Set Apart to Do the Work
You have been "set apart" to do a particular part of the work of the Church. This position is now yours. It doesn't belong to anyone else. No one has the right to it while you have it. If you do not do the job, the job will not be done. This responsibility is not something to be taken lightly. The church is injured most by those who say, as did the vine dresser's son, "I go," and went not. Had he said, "I go not," someone else would have done the job and no harm would have resulted.
Never accept a position in the Church with the intention of not doing it. Don't wait to be reminded or urged. Once you have accepted an assignment, carry it through as though your life depended upon it, as indeed it does.
President John Taylor said, "If you do not magnify your calling, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you one your duty." Who of us can afford to be responsible for the loss of the eternal life of a human soul? If great joy is the reward of saving one soul, then how terrible must be the remorse of those whose timid efforts have allowed a child of God to be lost.
Never be one of those who say, "I go" but does not. There are those who make many promises but falter in every performance. If they teach a class it will fail. If their responsibility is to make reports, the reports will be late and inaccurate. Their enlistment work is never done. They must be reminded and prepared and coaxed in their simple duties. Someone described the efforts of one such as, "timid, tardy, torpid and tentative." Everything their hands touch will show a loss. Over and over they say, "I go," but they go not. The worst blasphemy is not profanity, but lip service.
You are a child of divinity. You have within you the attributes of deity. Every man is greater, and more powerful than he realizes. All he needs to do is to call that power forth through faithful activity. But man is not only great because of what he IS, but also because of what he may become.
It is hoped that for you, to be "set apart" will mean that everyone will be better off because His work was given into your hands. It is a great thing to be called in the work of the Lord. We should not only pray to Him to help us do our work, but we should also pray that we may be able to help Him do His work.