Setting Apart - Callings in the Church

 Setting Apart 

This is a quote found in ScripturePlus, Sunday, May 10, 2026

The setting apart is an established practice in the Church and men and women are "set apart" to special responsibility, in ecclesiastical, quorum, and auxiliary positions. All missionaries are set apart and it is remarkable how many of them speak often of the authority who officiate and of the blessings promised and their fulfillment.

To some folk the setting apart seems a perfunctory act while others anticipate it eagerly, absorb every word of it, and let their lives be lifted thereby.

The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance.

In a hotel in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania long years ago, I learned an important lesson when the president of the Rotary International said to the district governors in the assembly:

"Gentlemen: This has been a great year for you. The people have honored you, praised you, banqueted you, applauded you, and given you lavish gifts. If you ever get the mistaken idea that they were doing this for you personally, just try going back to the clubs next year when the mantle is on other shoulders."

This has kept me on my knees in my holy calling. Whenever I have been inclined to think the honors were coming to me as I go about the Church, then I remember that it is not to me, but to the position I hold that honors come. I am but a symbol.

Source

Spencer W. Kimball, “Search the Scriptures,” October 1958 General Conference

051026, Sunday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 231.9

     BP and Pulse: 117/81, 74

     GMI: 7.2

     Reported Sleep: 6:29

     Yesterday's Steps: 5,008

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me :

Numbers 23: 19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

"To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it. We are like infants in our understanding of eternal matters and their impact on us here in mortality. Yet at times we act as if we knew it all. When you pass through trials for His purposes, as you trust Him, exercise faith in Him, He will help you. That support will generally come step by step, a portion at a time. While you are passing through each phase, the pain and difficulty that comes from being enlarged will continue. If all matters were immediately resolved at your first petition, you could not grow. Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."

Elder Richard G. Scott, Apostle 

"It is interesting to me that some people would think that God’s prophets live in the past and are not attuned to the times. Everything I know of prophets is the opposite. They actually see into the future as watchmen on a tower...

I testify that we are led today by a living prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks.  He, along with the counselors in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, are indeed prophets, seers, and revelators...

...When we follow their teachings and examples, we are following our Savior, Jesus Christ."

Elder Michael John U. Teh of The Seventy

"Seventy"

16 And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

050926, Saturday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 229.9

     BP and Pulse: 125/77, 69

     GMI: 7.2

     Reported Sleep: 6:27

     Yesterday's Steps: 11,179

Journal Entry:

Yesterday was my first official assignment as a Temple worker in the Lindon Temple. I enjoyed it very much and feel that I'm going to continue to enjoy it. My assignment is from 0500-0700 on Friday mornings. That shouldn't be too difficult for me but my problem is that I'm worried about being on time. This causes me to not sleep well because I want to know what time it is and am I going to be on time. I think I'll get used to it maybe set an alarm or something but it's not a big deal. Even if I'm tired I usually don't have anything else important scheduled the rest of the day so I can just be tired and deal with it. Anyway, I like the assignment and the temple leadership seems to be top notch in every way.

Come Follow Me:

Numbers 22: 18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

"Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments. It is forgetting which way we face. And yet, we have all made that mistake because of the fear of men. In Isaiah the Lord warns us, “Fear ye not the reproach of men”. In Lehi’s dream, this fear was triggered by the finger of scorn pointed from the great and spacious building, causing many to forget which way they faced and to leave the tree “ashamed”. … When people try to save face with men, they can unwittingly lose face with God. Thinking one can please God and at the same time condone the disobedience of men isn’t neutrality but duplicity, or being two-faced or trying to “serve two masters”. … When others demand approval in defiance of God’s commandments, may we always remember whose disciples we are, and which way we face[.]"

Elder Lynn G. Robbins of The Presidency of The Seventy 

050826, Friday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 228.3

     BP and Pulse: 

     GMI: 7.2

     Reported Sleep: 6:09

     Yesterday's Steps: 11,518

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Numbers 13: 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

"Upon their return, the 10 reported all the negative things they saw, but Caleb and Joshua saw past those and spoke of the positive. Unfortunately, like today, the people chose to believe the doubters, and so only Caleb and Joshua were preserved to enter the promised land. President Hinckley added:

“We see some around us who are indifferent concerning the future of this work, who are apathetic, who speak of limitations, who express fears. …They have no vision concerning its future.

“Well was it said of old, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’"

Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, Second Counselor, Young Women General Presidency 

050726, Thursday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 229.4

     BP and Pulse: 121/76, 80

     GMI: 7.2

     Reported Sleep: 6:57

     Yesterday's Steps: 2,545

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

050626, Wednesday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 230.8

     BP and Pulse: 116/76, 79

     GMI: 7.2

     Reported Sleep: 5:29

     Yesterday's Steps: 8,526

Journal Entry:

I truly enjoyed serving in the Bishops Storehouse yesterday. I felt the Spirit very strongly with patron that I was blessed to serve. 

Come Follow Me:

Numbers 12: 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.

"As the Lord communicates with the meek and submissive, fewer decibels are required, and more nuances are received. Even the most meek, like Moses, learn overwhelming things they “never had supposed.” But it is only the meek mind which can be so shown and so stretched—not those, as Isaiah wrote, who “are wise in their own eyes.” … Yielding one’s heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development. Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?"

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Apostle 

"Meekness is an attribute developed through desire, the righteous exercise of moral agency, and striving always to retain a remission of our sins. It also is a spiritual gift for which we appropriately can seek. We should remember, however, the purposes for which such a blessing is given, even to benefit and serve the children of God.

As we come unto and follow the Savior, we increasingly and incrementally are enabled to become more like Him. We are empowered by the Spirit with disciplined self-restraint and a settled and calm demeanor. Thus, meek is what we become as disciples of the Master and not just something we do."

Elder David A. Bednar Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

050526, Tuesday

Vitals: 

     Weight: 229.9

     BP and Pulse: 117/74, 79

     GMI: 7.3

     Reported Sleep: 6:55

     Yesterday's Steps: 3,599

Journal Entry:

Come Follow Me:

Moroni 7: 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

"The Redeemer of the world turned outward in love and service when He faced spiritual adversity or physical pain—in contrast to the natural man in each of us that turns inward in self-interest, self-centeredness, and selfishness. As we live as He invites us to live and with His help, our nature and character over time increasingly become more like His.

As we follow, love, and serve the Savior, we gradually focus less on our own desires and interests and more on understanding and addressing the needs of others. We do not merely perform benevolent deeds; rather, our state of being is changed and becomes increasingly Christlike. Charity, then, ultimately possesses us."