For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices: Lesson 171

For the Strength of Youth Guide

Connecting Our Choices to Christ

Throughout our lives, we are constantly making choices. When we feel overwhelmed about making correct decisions, Jesus Christ and His doctrine can bring us strength and guidance. For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices is one place we can go to find truths about Jesus Christ and His doctrine. This lesson can help students practice using the For the Strength of Youth guidebook to make inspired choices based on Jesus Christ and His doctrine.

Student preparation: Invite students to review one section of their choosing in For the Strength of Youth. Students could consider how the teachings of Jesus Christ in that section can help them make inspired decisions.

Possible Learning Activities

Jesus Christ is my rock

Before beginning the lesson, provide students a copy of For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices or help them locate the electronic version in Gospel Library.

Consider beginning class by displaying a picture of a lighthouse during a storm.

• What are some gospel principles you could teach someone by using this picture?

If students need help, you could ask them what the storm or rock could represent if the lighthouse represents our lives. Students might share a variety of principles. Thank them for contributing to the discussion.

Read Psalm 62:5–7, looking for how the words in this psalm relate to the picture of the lighthouse.

• Why is a rock a good description for Jesus Christ?

Read the following statement from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, looking for how we can make Jesus Christ our rock.

Every time you make a righteous choice based on the Savior’s eternal truths, you show that you want Him in your life. Those choices unlock the gates of heaven, and His strength comes pouring into your life. …

… As we build our lives, it’s important to make good choices. And it’s important to understand the Savior’s eternal truth. But the strength we will need to withstand life’s storms comes when we connect our choices with Jesus Christ and His doctrine. That’s what For the Strength of Youth helps us do. (“For the Strength of Youth: The Savior’s Message to You,” For the Strength of Youth, March 2024, 38)

• What can we learn from Elder Uchtdorf?

  As students share, help them identify a truth such as this one: we receive strength from Jesus Christ when we connect our choices with Him and His doctrine. You might want to write this truth on the board.

• What do you think it means to connect our choices to Jesus Christ and His doctrine?

Students might share things such as following Jesus Christ’s example, making choices based on His teachings, or praying for guidance from Heavenly Father while making decisions.

Ensure students understand that For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices is a tool that can help us connect our choices to Jesus Christ.

You could also share the following example from Elder Uchtdorf.

Elder Uchtdorf explained what it might look like to connect our choices with Jesus Christ and His doctrine.

Your friends might know that you won’t cheat or lie and that you take education seriously. But do they know that this is because Jesus Christ taught that “the truth will make you free”? [John 8:32; “Truth will make you free,” For the Strength of Youth, March 2024, 30]. (“For the Strength of Youth: The Savior’s Message to You,” For the Strength of Youth, March 2024, 38)

• How might connecting our choices to Jesus Christ strengthen us to withstand life’s storms?

Think of a situation you are currently facing, or anticipate facing in the future, that might require you to make difficult choices. Consider how Jesus Christ and His doctrine might help you.

Listen for the promptings of the Spirit as you practice connecting your choices to Jesus Christ with the help of the For the Strength of Youth guidebook.

The structure of the guidebook

The purpose of this section is to help students familiarize themselves with how the For the Strength of Youth guidebook is organized. If your students are already familiar with the guidebook, you might skip this section and go to the model.

Refer students to the graphic at the bottom of “Make inspired choices” in the guidebook, or display the following information from the graphic.

“In For the Strength of Youth, you will find the teachings of Jesus Christ and His prophets. With these truths as your guide, you can make inspired choices that will bless you now and throughout eternity” (“Make inspired choices,” For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices [2022], 4). The guidebook is divided into different topics, and each topic has three parts:

1. Eternal truths, or doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Invitations to act on those truths

3. Promised blessings that the Lord offers to those who live by His teachings

Modeling the process

This section uses the example of Joseph in Egypt fleeing Potiphar’s wife and the “Your body is sacred” portion of For the Strength of Youth as a model for how to use the guidebook to make inspired choices.

You might display a picture of Joseph fleeing Potiphar’s wife and ask students what they remember about the story. If needed, explain that while serving in Potiphar’s house, Joseph faithfully resisted the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife (see Genesis 39:1–8). Or students could watch “Joseph in Egypt” (2:51) from time code 0:00 to 0:41.

Read Genesis 39:9–12, looking for how Joseph connected his choices with Jesus Christ and His doctrine.

• What did you find?

Consider creating groups of three students. Invite each group member to pick a different number from one to three that will correspond to one of the following questions.

Study the section “Your body is sacred” in For the Strength of Youth with one of the following focuses:

1. What “Eternal truths” do you think may have helped Joseph make the choice he did?

2. What “Invitations” did Joseph follow?

3. Which of the “Promised blessings” do you think Joseph experienced?

Invite students to share with their group what they found. You might point out that even though Joseph was thrown into prison for his decision to flee Potiphar’s wife, the Lord continued to be with him (see Genesis 39:20–21; 41:38–43).

Practice

Provide students an opportunity to practice using the pattern set up in For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices with their own situations. Consider using the handout “Connecting Our Choices with Jesus Christ and His Doctrine” to do so.

After students have completed the handout, you could invite them to share how they have been strengthened by Jesus Christ as they have connected their choices with Him and His doctrine.

You might refer again to Psalm 62:5–7. Then, consider asking students the following question.

• What did you learn today about staying connected to Jesus Christ and His doctrine in your decisions?

Consider sharing your testimony of Jesus Christ. You might end class with a statement from the section “Jesus Christ will help you,” in For the Strength of Youth. Encourage students to connect their choices with Him and His doctrine.

Additional Resources

What is the purpose of For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices?

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

This new version of For the Strength of Youth is subtitled A Guide for Making Choices.

To be very clear, the best guide you can possibly have for making choices is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the strength of youth.

So the purpose of For the Strength of Youth is to point you to Him. It teaches you eternal truths of His restored gospel—truths about who you are, who He is, and what you can accomplish with His strength. It teaches you how to make righteous choices based on those eternal truths.

It’s also important to know what For the Strength of Youth does not do. It doesn’t make decisions for you. It doesn’t give you a “yes” or “no” about every choice you might ever face. For the Strength of Youth focuses on the foundation for your choices. It focuses on values, principles, and doctrine instead of every specific behavior. (“Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 10–11)

How can focusing on God and His truth help me make decisions?

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

When you are faced with temptation—even if the temptation comes when you are exhausted or feeling alone or misunderstood—imagine the courage you can muster as you choose to let God prevail in your life and as you plead with Him to strengthen you.

When your greatest desire is to let God prevail, to be part of Israel, so many decisions become easier. So many issues become nonissues! You know how best to groom yourself. You know what to watch and read, where to spend your time, and with whom to associate. You know what you want to accomplish. You know the kind of person you really want to become. (“Let God Prevail,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2020, 94)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Elder Uchtdorf’s example of connecting choices to Jesus Christ

In Elder Uchtdorf’s article in the For the Strength of Youth magazine, he listed several examples of what it can look like to connect our choices to Jesus Christ and His doctrine. If your students might benefit from a different example, see his other examples in “For the Strength of Youth: The Savior’s Message to You.”

Understanding repentance

Instead of turning to the “Your body is sacred” section and Joseph in Egypt for the model, you could model how to use the For the Strength of Youth guidebook with the section “Jesus Christ will help you.” You might ask students to list what a teenager might find challenging about repentance. Students might share things such as feelings of shame or worthlessness, being discouraged after several attempts to change, or doubting whether they are forgiven.

Invite students to study the section “Jesus Christ will help you” from the guidebook, looking for what they learn about the Lord and His gospel that could help a teenager experiencing the things they listed.

Jesus Christ is the strength of youth

To introduce For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices, you could invite students to pick one of the following verses, looking for what they learn about Jesus Christ. Students could write on the board what they find.

• Psalm 18:1–3

• Psalm 28:7–8

• Psalm 62:5–8

After studying the verses, students could discuss how Jesus Christ can be our strength or share experiences of how Jesus Christ has been their strength.

Then, invite students to look through the guidebook, searching for what they learn about Jesus Christ and His doctrine that could strengthen youth today.