Editor’s note: To support elders quorum and Relief Society classes, the Church News is publishing lesson resources on messages from October 2024 general conference. These are meant to be a starting point and not a strict lesson plan.
About this talk
- “Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life”
- by Elder Gerrit W. Gong | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Saturday evening session of October 2024 general conference.
- Theme: Holiness to the Lord makes daily living sacred and draws one closer to God.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Gong’s message here.
Outline
- At a Gong family reunion, a cousin asked artificial intelligence for a dad joke in the style of Elder Gong. There are opportunities all around to laugh, delight and see with grateful eyes.
- Holiness sets things apart for sacred purpose, inviting an infusion of daily living with the sacred. Those who walk with the Lord must become holy. “Your stories of holiness to the Lord in everyday life inspire us.”
- Those with spiritual commitment are generally happier, healthier and more fulfilled than those without. Holiness to the Lord involves becoming one’s most authentic, best self by following Him in faith.
- A young woman exhibited holiness to the Lord in everyday life as she found peace in the scriptures, acted on the commandment of tithing and stood strong in her beliefs. Her husband also showed his consecration to holiness when he set aside college baseball to serve a mission.
- One Latter-day Saint’s dad wanted him to get a college education and not go on a mission. After the dad died at age 47, this son saw his father in a dream and saw he was happy at his son’s decision to serve.
- A young returned missionary blessed someone who was very sick, and he learned to pray not for what he wanted but rather for what the Lord knew the person needed. He blessed the brother with peace and comfort, and he later passed away peacefully.
- An administrator at a major university feels support from individuals who pray for him. A sister whose husband was unfaithful asked herself, “What’s the point?” and felt a tender voice assure her, “Your covenants are with me.”
- One sister who yearned for a relationship with her father had a prompting to attend the temple with him. Spending time together in the house of the Lord has strengthened their familial bond.
- In early 2024, Jean Gong — Elder Gong’s mother — passed into the next life. She had been baptized as a 15-year-old, the only member of her large family, and is a valiant example of everyday holiness to the Lord for Elder Gong.
- Holiness to the Lord in everyday life includes more frequent temple attendance. Three friends went to the open house of the Bangkok Thailand Temple and found it was a place of healing and spiritual power.
- Holiness to the Lord makes daily living sacred and draws people closer to Him. Heavenly Father loves His children, and they can feel His love through their holiness to the Lord.
Discussion questions
What makes the Savior’s gospel “a gospel of joy and holiness in everyday life”?
Why might spiritual commitment help us become happier, healthier and more fulfilled?
How has someone’s example of everyday holiness to the Lord strengthened you in your efforts?
What role do covenants play on holiness in our day-to-day lives?
How can we make holiness to the Lord a daily endeavor?
Notable quotes
- “All around us are opportunities to laugh, delight, see with grateful eyes. Ours is a gospel of joy and holiness in everyday life.”
- “Your stories of holiness to the Lord in everyday life inspire us. You live seven C’s: communion with God, community and compassion with each other, commitment and covenant with God, family and friends — centered in Jesus Christ.”
- “Growing evidence highlights this striking fact: Religious believers are on average happier, healthier and more fulfilled than those without spiritual commitment or connection. Happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, even financial and material stability — on each measure, religious practitioners flourish.”
Key scriptures
- “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
- “Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.”
- “Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.”
Invitations and promises
- “Holiness sets things apart for sacred purpose. But holiness also invites us to infuse daily living with the sacred — to rejoice in daily bread amidst this world’s thistles and thorns. To walk with the Lord, we must become holy, for He is holy, and to help us become holy, the Lord invites us to walk with Him.”
- “Holiness to the Lord says no to the profane, no to snarky cleverness at others’ expense, no to algorithms that monetize anger and polarization. Holiness to the Lord says yes to the sacred and reverent, yes to our becoming our freest, happiest, most authentic, best selves as we follow Him in faith.”
- “Holiness to the Lord makes daily living sacred. It draws us closer and happier to the Lord and each other and prepares us to live with God our Father, Jesus Christ, and our loved ones.”
Stories
- A young woman was in a dark place in high school but was overcome with peace and love by reading Alma 36. Later, before getting married, she struggled to get a testimony of tithing but found blessings by following this commandment. The young woman many times left class frustrated or crying because of negativity toward her beliefs, but her testimony has grown by standing strong in her faith. Her husband also demonstrated daily holiness by setting aside offers of playing college baseball to serve a mission. When he returned home, he expected a difficult transition but was instead met with increased abilities and more offers to play baseball, including from his dream college.
- For 50 years, the only daughter of a family yearned for a relationship with her father, especially after her mother passed away. One day, she heard a voice say, “Invite your dad and take him to the temple with you.” This began twice-a-month daddy-daughter trips to the temple, and spending time together in the house of the Lord has strengthened their familial bond.
- Jean Gong, Elder Gong’s mother, passed into the next life in early 2024. She had been baptized as a 15-year-old, the only member of her large family. When Elder Gong once asked her which decisions had most shaped her life, she said being baptized and moving from Hawaii to the mainland, where she met her husband. Elder Gong misses his mother, but he knows she is not gone; she just isn’t here now. He honors her as a valiant example of everyday holiness to the Lord.
Notable footnotes
- 7. Some of our most faithful and courageous Church members, sisters and brothers, find themselves facing situations they never expected and never would have chosen. These true Saints carry on, day in and day out, often waiting on the Lord. The Lord is aware of each and, as this example tenderly shares, desires to encourage and strengthen each of us in His time and way.
- 8. There is much longing for relationships with parents and children. I am deeply grateful for each situation in which, even after many years, reconciliation, forgiveness and covenant belonging are created or restored. This good sister does not want anyone to think poorly of her father. She says, “He is a fine and faithful leader and a good father.”
- 9. A paradox of parenting is that children are deeply shaped by how they are nurtured, yet they usually remember little of the early years when their mothers tirelessly, selflessly mother. Words are insufficient to express the truism that my understanding, love and appreciation for my father and mother expanded and deepened as I became a husband, parent and grandparent. Reflecting the generational nature of the plan of happiness, we can, in temple mirrors of eternity, see ourselves as a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother in one direction and as a daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter in the other direction.
Additional resources
- Related image: Bangkok Thailand Temple photo
- Related video: “Now Is the Time To Draw Closer to the Savior”
- Related hymn: No. 131, “More Holiness Give Me”
Recent conference talks on holiness
- Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt: “That They Might Know Thee” (October 2022)
- Bishop L. Todd Budge: “Giving Holiness to the Lord” (October 2021)
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Holiness and the Plan of Happiness” (October 2019)
Who is Elder Gong?
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on March 31, 2018, and had served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2010. He received a master’s degree (1979) and doctorate (1981) in international relations from Oxford University.
