Good morning! Aloha!
It is wonderful to be with you. President Kauwe, what a wonderful full house you have delivered for us today. Thank you everyone for coming. I love the prayers. I love this Cambodian music. It is symbolic of the great divergence of countries, languages, and cultures attending BYU–Hawaii. Congratulations to all of you for being here.
It was a year ago next week that Sister Rasband and I spoke at this very devotional. Those of you who were here might remember, we brought one of our granddaughters, Sister Haylie Chase, who had been a student here at BYU–Hawaii in 2018 and 2019. Later, another one of our granddaughters came to BYU–Hawaii, Maggie Macpherson, from 2021 to 2022. So, in our inner circle of family, we have had a lot of conversation about BYU–Hawaii. There is a great deal of love for the institution, the quality of your professors, your teachers, and the friendships that have bonded them with some of you even to this very day.
Along with our grandchildren attending here, we even have one of our missionaries here today. Brother Lee, would you stand up with your sweet wife, Cherisse. You know them as a former counselor in your stake presidency of the married stake. Brother Lee served as one of our missionaries in New York City a number of years ago. As you may know now, these two have been called to preside over the Canada Toronto Mission. We are so very pleased with them just like we would be if they were our own children. They have their sweet daughter here today. Alana, would you stand up? Alana is going on her own mission. She reports for home MTC next week, then off to Provo, and then to Hong Kong. How is that for exciting? Your parents will be teaching the Chinese in Toronto, and you will be teaching them in Hong Kong. Congratulations!
So, we have a lot of connections here and we love to be here with you today. I am grateful to be here as a junior companion to Elder D. Todd Christofferson, speaking of missionary work. He is my senior companion, and I am thrilled to be with him. It is not very often you will hear two of us at a meeting together. The Twelve usually travel singly all around the world, and so I am very excited to be here with Elder Christofferson. I express my love for him. He is the chairman of our executive committee and all these visitors and guests that you have on campus this week are here under the direction of Elder Christofferson.
I thought I would share with you today a message that I shared with young people starting class all over the world two weeks ago. Here is what I said: “If a young and busy college student were to come to me and ask for advice about his or her studies, my answer would be simple: ‘Give the Lord equal time.’ You might be thinking right now, “I just do not have time, Elder Rasband. I am already over committed. I have to get good grades here at BYU–Hawaii. I am taking too many credit hours already. I have tough professors who expect my full attention. I am working at the PCC. I can barely get to Church on Sunday.”
Sound familiar to any of you today? Well, know this: you cannot put your testimony on the shelf during your college years. Give the Lord equal time in your university experience, then give Him equal time the rest of your life as you go back to all the countries that you are here in Hawaii representing.
I promise you this today, as you give the Lord equal time as you pursue your higher education, the Spirit will enhance your academic pursuits. You will find you have extra time and capacity for your courses, and doors will be opened for you that might have otherwise been closed. Last year at this devotional, I told you a little bit of my story and this is my testimony from firsthand experience.
Now, there are a few scriptures I would like to share with you today that will help you to organize and balance your busy, busy, schedules. The first one is Mathew 6:33. Many of you have memorized this scripture, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” [1] Now it is interesting to me that as good as that scripture is, and as it has been a mastery and missionary scripture, do you know that Joseph Smith felt inspired to change it? Let me read to you what Joseph Smith wrote that verse to be:
"Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” [2] So, my young friends, as you are working so diligently and wonderfully to prepare yourself to go out into the world, you cannot put the Lord and the work of the Lord on the shelf while you are preparing to do this. The Lord will bless you in your righteous goals and endeavors, but He needs you and He wants you to work to build up His kingdom and establish His righteousness.
Here are a few verses that will help you figure out how to do that: Proverbs 16:3, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” [3] That is an Old Testament way of saying “set righteous goals,” even now while you are in school. And as you set these goals of reading the scriptures, of having prayer, having your family home evenings, or your group gatherings, the Lord will commit your path to be able to accomplish those things.
Here is another good verse: Job 31:6, “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” [4] Now do you remember what a balance is that is on two scales, and it has a fulcrum in the middle? You ought to think about your life and how you are balancing it. One of the weights on that balance would be your education. That would be a big weight right now. Maybe the weight on the other side to balance it a little would be your gospel nourishment and training. What are you doing to build up that weight on your scale?
Which leads me to another verse in Proverbs chapter 16 verse 11. Think of that fulcrum with the weights again. "A just weight and balance are the Lord’s: all the weights of the bag are his work.” [5] That is simply saying, my young friends, all of your life is the Lord's. You really cannot say, “Well, I am so busy with school right now. I do not have the time to do my Church work.” You cannot divide your life up into pieces like that. The Lord says, “all the weights of the bag [of your life] are his work.” [6]
So, as you begin this new semester of school here at BYU–Hawaii, I reiterate my promise made, which I spoke of earlier in my talk, which I feel is so applicable for you today. I have learned that when one of the apostles or prophets uses the words “I promise,” that is something for you to pay attention to, and I am humbled to even say it. So, let me add a little weight to it in the office of the holy apostleship. I promise you this: as you give the Lord equal time in the pursuit of your higher education, the Spirit will enhance your academic pursuits, you will find you have extra time and capacity for your courses, and doors will be opened for you that might have otherwise been closed. [7]
This is my testimony and my witness to you today. I love the Lord. I know this is His Church. I know this is His university. I am grateful for the Church Board of Education and the investments that are taking place here in Hawaii. You are aware of them, I am sure, it is huge! The Church is putting so much investment, not just into bricks and mortar, but into every one of your lives. I pray the Lord will bless you with this promise, and those other things which you need in your life right now, in righteousness. I leave you my testimony, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and my blessing this day, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] Matthew 6:33
[2] Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 6:33 [in Matthew 6:33, footnote a]
[3] Proverbs 16:3
[4] Job 31:6
[5] Proverbs 16:11
[6] Proverbs 16:11
[7] Ronald A. Rasband, @ronaldarasband, (January 7, 2025), Give the Lord equal time, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ronaldarasband/p/DEh1M6ITNW2/?img_index=1