Multiple prophets and apostles have made it explicitly clear that “for members of the Church, education is not merely a good idea—it’s a commandment.”1 Speaking specifically to women, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) said, “You must get all of the education that you possibly can.”2
The Lord made clear that “all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:34). If all things are spiritual unto the Lord, we can also understand that the commandment to pursue education—no matter how temporally useful—is really about the development of our spirits and our spiritual gifts.
Our pursuit of knowledge has its own spiritual value regardless of whether we ever enter the paid labor force. Our learning is of value not only if we become mothers or workers, Church leaders or community activists. We are of value because of our divine heritage and because of what will one day be our divine inheritance. Our value is not merely instrumental. It is intrinsic. And our learning is not merely instrumental. It is essential.
Read the full story on the future only God could see for Eva and how education can unlock our potential on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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Notes
1. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Two Principles for Any Economy,” Liahona, Nov. 2009, 58.
2. Gordon B. Hinckley, “Stay on the High Road,” Liahona, May 2004, 113.