How To Be Wise

Have you ever wondered how you can be like the 5 wise virgins in Jesus’ parable of the 10 Virgins? Well in this week’s episode we talk about what the difference is between the wise and foolish, and then I share a scripture study tip that will help you to become wise! It really is that simple! So download the free worksheets, and get studying!

Transcript

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Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of Primarily Scripture. I am your host, Cindy Young, and I'm so glad that you are here with me today. This is a Come Follow Me podcast. But more than that, we look at ways that you can study your scriptures to make it more effective. Now, this started out as me thinking that I was going to help kids learn how to study their scriptures, and we've definitely done that here, but a lot of adults have found that these tips are very helpful for them to, which makes sense because I'm an adult and I use these study strategies all the time. So I hope that you'll come along with me and I'll show you some of the things that I do when I read my scriptures and hopefully they'll help you out as well. This week in come follow me, we are in Doctrine and covenants, section 77 through 80, and the verses we're studying today are on my free worksheet. You can go to primarily scripture.com and get those totally free, no strings attached. But before I get into what the study tip is, I want to talk about the parable of the 10 Virgins. If You have watched or listened or studied general conference from April 2025, just this very last conference that we had, you might have noticed that the parable of the 10 virgins was brought up kind of a lot. It was there, I think five times. The Lord in the parable represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's something very important that he says that we need to understand as we move forward in our scripture study. The parable is in Matthew chapter 25, and you probably know this, it talks about the 10 virgins, meaning righteous people representing members of the church who went to meet the bridegroom. And they waited and waited and waited and they weren't sure when he would come and they slept. And then when it was time for the bridegroom to come, the five foolish virgins realized they did not have enough oil for their lamps. And they asked the wise virgins, will you share your oil with us? And the wise said, we can't, we don't actually have enough. You have to go get your own. So the foolish went to get their own and they came back. And this is the important part that I wanna talk about."While they went to buy" their oil,"the bride groom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins saying. Lord, lord, open to us. But he answered and said verily I say unto you, I know you not." Do you remember last week we talked just a little bit about how Joseph Smith was translating the Bible? He went through the whole Bible and found little places where there were mistakes made when it was originally translated before. Because the good people who translated the Bible, and we are so thankful for them and owe them so much, they still made some small mistakes. But Joseph Smith, because he was a prophet and a seer, he could translate the Bible correctly. So there are a few little things that were fixed, and this verse is one of them where it says " the Lord answered and said, verily, I say unto you, I know you not," there's a footnote and Joseph Smith, when he translated it, he said the correct words is "verily, I say unto you, ye know me not." What a big difference. So the wise virgins who went in with him, the people who will go to the celestial kingdom and the foolish virgins who just missed out... the difference between those two is that the foolish didn't take the time to get to know their Lord. So what does that have to do with our scripture study today? Well, I will tell you, let me get my Bible out of the way here, and let's turn to Doctrine and Covenants section 78. And we are in verses 17 through 22. Now the study tip that we're gonna talk about is to get to know Jesus Christ. Do you see how that fits with the parable of the 10 virgins that we just reviewed? So as you're reading the scriptures, the most important thing that you can do is look for things about Jesus Christ, get to know who he is. He's not going to physically show up on your doorstep. So how do you get to know somebody who is not physically with you? Well, you can learn as much as you can about him, and then his spirit will be with you and you will be able to get to know him. And then you can be one of those five why's who are able to go in with the Lord. So let's get to know the savior a little better by reading in the scriptures and looking for truths about him. By now, you probably know that I love to mark my scriptures. And I do love to mark yellow whenever I learn about Jesus Christ, it helps it to really stand out. Let's look at verse 18 and see what we can learn about the savior. It says this, "and ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along." This is Jesus talking and he's telling us that we can't handle everything right now. There are things that we just don't understand about eternity, but be of good cheer! It's okay! Because why?"I will lead you along." That is an amazing truth about Jesus Christ. I'm gonna highlight in yellow. That is one of my favorite phrases from all of scripture. What does that teach us about Jesus Christ? Once you find something, marking it as good, but the next step to take it to the next level is to ponder it and think about it. Can you think of any examples? From the scriptures or from stories about prophets or even in your own life where the Lord has led somebody along? The pioneers went into the unknown, but they were following the prophet and they ended up in Utah and in a wonderful place where they were able to settle and have religious freedom, and the Lord led them there. I can pretty much guarantee you that none of these people beforehand were saying, why don't we go off into the wilderness and wander around in the cold for a couple of months and see if we can find a place to live? That wasn't their idea. It was the Lord telling them where to go. That's a great example of the Lord leading the saints. What about Nephi? The Lord led nephi when he went to get the brass plates and helped him know what to do. Helped him figure out the plan to make it all work out. Nephi didn't go in saying I know exactly what to do. The scriptures even tell us that, right? Do you remember that verse?"I was led by the spirit not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." These are examples of the Lord leading. So how does that teach you about the Savior and how does it help you get closer to him? Do you have any ideas? As you ponder truths about the savior and really think of examples, you'll be able to strengthen your testimony. Take the time to say a prayer and ask the Lord to help you remember times when he has led you, and then prepare your heart and mind and go forward in faith, trusting that the Lord can lead you in whatever you have to do. If we do all those things, do you see how we have done search, pondering and pray? We search for truth about Jesus. We pondered what it meant and how it has applied to other people and how it might apply to us, and you can pray to have the spirit testify to you of its truth and to help you be prepared to follow this in the future. And just like that, you know a little bit more about Jesus Christ and you are well on your way to being one of those five wise who were able to be with the Lord. Almost any verse in the Doctrine and Covenants can teach you something about Jesus Christ because in most cases it is the Lord speaking directly to Joseph Smith. And isn't that how you learn about someone is have a conversation with them? To get to read the Lord's words is a great way to get to know him. This is just one of my favorite ways to study the scriptures because learning about Jesus Christ is the most important thing you will ever do in your entire life. I promise you that! The very most important thing is to learn about Jesus and to gain a testimony that he is the savior of the world. If you want more information about this study tip and even more, you can download my free worksheets at primarilyscripture.com- totally free, no strings attached, and I hope that it helps you take your scripture time from reading to studying. See you next time. Bye, guys! Thanks for tuning into primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website, primarily scripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.