Our Lord and Savior

By Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Adapted from an October 1993 general conference address.

Did you know that Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin was on his college football team? He loves our Savior Jesus Christ and bears testimony of Him.

Jesus is the head of His Church, the Creator of the universe, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind, and the Judge of the souls of men.

I am grateful to know that our Lord and Savior stands at the head of this Church and directs it through His servants. This is the Lord’s Church; it is not a church of men. The Brethren of its presiding councils are called of God; their only motive is to serve according to His will in humility “with all [their] heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2).

The immortality and eternal life of man is brought to pass by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. It is an act of love for which we should be more grateful than for any other blessing or gift of God. The Atonement provides immortality to every person; immortality is infinite and universal [never-ending and for all people]. It provides the opportunity for eternal life, the kind of life that God lives, to those who have faith in Christ, repent of their sins, and obey the laws of the gospel. In a miraculous way, the Atonement saves and redeems us from the effects of the Fall of Adam, both temporal death at the end of mortality and spiritual death, the separation from our Father.

Considering all that Jesus is and all He does for us, what should we be doing to show our appreciation? We should come to “know … the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). “Those who know God become like him, and have his kind of life, which is eternal life” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 1:762).

In other words, to possess a knowledge of Christ, we must become as He is.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, by Robert T. Barrett