Talk of Christ

Elder Anderson encouraged us in the most recent general conference to speak more openly and more often about Jesus Christ. He said, “You and I speak of Jesus Christ, but maybe we can do a little better. If the world is going to speak less of Him, who is going to speak more of Him? We are!” He invited us in particular to speak of Him more consistently in our homes to our children: “Are there images of the Savior in our homes? Do we talk often to our children about the parables of Jesus?... When your children ask you questions, consciously think about teaching what the Savior taught.” He also quoted Nephi’s famous declaration of his own efforts towards his children: “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26). I know that I can do better to talk of Christ and rejoice in Christ more consistently with my children so they can remember Him more frequently and think of His example as they face their own challenges.

                The Book of Mormon has several examples of fathers who indeed spoke of Christ to their children like Nephi. Lehi testified to Jacob: “Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise” (2 Nephi 2:8). Alma spoke to Helaman about how he came unto the Savior in his moment of anguish: “I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:17-18). Alma’s father Alma had taught him about Jesus Christ—which saved him in that great moment of suffering—and then he passed this witness on to his own son Helaman. Alma’s grandson Helaman also testified to his children of the Savior in these words: “O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world…. And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation” (Helaman 5:9, 12). And Mormon encouraged his son Moroni in these words, “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever” (Moroni 9:25).

These examples and others witness to the importance we have as parents to testify of Jesus Christ to our own children—they who are surely our most important audience. Elder Anderson finished his own witness of the Savior with this invitation: “My dear friends across the world, let us talk of Christ, anticipating His glorious promise: ‘Whosoever … shall confess me before men, him will I confess … before my Father.’ I testify He is the Son of God.” I too know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only through Him can we conquer all our struggles in mortality and return forever to the presence of God. I pray that I can more fully provide that witness to my own children so they too can “look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life” (2 Nephi 2:28).