Relief Society · Elders Quorum · 25 minutes
President D. Todd Christofferson · Second Counselor in the First Presidency · Sunday Afternoon Session
Recommended path
Mix and match to create one 25-minute interactive lesson. Swap any activity for an option below.
This class in one line
This class is about how Christlike character grows not from trying harder but from having our hearts changed to carry Christ's own motivations, charity, care for others, and desire to do God's will.
Skip the section on the Second Coming (opening Peter references and closing millennial kingdom paragraphs), those are framing, not the heart of the lesson; focus entirely on the three motivations of Christ's heart.
Before Sunday
Sunday's class: What kind of people should we be becoming?
This Sunday we're discussing President Christofferson's conference talk 'The Character of Christ.' He teaches that Christlike attributes, compassion, humility, integrity, grow out of something deeper: the desires and motivations of Christ's heart. Before class, read or listen to the talk at churchofjesuschrist.org. Come ready to talk about a time when you saw someone respond to hard circumstances with Christlike love. Ponder: What is one motivation of Christ's heart that you feel most lacking in your own?
Pick one opening
Think of someone you know, living or from history, whose character reminded you of Christ. Don't tell us their name yet. What was it about them that stood out? Was it something they did, or something about how they did it? Let a few people share, then say: Today's talk asks us to look beneath the actions to what drives them.
Think of someone you know, living or from history, whose character reminded you of Christ. Don't tell us their name yet. What was it about them that stood out? Was it something they did, or something about how they did it? Let a few people share, then say: Today's talk asks us to look beneath the actions to what drives them.
President Christofferson shares a story from Elder Bednar about a woman who called to ask him to visit two young women injured in a car accident. While she was on the phone, she got a second call, her own daughter had died in that same accident. Her immediate response was: 'We must contact the other mothers.' No self-pity. No turning inward. She turned outward. Pause. What do you think made that response possible for her?
Teach this first
President Christofferson teaches that the attributes we admire in Christ, compassion, humility, integrity, are the natural fruit of His deeper motivations: pure love, a desire to bless others, and a longing to do the Father's will. For us to develop those same attributes, we need the same motivations written into our hearts. That inward change, what the scriptures call a mighty change of heart, comes through faith in Christ, repentance, and the grace of Jesus Christ working through the Holy Ghost. We don't simply try our way into Christlike character; we are transformed into it.
President Christofferson teaches that 'Christlike character grows out of a Christlike heart' and that 'if we are to succeed in developing a Christlike character, we must possess His motivations, His thoughts, desires, and intents of the heart.'
Ask the class
If time remains
The first and foremost motivation in Christ's heart is charity, pure love, and President Christofferson says it shows up most clearly in our capacity to notice the suffering of others even while we ourselves are suffering. The woman in Elder Bednar's story is the example: her instinct in the worst moment of her life was to think of other mothers. That is what a changed heart produces.
Ask the class
Counsel together
Last 3–5 minutes
This week, identify one of the three motivations President Christofferson names, charity, desire to bless others, or desire to do God's will, and pray specifically for that motivation to grow in your heart. Not just the behavior, but the want.
President Christofferson promises that as we exercise faith in Christ and call on His grace, the Holy Ghost will effect a mighty change in us, instilling these divine motivations and helping us practice the attributes of a Christlike character.
Your witness: Share what the idea of a 'changed heart', rather than just changed behavior, means personally to you, and what you believe Christ's grace can actually do in a person's life.