We cannot look to and focus upon Jesus Christ as the “mark” if we only see ourselves.

As we pridefully focus upon ourselves, we also are afflicted with spiritual blindness and miss much, most, or perhaps all that is occurring within and around us. We cannot look to and focus upon Jesus Christ as the “mark” if we only see ourselves.

 In the Space of Not Many Years

October 2024

General Conference

David A. Bednar

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/35bednar?lang=eng&verse=#p

There is no “my way” if we are to follow Christ’s example.

 There is no “my way” if we are to follow Christ’s example. Trying to find a different course to heaven is like the futility of working on the Tower of Babel rather than looking to Christ and His salvation.

Burying Our Weapons of Rebellion

October 2024

General Conference

D. Todd Christofferson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/21christofferson?lang=eng&verse=#p

God who allowed these tests for you also designed a sure way to pass through them

My reassurance is this: the loving God who allowed these tests for you also designed a sure way to pass through them. Heavenly Father so loved the world that He sent His Beloved Son to help us. His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us. Jesus Christ bore in Gethsemane and on the cross the weight of all our sins. He experienced all the sorrows, the pains, and the effects of our sins so that He could comfort and strengthen us through every test in life....I bear you my witness that the Savior knows and loves you. He knows your name as you know His. He knows your troubles. He has experienced them. By His Atonement, He has overcome the world. By your being willing to take His name upon you, you will lift the burdens of countless others. And you will find in time that you know the Savior better and that you love Him more. His name will be in your heart and fixed in your memory. It is the name by which you will be called.

Try, Try, Try

October 2018

General Conference

Henry B. Eyring

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/try-try-try?lang=eng&verse=#p

The War In Heaven

Anyone who follows international news will agree that we live in a time of “wars and rumors of wars” (D&C 45:26). Fortunately, everyone on earth is a war veteran. We have been battling the hosts of evil in an ongoing war that began in the premortal sphere before we were born.

Because we had not yet received physical bodies, we fought the War in Heaven without swords, guns, or bombs. But the fighting was just as intense as any modern war, and there were billions of casualties.

The premortal war was fought with words, ideas, debate, and persuasion (see Revelation 12:7–9, 11). Satan’s strategy was to frighten people. He knew that fear is the best way to destroy faith. He may have used arguments like these: “It’s too hard.” “It’s impossible to make it back clean.” “There’s too much risk.” “How do you know you can trust Jesus Christ?” He was very jealous of the Savior.

Thankfully, God’s plan triumphed over Satan’s lies. God’s plan involved moral agency for mankind and a great sacrifice. Jehovah, known to us as Jesus Christ, volunteered to be that sacrifice—to suffer for all our sins. He was willing to lay down His life for His brothers and sisters so that those who repented could come back clean and eventually become like their Heavenly Father. (See Moses 4:1–4; Abraham 3:27.)
Ensign April 2017,  The War Goes On, Larry R. Lawrence

In A Coming Day, You Will Present Yourself Before the Savior

In a coming day, you will present yourself before the Savior. You will be overwhelmed to the point of tears to be in His holy presence. You will struggle to find words to thank Him for paying for your sins, for forgiving you of any unkindness toward others, for healing you from the injuries and injustices of this life.

You will thank Him for strengthening you to do the impossible, for turning your weaknesses into strengths, and for making it possible for you to live with Him and your family forever. His identity, His Atonement, and His attributes will become personal and real to you.

But you don’t have to wait until then. Choose to be one of His true disciples now. Be one who truly loves Him, who truly wants to serve and lead as He did. I promise you that if you will study His words, your ability to be more like Him will increase. I know this is true.

Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles February 28, 2017

What Would Jesus Do?

We are at a time in the history of the world and the growth of the Church when we must think more of holy things and act more like the Savior would expect his disciples to act. We should at every opportunity ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” and then act more courageously upon the answer. 

 October 1994 "Follow The Son Of God"  Howard W. Hunter

Christ Was Born Into Mortality Not Only to Die for Us But To Live Like Us.

Sometimes we forget that Christ was born into mortality not only to die for us but also to live like us. He experienced his infancy, childhood, teenage years, and adulthood so that he might more fully understand the challenges associated with life spent in a world that is not our home.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.90

He Knows The Way Because He Is The Way

I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair. 14 From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.” 15 The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.” 16 Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.

Author: Jeffrey R. Holland
Title: Broken Things to Mend
Where: Ensign, May 2006, 69–71