Seeking Jesus Requires Faith and Effort, Women’s Conference Speaker Says
Contributed By Valerie Johnson, Church News staff writer
Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President, invites some of her grandchildren to the stage to sing Primary songs with the audience during her BYU Women’s Conference keynote address.
Article Highlights
- We must live worthy to enter the temple in order to receive the blessings Heavenly Father promises.
- Having faith in Jesus Christ is essential in seeking and coming to know Him.
- We build faith one day and experience at a time, but we have to do the work.
“It is by looking to Jesus Christ with an eye of faith that we participate with Him in His miracles.” —Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President
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The theme of the 2019 BYU Women’s Conference comes from Ether 12:41, in which the Prophet Moroni encourages readers to “seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written.”
“I find it interesting that Moroni writes of ‘this Jesus,’” Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society General President, said in her opening keynote address on May 2. “He gives an interesting specificity of Whom it is we are to seek.”
“This Jesus”
From before the birth of Christ, during His ministry, and down to the present day, there have been disputes concerning Jesus Christ. “The question still lingers in millions of hearts, ‘Who is this Jesus we are to seek?’” Sister Beck said.
It was this very question that the Prophet Joseph Smith sought to answer when he went into a grove of trees near his home to “learn for himself which Christian church he should join.”
His covenant and His doctrine
The Savior has always had a specific doctrine associated with His covenant, Sister Beck said.
“His doctrine is that we must exercise faith in Him, repent through His Atonement, receive baptism by immersion in His name and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure throughout our lives in His covenant and service.”
By entering into and living worthy of the covenants made at baptism and in the temple, one becomes heir to all the blessings Heavenly Father has promised His children.
Seeking this Jesus
Having knowledge of the Savior’s character, attributes, mission, Atonement, doctrine, and covenants makes it easier to seek Him. This also requires faith in Jesus Christ.
There are many remarkable accounts of faith found in the scriptures, and even today “many still forsake family, destructive habits and addictions, and former customs in order to ‘seek this Jesus of whom the apostles and prophets have written,’” Sister Beck said.
It is often the struggles in life that propel one to Christ. “We cannot miss the fact that most people are having a demanding mortal experience,” Sister Beck said. “In most cases, it is the pain and stretching we experience which give us the greater knowledge of Him.”
A personal, faith-based work
Life is meant to be a personal, faith-based work, Sister Beck said.
“No one can do it for us, and we build our faith one day and one experience at a time.”
One can demonstrate faith in Christ by repenting daily, beginning a covenant marriage, seeking personal revelation and help with his or her decisions, ministering to others, or choosing not to be defeated by life’s circumstances.
Julie B. Beck, former General Relief Society President, speaks during the 2019 BYU Women's Conference. Photo by Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo.
“It is by looking to Jesus Christ with an eye of faith that we participate with Him in His miracles,” Sister Beck said.
Moroni taught that miracles are wrought by faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning power (Moroni 7:37). “And so,” she said, “we are to pray for miracles and expect them.”
In closing, Sister Beck testified that “this Jesus we are to know is a God of might and mercy. He is real, and His work is real, and His covenants and ordinances have been restored with His priesthood power.”
Women gather in the Marriott Center on the BYU campus in Provo, Utah, for the annual BYU Women’s Conference on May 2, 2019. Photo by Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo.
