“The Truth of Our Lives,” Liahona, Aug. 2025.
The Truth of Our Lives
Our loving Heavenly Father has revealed truths of our past, present, and future, including how to receive the greatest of all gifts.
Up the stairs in a small, tightly packed room above Newel K. Whitney’s store in Kirtland, Ohio, on January 22, 1833, the elders of the Church gathered with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In December the previous year, Joseph had received a revelation directing him to establish a school primarily to prepare the brethren for missions.
“I give unto you a commandment,” the Lord had declared, “that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.
“Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; …
“That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:77–78, 80).
This “School of the Prophets,” as it was called, provided a wonderful spiritual outpouring. Many early leaders of the Church were taught there. Today the world is an entirely different place, but the guidance the Lord gave then is still incredibly applicable. We, too, must seek knowledge and truth “of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:24).
Our Search for Truth
In this age we live in, more knowledge is available to us than ever before. In the past, if you wanted to know something, you had to go to the library and look it up. Today the internet and handheld devices provide access to almost endless information we can find almost immediately.
The Lord is pleased when we make wise use of resources available to us, but He has provided this timeless counsel: “Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118). He encourages us to learn about the world around us (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:79; 93:53), but in our search for truth, we must look to God, who “comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, … and he is above all things, … and all things are by him, and of him” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:41).
Among the truths God has given us, one of the most foundational for our lives on earth is that He is our Heavenly Father. We are His spirit sons and daughters. He knows and loves us perfectly. And as His spirit children, we have a divine nature and destiny. Understanding and embracing these eternal truths gives us identity, value, and purpose that blessed and directed us in our pre-earth life and will continue to do so now and forever.
We Were with the Father in the Beginning
As we seek the truth of things “as they were,” we discover these words from our Savior, Jesus Christ: “And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn,” and “ye were also in the beginning with the Father” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, 23).
Before our life on earth, we attended a council in heaven where our Heavenly Father presented His great plan of happiness. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that God’s motivation for His plan is to grant us “a privilege to advance like himself [and] … be exalted with himself.” His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
We exercised our agency and chose to follow Heavenly Father’s plan. We have been blessed to be born into this life, where we continue to have agency and can experience mortality, learn, and progress toward eternal life.
During our mortal journey, we will experience challenges and setbacks. But we do not need to face life’s adversity alone. Joseph Smith taught that Heavenly Father, “the Great Parent of the universe[,] looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard.”
Our Heavenly Father, “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort,” will bless us, lift us, and comfort us “in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). As an essential part of His plan, Heavenly Father has provided the way for us to return to Him.
The Way to Our Father
The truth “of things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13) is clear: we cannot reach our full potential as children of our Heavenly Father alone. Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son of the Father in the spirit, covenanted to be our Savior and Redeemer.
Jesus Christ, “the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, … came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:11). He came to show us the way to find happiness, meaning, and joy in this life and in eternity.
“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.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).
The Savior’s earthly experience is important. He “received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:12). He grew until “he received a fulness of the glory of the Father” and “all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:16–17). The Savior taught:
“I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.
“For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:19–20).
In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sins of the world and suffered all sorrows and “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” (Alma 7:11). This “caused [Him], … the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18). Only through Jesus Christ and His Atonement and Resurrection are salvation and exaltation possible.
Through the Savior’s grace and atoning sacrifice, we may grow until we receive a fulness and can one day be brought to perfection. If we will follow the example of the Savior and obey His commandments, He will lead and guide us on our way back to the glorious presence of our Father in Heaven.
Christ on the Road to Jerusalem, by Michael Coleman, may not be copied
Will You Receive His Gift?
Among the truths “of things as they really will be” (Jacob 4:13), we learn that our experience in eternity will be determined by our choice to follow Jesus Christ and receive the gifts He offers. The scriptures teach that we will “enjoy that which [we] are willing to receive.” Sadly, some will not be “willing to enjoy that which they might have received” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:32).
My mission president, Elder Marion D. Hanks (1921–2011), who served as a General Authority Seventy, taught his missionaries that asking for what we are willing to receive and enjoy is a way we can judge where we are in our spiritual journey. “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?” As we receive the Savior’s gifts by earnestly seeking and following Him, we will rejoice in the hope of eternal life and “in him who is the giver of [that] gift” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:33). This gift given so lovingly “is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7).
God is our Heavenly Father. He knows and loves us. As we turn to Him in our search for truth, we can cleave unto intelligence, receive wisdom, embrace truth, love virtue, and cleave unto light that comes from Him (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:40). We then continue throughout our lives until “the day shall come when [we] shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:49).
That will be a most glorious and joyful day.