Digital Only: Answers from an Apostle
How Can I Become My Best Self and Live My Best Life?
That which matters most spiritually does not change: our spiritual identity, covenant belonging, and how we use our agency.
From a devotional address delivered at Brigham Young University on April 11, 2023
Over the years, I have been intrigued by connections that transform our physical world. For each of us, connection and transformation are also at the heart of our own best story. Covenant belonging connects us with our most transformative relationships—including with God, with each other, and with our best selves.
Physical or digital connections can transform our external environment.
Yet, however much our external physical environment may change, that which matters most spiritually does not change. Of all the many things that beckon for our attention, that which ultimately matters most does not change: who we are spiritually (our spiritual identity), whose we are (covenant belonging), and how we use our God-given agency to discover and become our own best story.
Who We Are
Our most profound personal transformation occurs when our spirit and body are united, including in resurrection, to become our immortal soul. As the Doctrine and Covenants teaches, “The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy.”
The spiritual transformation we most desire comes as we are spiritually born again in Jesus Christ—in our actions, in our attitudes, and in our being.
We are meant to connect and be transformed because of our family relationships.
No generation is better prepared than yours to contribute and make a difference in bringing together God’s family—the family of all humanity.
Always, each individual matters.
Of course, each of you is unique. We have multiple sources—our names, traditions, and even food—that contribute to our personality. But as President Russell M. Nelson beautifully taught, our enduring spiritual identity comes when we see ourselves as “a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ.”
Whose We Are
We understand who we are when we understand whose we are.
So much of this world’s contention and violence, inequality, inequity, and injustice come from our not understanding and not treating each other as brothers and sisters of our Heavenly Father.
Our own best story comes when we choose covenant belonging—belonging by covenant with God and with each other.
Every man-made “I choose me” philosophy pales in comparison to the infinitely grand and glorious promise that we can learn to bless those around us as our Savior would and that we can receive all that God our Eternal Father has.
Our own best story transcends narrow self-interest and mortality-blindered understanding. It encompasses our legacy of faith, our trust that God knows who we are and that He cares about us in matters large and small. Of course, none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes and move away from Him at times. But His light is always on. Please recast any feeling of superiority or guilt that may be separating you from God or His restored Church as an invitation to come and experience again Jesus Christ’s love.
God always cares about our trajectory. Humbly we do our best, knowing perfection is in Jesus Christ. As we trust God, we step off this world’s perfectionist treadmill and its siren song that we are inadequate and never good enough. As we trust God, we find peace, hope, and a way forward. What we do has consequences. God does care about what we do.
God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ always know and have our best interests at heart. As we travel life’s path, we often find things we need along the way—evidence that Someone who loves us knew we would be coming.
Sometimes we want God to tell us more; sometimes we want Him to tell us less. Usually though, through the Holy Ghost, He manifests His eternal, omniscient love by what and when He gives us what He knows will bless us most.
How We Use Our God-Given Agency
Powerful life-changing connections and transformations occur when we apply fundamental prerequisites for learning found in the house of the Lord.
Please discover purity of heart, clarity of purpose, humility, and wise persistence in prioritized, productive effort. These teach us better than compartmentalizing what we think and do on Sunday from what we think and do Monday through Saturday.
In all we do, we put Jesus Christ first. As a matter of priority, we put Jesus Christ first among all the things we do. As a matter of focus, we put Jesus Christ first in each thing we do.
In the days to come, the Lord is counting on you to speak His truth with kindness and, in faith and humility, to speak with the power of His truth.
Charity Endures Forever
Outward things change, but charity, the pure love of Christ, endures forever.
May we “pray unto the Father,” dear brothers and sisters, “with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love [‘the pure love of Christ’], which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” This charity comes as we know who we are and whose we are and as we discover and become our own best story.
I bear testimony and witness that the eternal truths in the Book of Mormon, the exalting covenants of the house of the Lord, the testimonies of the prophets and apostles, and especially the supernal gift of the Holy Ghost connect and transform us in Jesus Christ as you write your own best story.