We cannot love what we do not know. And so we must come to know the goodness of the God we are commanded to love.

To know and love the Lord, we must do our best to live up to the correct principles we’ve been given.

The Lord reveals himself line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, over time. This revelation is enabled and accelerated by obedience to the laws, principles, and commandments he has already given.

It has been said, what you do depends on how you feel about what you know. Those who love truth and righteousness, will live lives of truth and righteousness.

We can choose to love truth and righteousness.

We can choose to love light and goodness.

We can choose to love truth and righteousness by deliberately facing into the light and by being defined and directed by that light, because WE LOVE THE LIGHT!

As we turn and face into the light, we turn away from and face away from the darkness.

Many are deceived by thinking that they can be followers of Christ while continuing to drink in the waters of sin, death, and hell. These are diametrically opposed actions. The one cannot coexist with the other.

In the Book of Mormon, we are taught that we must go out from Babylon, that we must not touch the evil gift or the unclean thing. We are told that we must be clean if we are to be vessels of the Lord. We become vessels of the Lord as we become like him.

In mortality, our tendency is to turn to sin for solace, comfort, happiness, and for alleviation from guilt. For a million reasons, we often feel misery, guilt, shame, loneliness, boredom, disappointment, stress, anxiety, confusion, and all manner of suffering. Many of these conditions are caused by sin, by not living up to the correct principles and ideals we’ve been given. And so, by realizing this, we find that it is within our power to replace these negatives with positives by living up to the correct principles and ideals we’ve been given, and by becoming faithful followers of Jesus Christ.

Herein lies hope!

Herein lies repentance!

Herein lies joy and peace!

It doesn’t get any better than that! And these blessings lie within the reach of every living thing!

And so, my message today is that we can all become possessors of that peace which passeth understanding. And though we do not understand the complexities of how peace and joy are obtained, in mercy, the Lord Jesus makes these blessings available to us by giving us commandments and by revealing the principles, laws, and doctrines we must follow to obtain such great blessings.

The evidence is all there.

By becoming followers of Jesus Christ, all the peace, joy, and blessings he promises immediately begin to flow into our lives according to his promises.

So often, I have been amazed by the swiftness of his blessings! He is so eager to give us everything he has, or everything we are willing to receive.

We can receive everything he has by giving to him everything we have. We can, in essence, give away all our sins to know and love him, and to fully receive the love he has for us. That is the price.

That we will all be willing to eagerly pay that price is my prayer, in his holy name, Amen.