Knowledge is power.

 

Knowledge (Preach My Gospel, Ch. 6)

Up until yesterday, whenever people would ask me how classes were going, I would always say, "Pretty good." It's automatic, even if they aren't all going well. Yesterday during a math lecture I was struggling to stay awake in, I decided to look at my grades for all my classes...that definitely woke me up! After setting some rigorous goals, I am confident that the semester will turn out fine for me.

But what happened? Why am I not satisfied with my performance in classes? It's because I have missed the aim of education. From a worm's eye perspective good grades are great. But from a bird's eye view, education is so much more! It can mean knowledge, which can mean power.

POWER.

That looks greedy, all by itself in all caps; but it's true. Knowledge is power. As seen in Alma 26:35, Acts 15:18, 1 Samuel 2:3, and Mosiah 4:9, our Lord is a God of knowledge, which knowledge gives him his power. "Sure," you say, "but He performs miracles, he doesn't do math and science problems." His miracles are miracles because we don't have the knowledge to understand how he does them! But He still obeys laws (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10), and by his adherence to those laws that we may not understand, he performs miracles.

Think of how much more power you had as soon as you learned how to walk. We all know about the Terrible Twos. You could reach everything on the counter and pull it down, open doors, scribble on a higher, cleaner spot on the wall. God's knowledge is His power.

Moses 1:39 (Pearl of Great Price) says that God's purpose is to bring to pass the immortality (live forever) and Eternal life of man. From the scriptures we learn that a name for God is Eternal, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end of everything. He has all power, and his one purpose is to give us a life like his. An Eternal life.

We are commanded and blessed to gain knowledge through faith and study of the best books (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118, 109:14). D&C 88:78-79 says

"...that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms--"

The knowledge we obtain through study of any and every subject here on earth will help us to fulfill our callings on this earth (D&C 88:80), and will be "so much the advantage in the world to come" (D&C 130:19).

This last summer I went on a church history trip with my family, visiting all the historical sights in the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We started in New York where the first vision happened, and finished up in Salt Lake. As we traveled to Salt Lake, I read in this book:


about the prophet Brigham Young. THAT man had knowledge, and he treasured it. His house was like a school where his children could learn, and they actually had daily homework! Both BYU and UofU were started because of his stress on the importance of education. Many inventions came about because of him, and many cities and towns were settled. When credit was given to him, he would deflect it, saying something like "No, it's not me; it's the Lord working through me."

I am a proponent of education and the pursuit of all kinds of knowledge, and I will keep that my aim in school. The power will definitely come after this life, and for now maybe even in the form of a job that will provide for my future family, a contribution to society that will help the world, understanding of others' burdens and trials they share with me, ability to converse with people of all different walks of life and be their friend, living of the gospel of Jesus Christ. THAT is power.