What Shall We Save – Sunday, May 17, 1942
It is interesting to observe what a man will try to save when his house is on fire. When he hasn’t much time to think, and must act more or less on impulse, what is it that he will snatch from the flames? Strange tales have been told about the choices of men under such conditions, and many have been known to save absurd and inconsequential things, leaving priceless possessions to destruction. Certainly it is no longer anybody’s secret that we are living in a world that is on fire, and some of the greatest possessions that men have—possessions they have cherished through the ages, and purchased at great cost—are going up in the flames.
If it were only the tangibles that were being destroyed there wouldn’t be so much to worry about, appalling as that is, but what is happening is worse that the destruction of tangibles, irreplaceable though some of them may be. In fact, one of the most pathetic phases of the whole situation is that some are trying to save tangibles at the expense of intangibles—trying to save comforts at the expense of freedom; conveniences at the expense of liberty.
There are some who cry out protest against a restricted economy, who turn their backs with indifference on questions concerning the right to worship, the right to think, the right to speak, the right to vote—which rights are daily slipping from more and more peoples of the earth. There are some who are trying to save their jobs at whatever cost to others, and at whatever compromise of themselves. There are some who feel the hurt of disappearing goods, who permit themselves to be lulled to sleep when the safeguards of society and the rights of free men are being removed. Then, too, there are some in the world who are trying to save their power and influence from the flames, regardless of the plight of their people or of humanity in general. And so we say, when the house is on fire, and only some things can be saved, and others inevitably must be sacrificed, make sure that the things saved are the things that are worth saving—the really costly, the irreplaceable things—such things as were spoken of by Paul when he said: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace.” (Romans 14:17)
Neither the tangibles that litter our thinking and our living, nor unjust power, nor any other transitory thing can long survive, and men can find neither righteousness nor peace, nor happiness, nor satisfaction in snatching such things from the burning house, while they permit the real things of life to go up in the flames.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, May 17, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the Nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1942.
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May 17, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,665