In the “Come, Follow Me” lesson “I will Lead You Along” (Doctrine and Covenants 77-80), the opening paragraph includes this sentence:
“Ultimately, the purpose of a printing press or a storehouse—like everything else in God’s kingdom—is to prepare His children to receive ‘a place in the celestial world’ and ‘the riches of eternity’ (D&C 78: 7, 18).”
How does that work? How do printing presses and storehouses of food and supplies help prepare us for the riches of eternity and the Celestial Kingdom? Pres. Marion G. Romney has a perfect answer in his talk “The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance.”
In one of his closing paragraphs, he says:
“Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what godhood is all about? Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak.”
The right temporal materials make it possible for us to serve. Learning to serve helps us become the kind of people that will be in the Celestial Kingdom. Pres. Romney explained “Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.”
I invite you to read his talk and think about what he says so you can see how printing presses and storehouses help prepare us to receive “a place in the celestial world” and “the riches of eternity.”
