Elder Oaks

“Followers of Christ” April 2013

“Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places.”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Followers of Christ, April 2013 General Conference

I love this. It is a direct call to do better in our lives. We should be constantly emulating the light of Christ. It should be on our minds in every choice we make and every action we make. That is a tall order but it is possibly and we need to do our best.

“In our efforts to rescue and serve, we follow our Savior’s unique example and tender teachings about love: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39). He even commanded us to love our enemies (see Luke 6:27–28). And in His great teachings at the end of His mortal ministry, He said: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35).”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Followers of Christ, April 2013 General Conference

Charity is the pure love of God. Which is what we should always strive to emulate. We are human, thus it is sometimes hard to love our neighbors. But Christ loves us and sees our eternal potential and we should at least try to see others as their Father in Heaven sees them. I also love the last part, people we know that we are Christians by the way we treat other people. They will know us by our fruits.

““We are the children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17). This means, as we are told in the New Testament, that we are “heirs … of eternal life” (Titus 3:7) and that if we come to the Father, we are to “inherit all things” (Revelation 21:7)—all that He has—a concept our mortal minds can hardly grasp. But at least we can understand that achieving this ultimate destiny in eternity is possible only if we follow our Savior, Jesus Christ, who taught that “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Followers of Christ, April 2013 General Conference

I love these references stating that we are children of God and will inherit all that he has. Elder Oaks is so right when he says “A concept our mortal minds can hardly grasp” I have thought that phrase so many times. It is just mind blowing to think about the possibility of our eternal future! Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and we have the opportunity to live with Him again if we only follow Christ and what He has taught us! It’s fantastic!

“When we worthily partake of the sacrament, we are promised that we will “always have his Spirit to be with [us].” To qualify for that promise we covenant that we will “always remember him””

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Pornography, April 2005 General Conference

I love this quote because I never really put two and two together. If we always remember Him, we will always have His Spirit to be with us! Because obviously if we are remembering Him, We are not going to be doing sinful and stupid things. We will do what is right, and thus have His spirit with us!

“But the good news is that no one needs to follow the evil, downward descent to torment. Everyone caught on that terrible escalator has the key to reverse his course. He can escape. Through repentance he can be clean.”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Pornography, April 2005 General Conference

                                Yay Atonement!