Randall L. Ridd, second counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, spoke at the Church’s first Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults at the BYU—Idaho Center on Sunday, Jan. 11.
The Church announced the renaming of CES Devotionals to Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults at the last CES Devotional on Nov. 4, 2014.
Brother Ridd spoke about living one’s life with real intent. He said small, consistent choices lead to a full and righteous life. “Too many choices, and the fear of making bad decisions, often lead to decision paralysis … one of the challenges of (this) generation,” he said.
Brother Ridd said the antidote to this state of paralysis and distraction is to live with a purpose and real intent.
Brother Ridd showed a video during the devotional to demonstrate how distracted people may become. He asked audience members to pay attention to how many passes the team wearing white completed. He posted the video to his Facebook page after the devotional.
Regarding living with the right purpose, Brother Ridd said there were many times in his life when he could have worried about a better option around the corner, but he instead acted on the promptings of the Spirit. He said acting on the Spirit’s guidance always led him to better outcomes, and he promised the same to listeners.
He talked about a series of events that led him to serve a mission. He illustrated how worldly outside influences lead one to drift away from the things of God and His will in favor of following one’s own will. “So many times we are distracted when we should have acted,” he said. “The ability to focus helps us to avoid distractions.”
Brother Ridd posed the question, “How might our efforts be different if we always sought to please God, motivated by our love for him?” He said the most important reason to obey is out of love for the Lord.
He suggested three simple ways to maintain one’s focus: to remember the Savior while partaking of the sacrament; to open up two-way communication by praying with real intent; and to have meaningful scripture study with the intent of receiving personal revelation.
He invited young adult listeners to use the hashtag #LDSdevo via social media to answer three questions asked at the end of his talk: “Can you do it?” “Will it work?” and “Is it worth it?”
“We typically find what we are looking for,” Ridd said. “The best way to avoid distractions is to have our focus firmly set on our purpose and to be anxiously engaged.”
The hashtag #LDSdevo trended through the morning of Jan. 12 and was the 16th-most-used hashtag for the Salt Lake area Jan. 11, according to Salt Lake Trends @trendinaliaSLC.
Post by Randall L. Ridd.
Watch the devotional here.
