, yeah, the Lord would... The world would take people out of the slums but christ takes the slums out of the people and then they take themselves out of the slums it's a it's that's a great way to put it hank is you start here cleanse the inner vessel that might even be the title of the talk when you start here and uh it's it's like a circle of influence a circle of concern type of a thing it's a good discussion to have and a great question i'm not sure it's one we can answer

quickly but i'm just glad somebody's asking the question yeah and i and there's when i i'll tell you john when i served as a financial clerk for a ward uh that's not a calling i get very often it only has happened once in my life. And I was so amazed. And this was back when all the donations came through that office, right? Now you can make your donations online. But I was so amazed at the giving people, the giving people gave. I don't know if that's, it's a, I sound like I'm in the scriptures, the giving of a giving. You have giving a given. Given a giving. You have giving a given. Given a giving.

You have given a gifting. People, I mean, there was people, there were people giving so much in not just tithing, but in fast offerings. In offerings, they were, and you never would have guessed, I never would have even known that this person is really pushing themselves in offerings. And I thought that was such a, it's always stayed with me for years later to see people do that.

So, but again, you don't wanna get to the point where you're hurting your family, your chances at an education opportunity. But the Lord does require a lot of us. We don't want to say he's not. You mentioned the verse, it's not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And I think right after that, it says,

but see that these things are done in wisdom and in order. It's something you think about, you grapple with, and you try to make the best judgment you can with some inspiration. But yeah, you still have roles that you have to fulfill, and we do, Hank, as fathers and husbands and members of our ward. So we have to make a living, but we also want to say, how can I in my circles bless the poor and needy that are around us?

It's a great, great question. Yeah. And you've told me before this too, is that it's not always about money. People can have great wealth and still be needy, right? Yeah. Need of a friend. Need of both. Oh, yes.

They used to say the threefold mission of the church was proclaim the gospel perfect the saints redeem the dead president monson added care for the poor and needy and now it's been restated live care invite unite live the gospel of jesus christ care for those in need that's the whole sentence so it might not be that they're poor but they might have a need an emotional need a friendship need of companions friendship need, a companionship need. Care for those in need. Live the gospel. Care for those in need.

Live care. Invite all to come to Christ and unite families for eternity. So thanks for bringing that up. Yeah. I want to bring up one last story, if that's okay. John Huntsman Sr.'s wife told the story. Now, John, if you don't know who that is, John Huntsman, Sr., he's a member of the church who didn't start out very wealthy, but he finished quite, quite wealthy. We're not talking hundreds of millions. We're even more.

He just his businesses thrived. Well, his wife said long before we had any of that wealth um we each we had our little you know family budget and we each got fifty dollars of our own spending money and we never asked have you ever heard this story john he said she never asked they never asked each other you know what are you doing with your spending money because it was yours it was your little budget item fifty dollars of spending money and she said i never asked him other, you know, what are you doing with your spending money? Cause it was yours. It was your little budget item, $50 of spending money. And she said, I never asked him what he did with it. He never seemed to get anything, but I never asked him. She said, I bought myself things. Uh, and she said, um, uh, after a couple of years of this, a woman

stood up in fast and testimony meeting and said, uh, said whoever, I don't know who it is, but whoever has been giving me $50 a month for the last few years, I love you. I thank you. And John Huntsman senior's wife said, she glanced over at him like, and he just looks straight ahead. She said, but I knew it was him. And he's just, she said, he's always been that way that he's a giver. And, and I think that, I think that we can give ourselves, let's give ourselves into prosperity like that. Maybe there's something to that.

Anyway, John, we probably just confuse people more, but hopefully we helped a little bit with that. Go back and read King Benjamin's speech. He even says, if you don't have anything, i would have i would give if i had you know yeah and he's he's kind of talking about where's your heart and that's kind of job one where's your heart i would give if i had uh he says and so yeah go read king benjamin's speech again and it gets a little complicated too because he says are we not all beggars and you should give to the beggar but if you're downtown there's a little sign that, don't give to the panhandlers. Give to the welfare agencies that really know how to help people.

Not just prolong their problems, but to really help them. And that's a, yeah, it's a good discussion. It is. It's a good discussion. I'm sure there's varied opinions. And hopefully we added a little bit to that. And we encourage new thoughts. And you, John, when you said, hey, all things should be done in wisdom and order.

I like giving to the church's organizations because I know that that money is going to reach the people that, that I want, that I'm hoping it will reach. Yes. Right. Humanitarian aid, fast offerings. Somebody has done the research and the work. Right. They know how to really help, not just throw money at it. Yeah. Yes. Humanitarian aid, fast offerings. Somebody has done the research and the work. Right. They know how to really help, not just throw money at it. Yeah. Yeah. And there's very, very low cost that's going to pay anybody along the way. I remember

President Hinckley saying that. This humanitarian aid, every hundred cents of your dollar is going to get to those people. So I like that confidence in that wisdom and order. Well, thank you for joining us today. Hopefully we added a little bit to, uh, the, your thoughts on this. Um, but you can, you can write to us. You can send us a question that you have. Um, we'll hopefully work it into a week of follow him favorites. So join us next time. It might be your question.