"Lay Aside the Things of This World"

D&C 25:10 And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.

I wonder to what extent the Lord wanted Emma Smith (and us) to do that. I'll grant you, the things of the better world, the eternal things, are infinitely more important than temporal things. They last infinitely longer. Still, the things of this world are still essential. We still need physical food and water to eat and drink. We still need physical shelter and clothes to wear. We need temporal things, which require time and/or money to acquire. To get money, we have to work, which takes time. No matter how you slice it, we have to spend some of our limited time on Earth making sure we have everything we need to remain on Earth a little longer. If we completely "lay aside the things of this world," we'll find ourselves headed for the next world sooner than God had planned.

So, I doubt the Lord intends us to take this advice too literally. There will still be some need to attend to temporal matters, even as we prioritize the spiritual matters. We can "lay aside the things of this world" to some extent, but as long as we are making an effort to stay alive, the things of this world will still be of some concern to us. I think I get God's meaning. Don't worry too much about temporal things. But temporal things are still essential to our temporal existence.

There needs to be balance. We can and should prioritize the spiritual world, but we can't afford to neglect the temporal world completely. Nor should we neglect the spiritual world in preference for the things of the temporal world. Both are important. Both are essential. The spiritual matters are the higher priority of the two, but we still need to give at least some time and attention to the physical matters as well.