O Be Wise
Open talk in Gospel LibraryIdeas for Opening the Lesson
- Write “Where will this lead?” on the board and invite class members to consider how this question helps them make everyday decisions. Ask for examples that do not require sharing sensitive information. Introduce President Christofferson’s invitation to apply this question to gambling and to the use of time and resources.
- Display the phrases “the giving path of Christ” and “the taking path of the adversary.” Invite class members to identify attitudes and actions that characterize each path. Explain that the lesson explores why President Christofferson connects gambling with these contrasting directions.
- Ask class members to silently consider one worthwhile pursuit that competes for their time and attention. Invite volunteers to name good uses of time, such as strengthening relationships, learning, working, or serving. Connect their responses to the talk’s invitation not only to avoid gambling but also to use available resources for doing good.
- Read aloud: “Every soul is precious, and Christ died for him, for her, as He did for you.” Ask how this truth shapes the way we discuss harmful behaviors and support people who struggle with them. Establish that the discussion focuses on gospel principles and compassionate application, without asking anyone to disclose personal or family struggles.
- Write Jacob’s question “O be wise; what can I say more?” on the board. Invite class members to explain the difference between knowing that something is harmful and choosing wisely about it. Introduce the talk as an invitation to act on prophetic counsel even when surrounding social attitudes point in another direction.
Topics
Recognize Gambling’s Expanding Reach and Harm
President Christofferson warns that smartphones make gambling continuously available, private, and easy to access. He identifies online sports betting, casino-type games, and prediction markets as major areas of growth. Youth and young adults face particular risks as easy access, marketing, peer influence, and social acceptance encourage behavior that can become consuming or compulsive.
It easily becomes consuming and often compulsive. It robs time from studies, relationships, and career development. It crowds out things of value and in their place fosters greed.
- What stands out to you in President Christofferson’s description of how mobile access changes gambling?
- How can widespread social acceptance make it harder to recognize spiritual and practical dangers?
- Why might recognizing that the odds favor the gambling industry still fail to protect someone from participating?
- How can parents, grandparents, friends, and ministering brothers or sisters help young people recognize these risks without shaming them?
- What boundaries around entertainment, advertising, or smartphone use can help us act on this warning?
- What experiences help you see the blessings of choosing activities that strengthen relationships and personal development?
Ask Where Your Choices Lead
President Christofferson applies President Oaks’s counsel to consider the future consequences and opportunity costs of present choices. Gambling can displace saving, increase debt, and consume time that otherwise supports relationships and worthwhile pursuits. The invitation is to look beyond a single wager and consider the direction a pattern of choices creates.
What is the opportunity cost of gambling? What do you forgo in terms of money, time, relationships, and worthwhile pursuits? Where does it lead?
- How does asking “Where will this lead?” change the way we evaluate an activity that appears harmless in the moment?
- What does the concept of opportunity cost help us notice about our use of time and money?
- Why is it important to consider patterns of behavior rather than only isolated decisions?
- What experience illustrates how a small, wise choice opens opportunities for something better?
- How can we prayerfully evaluate whether our current habits strengthen or displace our most important commitments?
- What worthwhile pursuit can you give more attention to by changing one use of your time or resources?
Protect Others Through Your Example
President Christofferson asks those who feel confident in their own self-control to consider how their example influences others. Children and people who are newer or weaker in faith may interpret another person’s casual gambling as permission to participate. Drawing on Paul’s teaching, he urges disciples to abstain out of concern for souls for whom Christ dies.
A little gambling that seemingly has only a minor impact in your life may be more costly to them if they take license from your example.
- How does considering our influence on others change the claim that a choice affects only ourselves?
- What does Paul’s warning about becoming a stumbling block teach us about discipleship?
- How can we model clear commitments without treating ourselves as superior to others?
- When does another person’s faithful example help you make a wise choice?
- How can we explain a decision not to gamble in a way that expresses both conviction and kindness?
- What do you want children, friends, or newer Church members to learn from the way you choose recreation?
Choose Christ’s Giving Path
President Christofferson teaches that gambling is morally wrong, not merely financially risky. Its desire to obtain something for nothing and gain at others’ expense conflicts with loving our neighbors. President Oaks’s distinction between giving and taking helps explain how gambling can damage spiritual sensitivity.
Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.
- Why does President Christofferson make a moral case against gambling in addition to describing its practical dangers?
- How does the commandment to love our neighbors guide the way we seek personal gain?
- What attitudes distinguish Christ’s giving path from the taking path described in the talk?
- How can generosity help us resist the desire to obtain something for nothing?
- What experiences show you that giving strengthens spiritual sensitivity and love for others?
- What change in your attitudes toward money, success, or recreation helps you more fully follow Christ’s giving path?
Use Your Stewardship to Build and Contribute
President Christofferson describes our resources as stewardships and asks whether our choices build something in ourselves, our families, or others. He calls for a higher plane of living marked by accountability to God, productive work, and contributions to others’ well-being. Worthy progress allows us to become better without requiring others to become worse.
A key part of a life well-lived is contributing to the well-being of others. It is being productive in worthy endeavors. It is being and doing better without others doing worse.
- How does viewing money and time as stewardships change the questions we ask before using them?
- What is the difference between asking whether an activity is legal and asking whether it builds anything of value?
- What does “being and doing better without others doing worse” look like in everyday life?
- How can worthwhile work contribute to both personal growth and the well-being of others?
- What experience helps you appreciate the satisfaction of creating, contributing, or serving rather than seeking an effortless gain?
- What is one way you can use a skill, resource, or available hour to strengthen your family or someone around you?
Replace Gambling With Righteous Pursuits
President Christofferson’s invitation goes beyond refraining from gambling: he asks us to use the time and resources saved for doing good. He connects active engagement in good causes with hungering and thirsting after righteousness and being filled with the Holy Ghost. Jacob’s plea to be wise emphasizes the need to pursue good things and remove what is incompatible with righteousness.
If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, there are many good things we will pursue and other things that, because they are incompatible with righteousness, we will put out of our lives entirely.
- Why is replacing an unwise activity with a good pursuit an important part of this message?
- What does it mean in practical terms to hunger and thirst after righteousness?
- How can the desire for the companionship of the Holy Ghost influence our entertainment choices?
- When does becoming anxiously engaged in a good cause help you move away from an unhelpful habit?
- What wholesome activities can meet needs for recreation, connection, or enjoyment without gambling?
- What specific action can you take this week to respond to the invitation “O be wise”?
Additional Discussion Questions
- How do the talk’s concerns about money, relationships, example, and spiritual sensitivity reinforce one another?
- What does this message teach about exercising agency while remaining accountable to God?
- How can we respond when friends describe gambling as harmless fun or a normal part of watching sports?
- How can a family discuss this counsel in a way that invites honest questions and establishes clear expectations?
- What can our quorum or Relief Society do to help people feel loved and supported when they seek help with gambling-related struggles?
- How does remembering that every soul is precious influence both our personal choices and our response to others’ difficulties?
- What helps you receive prophetic counsel when it challenges an activity that society increasingly accepts?
- How can we distinguish responsible enjoyment from pursuits that crowd out relationships, work, or spiritual growth?
- What good cause can our quorum or Relief Society support as a practical response to this talk?
- As you reflect on the whole message, what do you feel invited to stop, start, or strengthen, and how can you follow through?
