Perfect in Christ

By Elder Gerrit W. Gong

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

From an October 2018 general conference address.

Spiritual light and life come when regular religious observance draws us closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. With daily obedience, we find answers, faith, and strength to meet everyday challenges and opportunities with gospel patience, perspective, and joy.

As we seek new and holier ways to love God and help us and others prepare to meet Him, we remember that perfection is in Christ, not in ourselves or in the perfectionism of the world.

God’s invitations are full of love and possibility because Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). To those who feel burdened, He invites, “Come unto me,” and to those who come to Him, He promises, “I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, … love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

In this assurance “by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” is also the comfort, peace, and promise that we can continue forward with faith and confidence in the Lord even when things do not go as we hope, expect, or perhaps deserve, through no fault of our own, even after we have done our best.

In various times and ways, we all feel inadequate, uncertain, perhaps unworthy. Yet in our faithful efforts to love God and to minister to our neighbor, we may feel God’s love and needed inspiration for their and our lives.

With compassion, our Savior encourages and promises we can “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men” (2 Nephi 31:20). The doctrine of Christ, our Savior’s Atonement, and our whole-souled following of His covenant path can help us know His truths and make us free (see John 8:32).

I testify His covenant path leads to the greatest gift our loving Heavenly Father promises: “Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20).