Your True Identity

President Nelson said this to a group of young adults many years ago: “If the Lord were speaking to you tonight, He would urge you to understand your identity—to know who you really are. He did so when He spoke to the people of ancient America. After identifying Himself, He informed His listeners of their identity: ‘And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. [3 Nephi 20:25; emphasis added]’ You young adults share that same identity.” This was very similar to what he said to another group of young adults over decades later: “I believe that if the Lord were speaking to you directly tonight, the first thing He would make sure you understand is your true identity. My dear friends, you are literally spirit children of God. You have sung this truth since you learned the words to ‘I Am a Child of God.’ But is that eternal truth imprinted upon your heart? Has this truth rescued you when confronted with temptation?” He continued, “Who are you? First and foremost, you are a child of God. Second, as a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. Tonight, I plead with you not to replace these three paramount and unchanging identifiers with any others.” President likewise emphasized in yet another message to young adults in 2013: “You, as youth of the noble birthright, are literally sons and daughters of God, born at this particular time in the world’s history for a most sacred purpose. Although the moral and religious values of society seem to be weakening across the globe, youth of this Church are to be standard bearers of the Lord and beacons of light to attract others to Him. Your identity and purpose are unique. What is your identity? You are children of the covenant. What covenant? That which God made with Father Abraham when Abraham was promised that ‘in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.’ You are also children of the promised day, this period of world history when the gospel will be broadly proclaimed across the entire planet.” Clearly President Nelson wants us, and especially young adults, to understand our identity as children of God and His covenant people.  

                It is not hard to see why President Nelson would put such an emphasis on understanding who we really are as children of God in our day when so many are so confused as to their identity. If we are to survive the mists of darkness that cover the world today we must hold fast to our true identity as children of God and cling to our covenants with Him. When the tempter came to the Savior in mortality, his words sought to undermine the Savior’s identity and mission. The Come, Follow Me lesson puts it this way: “From His youth, Jesus seemed to be aware that He had a unique, sacred mission. But as Jesus prepared to begin His earthly ministry, the adversary sought to plant doubt in the Savior’s mind. ‘If thou be the Son of God,’ Satan said (Luke 4:3 italics added).” This was the same kind of doubt that the adversary tried to put in the mind of Moses after that great prophet had communed with the Lord. God spoke to him these words: “Behold, thou art my son…. And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten.” Moses learned that he was a son of God and that God had a work for him to do. But Satan came with these words, “Moses, son of man, worship me.” In other words, Satan wanted him just to think that he was a mortal man with no connection to His divine Father. But Moses knew his identity and could not be swayed: “Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten” (Moses 1:4, 6, 12-13). That is a truth that President Nelson wants engraved on our hearts: we are children of God and created in the image of the Savior. He has a work for each of us to do, and we cannot let the world with its strident voices tell us that we are something different. The Proclamation on the Family declares, “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father.” May that truth guide young adults and all of us as we seek to fulfill the mission that God has for each of us in this life.