Conference Talk of the Week

Overview

Elder Hutch U. Fale teaches that knowing you are a child of God who loves you is basic to your happiness now and forever, because it protects you from being deceived and gives this life its purpose. He tells of showing his children their baby pictures and asking what they had done to earn their parents' love. The answer was nothing, so they could do nothing to lose it, and he told them God's love for them is far greater still. He also warns against a twisted version of this truth: God's love does not mean we are saved whatever our pride, sin, or rejection of Christ, because exaltation comes through receiving Christ in priesthood ordinances and covenants and staying faithful to them. He then gives three blessings of understanding the Father's love. It helps us understand Jesus Christ, it keeps the world's labels from defining us or others, and it shows that it is never too late to turn to Christ.

Three Key Takeaways

• 1Elder Fale told his children they did nothing to earn their parents' love, so nothing they do can remove it, and that their Heavenly Father's love for them is far greater. Because of that love, they can always come home to Him.
• 2The adversary twists God's love into the lie that we can be saved regardless of pride, rebellion, sin, or rejecting Christ and His servants. Elder Fale teaches that receiving Christ through priesthood ordinances and covenants, and staying faithful to them, is the only way to fully understand God's love and the only way to exaltation.
• 3When we see ourselves and others as beloved children of God, the world's divisive labels lose their hold. We become quick to repent, slow to judge, and careful that no one sits, stands, or walks alone.

Reflection Questions

• Do I sometimes act as if I have to earn God's love? How would my prayers or my repentance change if I trusted that His love is already mine?
• Which labels, from other people or from myself, have shaped how I see myself or someone else, and how would seeing that person as a child of God change the way I treat them?
• Is there someone I have quietly decided is "too late" to change, maybe even me? What do the parables of the prodigal son and the lost sheep teach me about that person?