I was still holding the office of a Teacher, and knowing for myself that the fulness of the gospel of Christ, which God had revealed to Joseph Smith, was true, I had a great desire to preach it to the inhabitants of the earth, but as a Teacher I had no authority to preach the gospel to the world. I went into the forest near Lyman Wight’s [in Daviess County, Missouri …] one Sunday morning, aside from the abodes of men, and made my desire known unto the Lord. I prayed that the Lord would open my way and give me the privilege of preaching the gospel. I did not make my request expecting any honor from man, for I knew that the preaching of the gospel was attended with hard labor and persecution. While I was praying, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and testified to me that my prayer was heard, and that my request would be granted. I arose to my feet and walked some three hundred yards into a broad road, rejoicing. As I came into the road I saw Judge Elias Higbee standing before me. As I walked up to him he said, “Wilford, the Lord has revealed to me that it is your duty to go into the vineyard of the Lord and preach the gospel.” I told him if that was the will of the Lord I was ready to go. I did not tell him that I had been praying for that privilege. I had been boarding at Lyman Wight’s with Judge Higbee for months, and it was the first time he had ever named such a thing to me. (B. H. Roberts, New Witnesses for God [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News, 1951], 238–39)
Priests and Teachers; Magnify
Great blessings flow when we receive our callings with gratitude and accept the responsibility to perform to our utmost ability—with faithful accountability and steadfastness of purpose—while we are on the errand of the Lord.
Both Jacob and Joseph are consecrated by Nephi to be priests and teachers of the people. Upon the passing of Nephi (see Jacob 1:12), Jacob succeeds his older brother, a giant of spirituality, and assumes the prophetic guidance of the people. His words at this point provide a lesson in how to receive a calling from the Lord in humility and all diligence. It is this context that allows us to learn the true definition of “magnifying a calling” with accountability and devotion (see verse 19).
Jacob is responsible and accountable for his stewardship. He will take the sins of the people upon his own head if he fails to teach them the word of God with all diligence. Therefore, he magnifies his calling. We, too, are responsible and accountable to the Lord to perform our duties with love and devotion. How we magnify our callings affects the lives of those around us. Let us resolve to make a list of priorities of things we are responsible and accountable for and then ensure that we do these things with all faith, diligence, and patience. President Gordon B. Hinckley gives us further insight into this responsibility:
To every officer, to every teacher in this Church who acts in a priesthood office, there comes the sacred responsibility of magnifying that priesthood calling. Each of us is responsible for the welfare and the growth and development of others. We do not live only unto ourselves. If we are to magnify our callings, we cannot live only unto ourselves. As we serve with diligence, as we teach with faith and testimony, as we lift and strengthen and build convictions of righteousness in those whose lives we touch, we magnify our priesthood. To live only unto ourselves, on the other hand, to serve grudgingly, to give less than our best effort to our duty, diminishes our priesthood just as looking through the wrong lenses of binoculars reduces the image and makes more distant the object… .
We magnify our priesthood and enlarge our calling when we serve with diligence and enthusiasm in those responsibilities to which we are called by proper authority. I emphasize the words, “diligence and enthusiasm.” This work has not reached its present stature through indifference on the part of those who have labored in its behalf. The Lord needs men, both young and old, who will carry the banners of His kingdom with positive strength and determined purpose… .
We magnify our calling, we enlarge the potential of our priesthood when we reach out to those in distress and give strength to those who falter. (“Magnify Your Calling,” Ensign, May 1989, 47–49)