“That They May Be One,” Ensign, July 2017
Visiting Teaching Message
That They May Be One
Prayerfully study this material and seek for inspiration to know what to share. How will understanding the purpose of Relief Society prepare daughters of God for the blessings of eternal life?
“Jesus achieved perfect unity with the Father by submitting Himself, both flesh and spirit, to the will of the Father,” taught Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“… Surely we will not be one with God and Christ until we make Their will and interest our greatest desire. Such submissiveness is not reached in a day, but through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will tutor us if we are willing until, in process of time, it may accurately be said that He is in us as the Father is in Him.”1
Linda K. Burton, former Relief Society General President, taught how to work toward this unity: “Making and keeping our covenants is an expression of our commitment to become like the Savior. The ideal is to strive for the attitude best expressed in a few phrases of a favorite hymn: ‘I’ll go where you want me to go. … I’ll say what you want me to say. … I’ll be what you want me to be.’”2
Elder Christofferson also reminded us that “as we endeavor day by day and week by week to follow the path of Christ, our spirit asserts its preeminence, the battle within subsides, and temptations cease to trouble.”3
Neill F. Marriott, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, bears testimony of the blessings of striving to align our will with God’s will: “I have struggled to banish the mortal desire to have things my way, eventually realizing that my way is oh so lacking, limited, and inferior to the way of Jesus Christ. ‘His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come’ [“The Living Christ”; emphasis added].”4 Let us strive humbly to become one with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Additional Scriptures and Information
John 17:20–21; Ephesians 4:13; Doctrine and Covenants 38:27; reliefsociety.lds.org
Faith, Family, Relief