My “Why” Is My Love for the Savior

This is amazing. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that one day I would have the opportunity to share a message at BYU. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to address you.

At the end of the nineties—and even though I am well aware that many of you were not even born yet, let me clarify that this is not ancient history—anyway, during this time I had the opportunity to apply to the Marriott School of Business at BYU. While waiting for the response to my application, I was called to serve as a bishop in Chile. When this happened, I knew in my heart that we were not going anywhere.

Well, the longed-for answer from BYU arrived. And guess what? I was not accepted. I was rejected. Then many years later there was an issue with my daughter’s application to BYU, so she was not accepted. Also, my son applied to BYU, but he was not accepted. We have quite a record in the family. Well, I guess not all the good people need to come to BYU. There are good people in other places. Anyway, now I am happy to report that I have repented, and I don’t have any hard feelings toward BYU.

The Reason Behind Our Actions

Now that I have this opportunity, I have been pondering and seeking heavenly guidance to understand what I need to share with you. This has been a serious quest because this is important.

In this quest I came to a question: Why is this so important? Why do I need to do my best to share something that will help you?

Among the thoughts that crossed my mind were that, well, this is my responsibility, this is a direct assignment from the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, or I want to look good or be famous. But in this pondering, I recalled something that I learned long ago—and actually decided long ago. The reason why this is important for me is because I love Him; I love our Savior. This is the real and most potent reason why I do what I do—and then connected with this is my love for you, my fellow brothers and sisters.

My dear friends, the opportunity to link everything we do with our love for the Savior will help us understand the real “why” behind all the things we do as disciples of the Savior. This will help us have a covenantal connection with the heavens: understanding His truths—His eternal and absolute truths—that will never change. It is not going to be yours or my truth but His—eternal truths such as this:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [John 3:16]

In our world we usually focus on what we do and on consistently accomplishing tasks and goals. In this environment we have the opportunity, especially in a spiritual sphere, to go beyond just doing things or achieving goals by understanding the reason why we are doing them—especially if we can understand and make the connection that the reason behind our actions relates to our love for the Savior and for our Heavenly Father. By taking advantage of these opportunities, we will understand that even though doing righteous things and appropriately doing them is great, when we connect them with the why, we will be blessed to understand the reason. It won’t be just doing it right; we will also get it right.

For example, when you set a goal to read the scriptures or offer sincere prayers, are these the real goals? Or are these the means, the tools at your disposal, to achieve the real goal? Is it just reading and checking the box that we did it or that we finished the book? Or does this mean that we are using it to connect our feelings, the very longings of our hearts, with Jesus Christ?

Now please don’t get me wrong about setting goals and working hard to achieve them. There is no problem with this. I invite you to open your hearts and minds to the opportunity and blessing to really understand why we do these things and how we practice our religion. The more we can connect reason with our love for the Savior, the more we will be able to receive what we need or are seeking.

President Russell M. Nelson gave this invitation:

Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Learn more about His Atonement, His love, His mercy, His doctrine, and His restored gospel of healing and progression. Turn to Him! Follow Him!¹

Ponder this in your hearts and minds: Do you believe that President Nelson’s invitation had the intention of helping you prepare a checklist through which you will accumulate more knowledge and complete tasks? Can you check off his invitation from your to-do list? Or is he inviting us to consider these aspects of these eternal truths and principles as an opportunity to understand the why and connect His covenantal love—hesed, in the words of President Nelson²—for us and for our lifelong discipleship journey?

Talking about ancient times, some months after I had joined the Church, I was invited to attend the dedication of the Santiago Chile Temple as a new convert. At the time this temple was number twenty-four. Imagine now, with temples dotting the whole earth, the wondrous invitation from President Nelson at the April 2024 general conference about our temple service and worship. In this message, President Nelson said:

Joseph Smith’s dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple is a tutorial about how the temple spiritually empowers you and me to meet the challenges of life in these last days. I encourage you to study that prayer, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 109. That dedicatory prayer, which was received by revelation, teaches that the temple is “a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.”

This list of attributes is much more than a description of a temple. It is a promise about what will happen to those who serve and worship in the house of the Lord.³

Again, consider that President Nelson’s invitation is not just about doing something or checking off a chore or a duty from our to-do list. Instead it is an opportunity for us, through our desire to serve and worship the Lord, to understand and treasure in our hearts why we are doing this.

Let me illustrate the principle that I am trying to convey. One option that is probably a little extreme is the thought that I need to work on my genealogy—that I have names for whom I need to do the “work.” Because I have this work to do, I will go to the temple to complete their ordinances. Then I will perform the ordinances in the temple, finishing the necessary work. As soon as I complete the last ordinance, I will pass through the celestial room on my way to the lockers because the work is done and I have other things to do or goals or tasks to accomplish.

I understand this is an extreme case, but it is not unreal. Probably many are at some point between this and the ideal. The invitation is as much as we can be conscious that the opportunity starts when we seek the why: I need/I want to get/be closer to the Savior. I love Him and my Father in Heaven and want to express my love to Them by worshipping in the temple. I will prepare and go to the temple, and because I also love my fellow men and women, especially my ancestors, I will pay attention to serving them by bringing their names to the temple.

In this way I will not only show my love for the Savior but also for others. I look forward to feeling, hearing, and understanding while in the temple. I want to take the time to talk with my Father in Heaven while I am in the celestial room.

In both examples you are doing a righteous thing. In one, the goal seems to be using the means that Heavenly Father and the Savior have given us, which is temple attendance; the second version embraces the blessing of understanding the why—the path to comprehend eternal truths and the blessings promised to all who center their lives in the teachings and life of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Thus, when we are intentional—looking to be aware of the why, including when we go to the temple—we will comprehend the meaning of President Nelson’s promise when he said:

Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple. You will feel His mercy. You will find answers to your most vexing questions. You will better comprehend the joy of His gospel.⁴

Essential Truths

My dear friends, I hope you can feel and see the importance of connecting the things we do with our love for the Savior. In a globalized world, many voices will try to influence you and, if possible, lead you to think that some fundamental truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are not necessary, starting with an essential truth of the need for a restoration in these the last days and including the need for having God’s kingdom again on earth, meaning the restored Church of Jesus Christ. You will hear voices telling you that just a personal relationship with the Savior is enough and that religion or the restored Church is not needed or essential.

God the Father and His Son came and spoke with Joseph Smith to start the Restoration of our Savior’s Church and the dispensation of the fulness of times, His kingdom upon earth. Hence, the Church of Jesus Christ is the means established on earth by Heavenly Father to access covenants that will allow us to return home. Thus it is more than just a personal relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son that we need. We need a covenantal connection that will give us access to covenantal love and the necessary ordinances to attain the highest kingdom of glory prepared for all those who are true and faithful to their covenants.

Imagine this world and all the messages that you can find on social media and other electronic sources. It is interesting, and maybe a little sad, when people quickly believe some messages contrary to what the doctrine of Christ is trying to teach us or what eternal truths mean to us. I invite you to be slow to consider or even be immune to being influenced by these misleading ideas and to be quicker to remember what the Savior has been telling and teaching us since ancient times. 

Remembering Who He Is

Please remember those times when He has shared with us who He is:

• “I Am That I Am” (Exodus 3:14).
• “I am the Lord” (Exodus 6:2, 6–8; see also verse 3).
• “I am he” (Isaiah 43:10; see also verse 11).
• “I am with you alway[s]” (Matthew 28:20).
• “It is I; be not afraid” (Mark 6:50; in Greek the words “it is I” can be translated more literally as “I am”).
• “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am” (Mark 14:61–62).
• “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).
• “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
• “I am the door” (John 10:7, 9).
• “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14).
• “I am the resurrection, and the life” (John 11:25).
• “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
• “I am the true vine” (John 15:1; see also verse 5).
• “Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God” (3 Nephi 9:15).
• “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world” (3 Nephi 11:10–11).
• “I am the law, and the light. Look unto me” (3 Nephi 15:9).
• “Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:1).
• “Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I Am” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:1).
• “I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:5).
• “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:4).

These are from among many, many other scriptures sharing with us who our Lord Jesus Christ is.

Remembering What He Will Do for Us

Our Savior has also shared with us what He will do for us:

• “And, lo, I am with you alway[s], even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
• “I will: be thou clean” (Luke 5:13; healing the person with leprosy).
• “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
• “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18; see also verses 12–18).
• “I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
• “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14; see also verses 12–14).
• “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3; see also verse 2).
• “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16).
• “I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments” (1 Nephi 17:13).
• “I will that ye should overcome the world; wherefore I will have compassion upon you” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:2).
• “I will be merciful unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:4).
• “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

“Come unto Me”

With all the energies of my heart, I declare and bear witness that our Lord’s invitation is clear and simple: “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28).

By understanding the why, we will be able to comprehend the teachings of President Nelson: “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.”⁵

As we focus our lives on our Savior, His gospel, and His teachings, we will find more joy, peace, and hope in our lives. “Joy comes from and because of Him.”⁶

The 2025 youth theme for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “Look unto Christ.” The theme is based on Doctrine and Covenants 6:36, which says, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

So what does the theme mean? The theme encourages us to focus on Jesus Christ and on His gospel, which inspires and unites us in our efforts to follow Him.

In the New Testament, in Revelation 3:20, we learn that the Savior stands at the door and knocks: “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Have you ever seen this picture? [Del Parson’s painting Jesus Knocking at the Door was shown.] Have you ever noticed that there is no doorknob on the Savior’s side? We are the ones who need to open the door and let Him in. The Savior said:

Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. [Doctrine and Covenants 88:63]

Well, my dear friends, I can’t leave without extending an invitation. I invite you to ponder in your hearts and seek to understand the reason why you do what you do. Seek to find the connection between what you do to worship the Savior and your love for Him. Please start today and do it until general conference. Write your thoughts and feelings and share your why with your loved ones and in an appropriate setting with your friends, roommates, or anyone else.

Now suppose you don’t know your why? That’s okay. Still, please write how you feel and what some things are that you can start, continue doing, or stop doing to find an answer. Please remember to be patient, and if you exercise faith in Christ “with a sincere heart, with real intent,” you will receive the confirmation you are looking for (Moroni 10:4; see verses 3–5).

Therefore, my invitation is for you to start writing your feelings about your why today and to keep working on it until general conference. So will you write your thoughts and feelings about your why today? Will you do that? [A few members of the audience responded, “Yes!”]

Ah, some of you know that I am expecting an answer. Okay, let’s try again. That was not a rhetorical question. I am looking for an answer! Will you write your thoughts and feelings about your why today and keep working on it until general conference? Will you do that? [The audience shouted, “Yes!”] Okay! Good! Great!

So, what did you hear today? Did you hear something that was not said? Please ponder on these thoughts and feelings and decide to act, even if it starts with just a desire to believe. The prophet Alma the Younger wrote:

If ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. [Alma 32:27]

With all the energy of my soul, I bear witness of the reality and divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He loves you. He knows exactly what is happening in your life. His arms are wide open, extending this invitation: “Come unto me . . . , and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s kingdom upon the earth, and the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. President Russell M. Nelson is God’s mouthpiece in these days, and I look forward to hearing the prophet’s words in a few weeks at general conference.

I love the Savior, and my love for Him is my why. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

© by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.