The Lord’s people are always commanded to search out and care for the poor. They are, however, to do so in wisdom and order-to see to it that such efforts do not neglect the needs of their families. Nor can our obligation to extend temporal aid overshadow eternal covenants wherein we have been commissioned to carry the message of the gospel and its saving principles and ordinances to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Christ is our example. Notwithstanding his abiding concern for the needy and the afflicted, his primary ministry was to declare everlasting truths and administer the ordinances of salvation.
“In Wisdom and Order”
Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion (D&C 132:8). As to the administration of the gifts of the Spirit, the Apostle Paul counseled, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). Instructing Joseph Smith relative to the translation of the Book of Mormon, the Lord cautioned, “Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided” (D&C 10:4). Disorder, disorganization, confusion, or chaos in any form have no claim to citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. All that is done in the name of the Lord ought be done with wisdom and order. Such ought also to typify the lives of the Saints.