Hank Smith: 00:00 Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week’s followHIM favorites. We’re doing a little something different this year, maybe you’ve seen it by now, where we pick a question that we’ve received from youth or even our own students and kind of bringing that up as part of this week’s lesson. John, the question that I’ve received from students is this idea, and it comes up in different places, but in Moses 7, the Lord says, “There was no poor among them.” It comes up in 4 Nephi. It comes up a little bit in the book of Acts, this idea of there’s no poor among them. I’ve had students say before, “Am I supposed to be giving everything I have away? If I don’t do that, am I a bad person if I see a homeless person on the street, and I don’t go over and give them money or get them and take them to dinner? That’s what Jesus would do. Where’s the line between me living my life and moving forward and trying to reach this ideal?” Do you have any thoughts on that? What would you say?

John Bytheway: 01:06 Wow, that’s a great one, and it comes up. I teach down at the BYU Salt Lake Center, and we’re on 4th West, 3rd West. We see it just right where we are.

Hank Smith: 01:14 Right downtown Salt Lake, yeah.

John Bytheway: 01:16 Yeah, some of that. I think sometimes I like to look at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. “Take no thought for the morrow what you shall eat, what you shall wear, what you shall put on.”

Hank Smith: 01:25 Right.

John Bytheway: 01:25 Literally? We’re supposed to go to the park, and play hacky sack, and expect… We should just have others feed us? Then, the Book of Mormon makes it clear. He was speaking to the 12. “I’m going to take care of you,” but we all we have to do that.

Hank Smith: 01:42 Right.

John Bytheway: 01:42 We have to provide for our families. We look at the Proclamation to the World on the family. I’m supposed to be a provider, but then I can also have a donation and pay my tithing and fast offerings, and that is one of the fun challenges of life.  What is the right balance here for me to take care of my family, my home, provide for my children, and also do what every Christian wants to do? That is help provide for-

Hank Smith: 02:07 Help people.

John Bytheway: 02:07 … the poor and fast offerings. I’m really grateful for fast offerings because I know that those are going to be distributed by people who are trying their best to be inspired and how the church helps with the natural disasters and stuff. It’s not just throwing money at it. It’s much more careful than that. That’s a great question that’s kind of hard to do on a followHIM favorite, but I think-

Hank Smith: 02:32 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 02:33 … it’s good that you’re thinking about. It’s a good challenge to try to have, what’s the right balance to prayerfully figure that out? What do you answer, Hank?

Hank Smith: 02:40 Right. Right. Well, I would say, obviously, the Lord wants you to get an education. He wants you-

John Bytheway: 02:44 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 02:45 … to get a career. He wants you to move forward. This is one of our many Christian imperatives that we’re working towards. I would say that the Lord often says it is not requisite that a man or woman should run faster than they have strength. He doesn’t expect us to all be Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa’s exceptional, but that doesn’t give us the idea of being like, “Well, then I don’t have to worry about it at all.” No, I don’t think that’s true, but I wouldn’t start in my community, to be honest. I mean, if I can do some things there, obviously, you want to do some good there, but let’s get Zion inside of you first, and then let’s get Zion in your close relationships. Right? Then, let’s build from there. Do you remember that old Ezra Taft Benson quote? “The Lord doesn’t work from the outside in.” Do you remember that one?

John Bytheway: 03:37 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 03:38 He works from the inside out.

John Bytheway: 03:40 Inside out.

Hank Smith: 03:41 He says-

John Bytheway: 03:41 He said… yeah, the Lord would… the world-

Hank Smith: 03:44 The world would take people out of the slums.

John Bytheway: 03:47 … take people out of the slums, but Christ takes the slums out of the people-

Hank Smith: 03:50 Out of the people.

John Bytheway: 03:51 … and then they take themselves out of the slums.

Hank Smith: 03:52 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 03:54 That’s a great way to put it, Hank. As you start here, cleanse the inner vessel. That might even be the title of the talk-

Hank Smith: 03:59 Right.

John Bytheway: 03:59 … where you start here. It’s a circle of influence, a circle of concern type of a thing.

Hank Smith: 04:06 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 04:06 It’s a good discussion to have and a great question. I’m not sure it’s one we can answer quickly, but I’m just glad somebody’s asking the question.

Hank Smith: 04:14 Yeah, and I-

John Bytheway: 04:15 There’s-

Hank Smith: 04:15 I’ll tell you, John. When I served as a financial clerk for a ward, that’s not the calling I get very often. It only has happened once in my life, and I was so amazed. This was back when all the donations came through that office, right? Now, you can make your donations online.

John Bytheway: 04:34 Yeah, right.

Hank Smith: 04:34 But I was so amazed at the giving people gave. I don’t know if that’s a… I sound like I’m in the scriptures, “The giving of a giving.”

John Bytheway: 04:45 You have giving a given.

Hank Smith: 04:46 Given a giving.

John Bytheway: 04:47 You have given a gifting.

Hank Smith: 04:49 I mean, there were people giving so much not just tithing but in fast offerings. In offerings, they were… and you never would’ve guessed. I never would’ve even known that this person is really pushing themselves in offerings. I thought that was such a… it’s always stayed with me for years later to see people do that. But again, you don’t want to get to the point where you’re

Hank Smith: 05:17 … hurting your family, your chances at an education, opportunity, but the Lord does require a lot of us. We don’t want to say he’s not.

John Bytheway: 05:30 Yeah. You mentioned the verse. “It’s not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.” I think, right after that, it says, “But see that these things are done in wisdom and in order.”

Hank Smith: 05:39 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 05:39 It’s something you think about, that you grapple with, and you try to make the best judgment you can with some inspiration, but yeah, you still have roles that you have to fulfill. We do, Hank, as fathers, and husbands, and members of our ward, so we have to make a living, but we also want to say, “How can I, in my circles, bless the poor and needy that are around us?” It’s a great, great question.

Hank Smith: 06:09 Yeah, and you’ve told me before this, too, is that it’s not always about money. People can have great wealth and still be needy, right?

John Bytheway: 06:17 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 06:18 Need of a friend-

John Bytheway: 06:18 In fact-

Hank Smith: 06:19 … need of-

John Bytheway: 06:21 Yes. They used to say the threefold mission of the church was proclaim the gospel, perfect the saints, redeem the dead. President Monson added care for the poor and needy. Now, it’s been restated, “Live, care, invite, unite, live the gospel of Jesus Christ, care for those in need.” That’s the whole sentence. It might not be that they’re poor, but they might have a need, an emotional need, a friendship need, a companionship need. Care for those in need. Live the gospel. Care for those in need. Live,care, invite all to come into Christ, and unite families for eternity. Thanks for bringing that up.

Hank Smith: 06:57 Yeah. I want to bring up one last story if that’s okay. Jon Huntsman Sr.’s wife told a story. Now, John, if you don’t know who that is, Jon Huntsman, Sr., he’s a member of the church who didn’t start out very wealthy, but he finished quite wealthy. We’re not talking hundreds of millions, even more. His business has thrived. Well, his wife said, “Long before we had any of that wealth, we had our little family budget, and we each got $50 of our own spending money. We never asked…” Have you ever heard this story, John? He said she never-

John Bytheway: 07:39 Mm-mm (negative).

Hank Smith: 07:39 … asked. They never asked each other, “What are you doing with your spending money?” because it was yours. It was your little budget item, $50 of spending money. She said, “I never asked him what he did with it. He never seemed to get anything, but I never asked him.” She said, “I bought myself things.” She said, after a couple of years of this, a woman stood up in fast and testimony meeting and said, “I don’t know who it is, but whoever has been giving me $50 a month for the last few years, I love you. I thank you.” Jon Huntsman Sr.’s wife said she glanced over at him, and he just looked straight ahead. She said, “But I knew it was him.” She said, “He’s always been that way, that he’s a giver.” I think that we can give ourselves. Let’s give ourselves into prosperity like that. Maybe there’s something to that. Anyway, John-

John Bytheway: 08:50 Yeah, that’s great.

Hank Smith: 08:50 … we probably just confused people more, but hopefully we-

John Bytheway: 08:54 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 08:55 … we helped-

John Bytheway: 08:56 Good topic.

Hank Smith: 08:56 … a little bit with that.

John Bytheway: 08:57 [crosstalk 00:08:57]. Yeah, go back and read King Benjamin’s speech. He even says, “If you don’t have anything, say, ‘I would give if I had.'”

Hank Smith: 09:05 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 09:07 He’s kind of talking about, where’s your heart? That’s kind of job one. Where’s your heart? “I would give if I had,” he says. Yeah, go read King Benjamin’s speech again. It gets a little complicated, too, because he says, “Are we not all beggars?” and you should give to the beggar, but if you’re downtown, there’s a little sign that says-

Hank Smith: 09:26 Please don’t.

John Bytheway: 09:26 … “Don’t give to the panhandlers.”

Hank Smith: 09:28 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 09:28 Give to the welfare agencies that really know how to help people not just prolong their problem but to really help them, and that’s a… yeah, it’s a good discussion.

Hank Smith: 09:39 It is. It’s a good discussion. I’m sure there’s varied opinions. Hopefully, we added a little bit to that and-

John Bytheway: 09:46 Spring forward to new thoughts, yeah.

Hank Smith: 09:48 … I would encourage… Yeah.

John Bytheway: 09:48 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 09:48 John, when you said, “Hey, all things should be done in wisdom in order,” I like giving to the churches’ organizations because I know that that money is going to reach the people that I’m hoping it will reach.

John Bytheway: 10:00 Yes.

Hank Smith: 10:00 Right? Humanitarian aid-

John Bytheway: 10:02 Somebody who’s done the research and the work.

Hank Smith: 10:02 … fast offerings

John Bytheway: 10:02 Right.

Hank Smith: 10:02 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 10:05 They know how to really help, not just throw money at it. Yeah

Hank Smith: 10:08 Yeah. There’s very, very low cost that’s going to pay anybody along the way. I remember President Hinckley saying that. This human aid, every 100 cents of your dollar is going to get to those people. I like that confidence in that wisdom in order. Well, thank you for joining us today. Hopefully, we added a little bit to your thoughts on this, but you can write to us. You can send us a question that you have. We’ll hopefully work it into a week of followHIM favorites, so join us next time. It might be your question.