A focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ — as well as its principles of leadership and eternal perspective — can help BYU-Pathway Worldwide students with current and future leadership responsibilities, said President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency.
President Oaks offered “primary emphasis to principles of gospel leadership that will help you in the various leadership responsibilities that will come your way” as he spoke in a BYU-Pathway Worldwide devotional broadcast Tuesday, Feb. 8.
“All of you are enrolled in BYU-Pathway to acquire knowledge, skills and patterns of personal effort that will help you become self-reliant servants of Jesus Christ and of your fellowmen. Many of you are in leadership positions already, and in years to come, most of you will be leaders in your families, your church congregations, your communities and your nations.”
He began his 12-minute message by acknowledging diversity of BYU Pathway students — nearly 60,000, living in different circumstances across more than 180 countries. The majority reside outside the United States, most are adult learners — an average age of 36 in North America and 30 elsewhere worldwide — and 10% are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He also underscored Church sponsorship and financial support of BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
Surviving challenging times
Today’s challenging times include natural disasters, international conflicts, financial catastrophes and time-honored values and standards being denied or cast aside, President Oaks said. “Selfishness is replacing service. Evil is being called good, and good is being called evil.”
Preceding generations have survived serious challenges, “and so will you,” he added. “The answer to all of these challenges is the same as it has always been. We have a Savior, and He has taught us what we should do.”
Reminding that Christ offers peace and has overcome the world (John 16:33), President Oaks said: “As His witness, I testify that His teachings are true and that the way He has marked out is the way to peace in this world and everlasting life in the world to come.”
Students should remember that their BYU-Pathway education and experiences are of eternal nature, as are the principles of right and wrong being learned, he said.
Eternal joy and eternal life
God’s children exist that they may have joy (2 Nephi 2:25), a great truth fundamental to the philosophy of life, President Oaks said. “The kind of joy referred to in the scriptures is not the happiness we experience in temporary rushes of pleasure. The joy we were created for is enduring. We may properly say it is eternal.”
The gospel of Jesus Christ includes many principles that together produce the eternal joy, he said, focusing on one — exercising the power of creation. One primary example is mothers realizing such joy in bringing life and growth to a child, along with fathers, too, though for them the joy of children tends to come later, he said.
Other examples of the joy of creation come in other less-eternal activities — shepherding, farming, teaching, writing creating a work of art or performing for an audience. “Exceeding all of these is the joy we experience in many forms of service to our fellowman,” he continued, explaining the aforementioned as only mortal or temporary examples of the joy from exercising the power of creation.
“I believe that our greatest joy is found through the gospel of Jesus Christ, which explains our origin as spirits, the creation of the world, our purpose in mortality, and our destiny in eternity.”
Explanations of the plan of salvation often use the word joy, said President Oaks, mentioning several scriptural references:
- When the foundations of the world were laid, the spirits “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).
- The announcement of the Savior’s birth was a message “of great joy” (Luke 2:10).
- The Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection fills one “with great joy” (Alma 4:14).
- His love, “the most desirable above all things” is described as “the most joyous to the soul” (1 Nephi 11:22-23).
- The Lord Jesus Christ described the experience of returning to dwell with God as a “fulness of joy” (3 Nephi 28:10; also see Doctrine and Covenants 93:33).
“Surely our greatest eternal joy will be in the process and effects of the powers of creation that extend beyond this mortal life, giving joy throughout all eternity,” the First Presidency counselor said. “That is why, as God has revealed, ‘eternal life … is the greatest of all the gifts of God’ (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7).”
Concluding advice, testimony and blessing
President Oaks offered concluding advice to his BYU-Pathway listeners: “Treasure and enlarge your family connections. Cherish and use your opportunities for creation in eternal marriage. And value your friendships and opportunities for learning and service, for those efforts can also lead to the joy that is eternal.”
One’s greatest eternal joy is found through the gospel of Jesus Christ, by seeking the eternal life His teachings and Atonement make possible, reiterated President Oaks, testifying of the Savior and providing a special blessing.
“By the power of His holy priesthood I bless you to understand these truths. And I bless you to hear the promptings of His Spirit to guide you as righteous leaders to make and teach the decisions that establish us on the covenant path that leads to our destiny as children of God: eternal life, ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God.’”
