A Reason to Study

Yesterday, I read a General Conference talk, not because such talks are generally filled with spiritual insights and light, but because I had to give a message from a Conference talk that evening. When we have to give lessons, we study the lesson material, and are blessed by the act of studying it. That may be part of the reason we're asked to give lessons occasionally: to give us a(nother) reason to study.

There are many reasons to study the Gospel. Doing so can give us the answers to some of life's most important questions and concerns. Gospel study can give us guidance for our personally lives and can help us form a closer connection to the Spirit. Studying the Gospel is the only way to gain the essential knowledge we'll need to learn how to qualify for the greatest of all the gifts of God. Yet, those reasons don't seem to be compelling enough to convince us to study the gospel. At least, not for me.

I am thankful that I occasionally have to teach lessons and that I have to post a daily blog post because these things help me study the gospel far more frequently than I would otherwise make time for. I should study the gospel for more intrinsic reasons. We all should. But, thankfully for those of us who wouldn't study the gospel much otherwise, having to teach the gospel occasionally is one of the ways God gives us some extra incentive to study it.