Digital Only: Church Leaders’ Teachings from Social Media
The Blessings of Obedience
See what prophets, apostles, and other Church leaders have taught on social media about the importance of obeying God’s commandments.
Gentle Shepherd, by Yongsung Kim
In speaking of teaching children, President Russell M. Nelson spoke of the power of obedience to Heavenly Father’s commandments. He said:
“Teach of faith to keep all the commandments of God, knowing that they are given to bless His children and bring them joy [see 2 Nephi 2:25]. Warn them that they will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to misery. To prepare to meet God, one keeps all of His commandments. It takes faith to obey them, and keeping His commandments will strengthen that faith.
“Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow without constraint. He will bless His obedient children with freedom from bondage and misery. And He will bless them with more light.”1
As we show our love to Heavenly Father by keeping His commandments (see John 14:15), we can receive powerful blessings. To help us in our effort to better follow God’s commandments, consider these recent teachings from Church leaders posted on social media.
The First Great Commandment—Love God
“As a former president of [Brigham Young University], I was pleased to speak to students and faculty during this morning’s devotional. …
“I invited the students to consider if they dare to be different and if they are going forward against the world’s opposition. More important than what an individual does as a student are the choices they are making in their personal lives—the priorities they are adopting consciously or subconsciously.
“We must not forget the Savior’s teaching that the ‘first and great commandment’ in the law is to ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,’ and the second commandment ‘is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’
“The love of neighbor—however important—does not come ahead of love of God and obedience to His commandments. If we truly love God and serve Him as He has taught us, we will love our neighbor as God loves him or her and as He would have us love and serve them.
“Jesus was ever-loving, but invariably direct in His commandments and expectations. To the woman taken in adultery He refrained from condemning her then, but concluded by directing her to ‘go thy way, and sin no more.’
“And He concluded the rigorous teaching of the Sermon on the Mount with the incomparable direction ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ We proceed toward that divine condition by priorities that follow the Savior without being compromised by worldly values and behavior.
“Keeping gospel standards does not make you second class or condemn your example to obscurity. All of us know of persons whose performance is enhanced in quality and visibility by being different from the crowd.
“I echo the words President Russell M. Nelson has taught: ‘Please believe me, that when your spiritual foundation is built solidly upon Jesus Christ, you have no need to fear. As you are true to your covenants made in the temple, you will be strengthened by His power.’”
President Dallin H. Oaks, Facebook, Sept.13, 2022, facebook.com/dallin.h.oaks.
The Commandment to Be Baptized
“The gospel is simple. Because of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, we can be cleansed and changed. This begins with faith in Jesus Christ. We believe in Him, trust Him, and depend on Him. That faith leads us to repentance.
“We want to show our love for Him by keeping the commandments. Jesus taught by example as He Himself was baptized. Baptism is one of His commandments.
“After we are baptized, He promises to give us the gift of the Holy Ghost. We will be guided and comforted, and the Holy Ghost will help us to know the truth. We will feel the Holy Ghost is with us. We will have feelings of peace, love, and joy, and we will have the desire to serve others. We will strive throughout our lives to please the Lord.
“As we believe in Him, trust Him, and depend on Him—and do it more frequently—we will feel the comfort of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We will have the strength to endure any challenge we are presented with and keep the commandments without compulsion.”
President Henry B. Eyring, Facebook, June 24, 2023, facebook.com/henry.b.eyring.
A Key to Finding Happiness
“I am just overwhelmed with the Lord’s goodness and His trust that He has in you and me. We are all ordinary members of the Church. None of us are superstars. We are just God’s children trying to do the right thing for the right reason. We are trying to raise our families the right way so they will love the Lord and want to strive to keep His commandments. In the process, we have some wonderful, choice privileges and opportunities.
“When our final judgment comes, it won’t be the number of meetings we attend, the number of meetings we conducted, or all the visits we made. Instead, the Lord will be deeply appreciative of those seeking and helping others along the covenant path.
“Jesus Christ is our brother and our best friend. He loves us and has shown us the way. The things you and I need to find happiness are contained in striving to keep His commandments and striving to be like Him as much as we can. Each day is an opportunity to touch a life, to reach out to someone who needs you and offer a word of encouragement.”
President M. Russell Ballard (1928–2023), Facebook, Sept. 26, 2021, facebook.com/mrussell.ballard.
Help from the Savior
“Lesa and I were honored to spend some time with this remarkable group of missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a recent visit to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. We spoke about the blessings that come from obedience to God’s commandments. This is true for missionaries—and for all of us.
“I shared with these wonderful elders and sisters that we all are children of a loving Heavenly Father. He desires our ultimate success and eternal progression in this life and in the next.
“Our Savior Jesus Christ can help us receive these blessings from our Father. I testify of Him, and His divine redemptive role as our Savior.”
Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Facebook, June 1, 2023, facebook.com/stevenson.gary.e.
3 Ways to Receive Spiritual Shelter
“We can protect ourselves from life’s complex tornadoes in the ‘spiritual shelter of the Savior.’ Three aspects that can help us be under the Savior’s spiritual shelter include:
“Invoking the Savior’s power in our lives.
“Fulfilling and honoring sacred covenants with exactness.
“Being true to personal and family responsibilities to keep the commandments and teach our families the gospel.
“If we are constant and unmovable in keeping the commandments of God with faith and diligence, surely the comfort of the Savior’s shelter will replace the pain of our experiences, peace will replace the turmoil, hope will replace grief, and trials will turn into blessings.”
Elder Ulisses Soares, Facebook, Feb. 9, 2023, facebook.com/soares.u.
More Intentional Living
“Another wonderful Christmas season has come and gone. Most of us wish the beautiful feelings surrounding Christmas could last all year, but why shouldn’t we be able to feel them much more often? Christmas is a season when we naturally feel more inclined to see and serve and love others which, as the scriptures tell us, is a way to love and serve God—gifts for the Savior in this season when we celebrate His birth. It’s a time of more outward focus, more intentional living of the first and second great commandments.
“The commandments to love and serve God and those around us really are for our own benefit and will do more to bring those wonderful feelings of peace and joy into our lives than almost anything else can. As we daily follow our Savior’s example of love and care for others, even in very small ways, we will remember Him more often and gradually become more and more like Him. Then it can ‘feel like Christmas’ every day because those beautiful feelings can come through being filled with the Savior’s love. Let’s see if we can make this new year ‘feel like Christmas’ on a more regular basis. May each of you have a Christ-filled [year]!!”
Sister J. Anette Dennis, Facebook, Jan. 3, 2023, facebook.com/RS1stCounselor.
An Invitation from God to Follow Him
“One of the … Primary songs I have recently studied is ‘I Need My Heavenly Father’ [Children’s Songbook, 18]. I love how this song shares that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that we can be happy by choosing to follow Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father loves each of us. How will you choose to serve Him today?” …
“I just want to [share] a verse from that song. It says, ‘I need my Heavenly Father to help me every day. He wants me to be happy and choose the righteous way.’ I love that because it’s an invitation to remember that God is motivated by love for us and for our happiness.
“I also took an opportunity to read … one of the scriptural references that’s found with the song, and it’s in Alma 30:8. It says, ‘For thus sayeth the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve.’
“Friends, I hope that you’ll join me and you will choose to serve Heavenly Father today and every day because He’s motivated by love. We love Him, and we want that happiness in our lives.”
Sister Tracy Y. Browning, Facebook, Sept. 26, 2022, facebook.com/Primary2ndCounselor.