Dallin had asked himself the question: "Throughout the remainder of your life, will you be a judge and lawyer who has been called to be an apostle, or will you be an apostle who used to be a lawyer and a judge?" There is a very large difference between those two, he realized. He was familiar with the law and matters most administrators face: committees, public affairs, personnel, and human relations, generally.

"I was sure that we all have a tendency to focus our efforts on those things that are familiar and easy, where we feel at home," he wrote. "We are repelled by those things that are unfamiliar and difficult. The most important parts of my calling, in fact the only parts that are really unique in the service of the Lord," he recognized, "were those parts that I knew nothing about. Those parts where I would have to start all over at the beginning. I knew that if I concentrated my time on the things that came naturally and the things that I felt qualified to do, I would never be an apostle. I would always be a former lawyer and judge. I made up my mind that was not for me. I decided that I would focus my efforts on what I had been called to do, not on what I was qualified to do. I determined that instead of trying to shape my calling to my credentials, I would try to shape myself to my calling."

Francis M. Gibbons, Secretary to the First Presidency, reminded him of what President Harold B. Lee said years earlier when Dallin was appointed BYU President: "We are not calling President Oaks because of what he is," President Lee had said, "for others have done more and have greater stature and accomplishments. We are calling him because of what he will become."

Service with all of our heart and mind, which goes far beyond service with all of our might and strength, is a high challenge for all of us. It goes far beyond the quid pro quo of contract service. It is unique to our service by covenant. It is free of selfish ambition. It is motivated only by the pure love of God and our fellowmen.

If we have difficulty with the command that we serve for love, a Book of Mormon teaching can help us. After describing the importance of charity, the prophet Moroni counseled:

'Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.' [Moroni 7:48]

I testify that God expects us to work to purify our hearts and our thoughts so that we may serve one another for the highest and best reason, the pure love of Christ.

In one of the monthly General Authority fast and testimony meetings, I heard President James E. Faust say, "The older I get, the less judgmental I become." That wise observation gives us a standard to live by in the matter of judgments. We should refrain from anything that seems to be a final judgment of any person—manifesting our determination to leave final judgments to the Lord, who alone has the capacity to judge.