Priesthood Leader Message
Loving Our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ with All Our Heart
“To enable us to express our love for God and His Son, Jesus Christ into action, each member of the Church should deepen her or his level of conversion.”
It often happens that we wholeheartedly thank people for everything they have done for us. However, a good way to express our gratitude is to make it clear how much we care about these people and how grateful we are for all they have been able to do for us.
Among the people to whom we should be grateful we can list, for example, our parents—for the good reason that they brought us into the world and above all, for having given us a good education on spiritual and temporal matters.
Such is the case of Nephi, when he testified of the goodness of his parents towards him, declaring that: “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days” (1 Nephi 1:1). This testimony of Nephi is an act of gratitude poured out in terms of love expressed with all his heart toward his parents.
Like Nephi, there are two fundamental reasons for us to love God our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ with all our hearts:
The first consists of realizing that God is our Heavenly Father and that as such, He could only have one final objective in mind, that of designing an appropriate plan of salvation to provide us with eternal happiness through the Resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins. (See Alma 12:25–34.) Everything was made possible through His plan of redemption which is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (See D&C 128:22; Moses 6:52–62.)
Moreover, our Heavenly Father, in creating us, placed at our disposal His commandments whereby a heavenly path is traced out for us to follow. He has also given us the necessary advice which we need to progress and to reach our divine potential. This should inspire us as to how well our Heavenly Father knows each of us, His children, and to how well He knows for what purpose He has created us.
Therefore, He warns us through his prophets while remaining merciful to those who repent of their sin. Sometimes He (God) uses His prophets as watchmen on a wall or tower to point out any danger to come. (see Isaiah 62:6; Ezekiel 33:1–7; Helaman 13:2–5.)
The second reason relates to anything that can motivate us to humbly meditate on a few absolute truths as outlined below:
“For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12; see also 1 Corinthians 15:22.)
“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).
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17; see also John 8:12, Hebrews 5:8–9, Alma 12:25–34.)
To enable us to express our love for God and His Son, Jesus Christ into action, each member of the Church should deepen her or his level of conversion. Just as Nephi testified of his love for his parents, we should testify of our love for Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
We should improve our observance of the Sabbath day at home and at Church. We should hold a valid temple recommend and participate in temple service—because everything we do in the Church directs us to the temple. We should also read the Book of Mormon daily. In this regard, President Russell M. Nelson declared that, “The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like Without It?”, Liahona, November 2017, 62.).
We should show our love among members. We should serve, teach, and look after each other as we minister. (see D&C 20:53.) We should, one-by-one, help those who are struggling with their testimonies and share the gospel with people who are not of our faith (see D&C 18:15).
We also need to pay an honest tithe and a generous fast offering (see Malachi 3:10). We should take personal responsibility to work and to become self-reliant (see General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [2020], 16). And lastly, we should better prepare the rising generation to serve full-time missions (see Mark 16:15).
I know that the vision for the Africa Central Area is an imprint modeled on Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness and is designed to enable us to reach our divine potential.
Elder Christophe Kawaya was called as an Area Seventy in April 2016. He is married to Souzane Kawaya. They are the parents of nine children.