Come unto Christ

Welcome Everyone Through the Savior’s Love

Elder Dube uses President Oaks’s request to remove an exclusionary sign to illustrate the Savior’s welcoming character. Jesus Christ’s suffering and atoning sacrifice express His love for all of God’s children and His invitation for everyone to come unto Him.

President Oaks asked that it be removed to avoid any impression of exclusion.

Rather, we invite all to come unto Christ through faith in Him and His Atonement.

President Oaks taught, “Jesus Christ did all of this because He loves all of the children of God.”

His suffering and atoning sacrifice show us how completely devoted He is to all of us.

• The invitation to come unto Christ extends to all of God’s children.
• The Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross reveals His love and devotion.
• Our words and actions can communicate welcome rather than exclusion.
• Learning about Christ’s character strengthens our desire to love others as He does.

• Recall a moment when someone helps you feel welcome at church. What does that experience teach you about Christlike love?
• Consider an experience that helps you understand the Savior’s love through His Atonement. What can you appropriately share?
• Think of a time when you notice someone standing on the margins of a group. How do you respond, and what do you learn?
• Identify a word, attitude, or habit you can change to make your home or congregation feel more welcoming.

Come to Christ Before You Feel Perfect

Elder Dube explains Moroni’s invitation through three actions: come, deny yourselves of ungodliness, and be perfected in Christ. We approach the Savior as we are, with a willing heart, and rely on Him to transform us. Complete perfection comes only through the Lord and after the Resurrection.

Come: It’s an action. We choose to move from our current place to a better place.

Be perfected in Him: Come as we are with a willing heart. He will give us a new heart.

We do not need to perfect ourselves to come to Christ. We come to Christ to be perfected.

President Russell M. Nelson taught: “Perfection is pending. It can come in full only after the Resurrection and only through the Lord. It awaits all who love Him and keep His commandments.”

• Coming unto Christ requires a choice to move toward Him.
• A willing heart, rather than completed perfection, is the starting point.
• The Savior provides the transforming power we cannot supply on our own.
• Pending perfection does not remove the invitation to love the Lord and keep His commandments.
• We seek progress through Christ instead of postponing our approach until we feel flawless.

• Recall a time when feelings of inadequacy make prayer, worship, or repentance difficult. What helps you turn toward Christ?
• Think of a small action that brings you closer to the Savior. How does that choice affect your heart?
• Consider how the teaching that perfection is pending changes your expectations of yourself or others.
• Identify an experience in which a willing heart matters more than confidence in your own ability.

Surrender Obstacles and Trust Christ’s Grace

Randall and Laurin Child’s experience illustrates how prayer, trust, and a willing heart help a person come unto Christ. The Savior’s grace helps Randall let go of what holds him back. Elder Dube warns that the adversary uses our struggles to persuade us that we are unworthy to approach the Savior.

Deny yourselves: Surrender. Let go of the things that are holding us back.

Randall doesn’t need to be perfect. He needs to do the very best he can.

Randall didn’t perfect himself to come to Christ. He came to Christ—with prayer, with trust, and with a willing heart.

The Savior, through His grace, helped him to let go of what was holding him back.

If you will “deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ.”

• Surrender means letting go of things that impede our movement toward Christ.
• Doing our best includes prayer, trust in the Lord, and willingness to change.
• Christ’s grace is the source of sanctification and spiritual transformation.
• Addiction, doubt, pride, pain, grief, guilt, and materialism can become barriers, but they do not cancel the Savior’s invitation.
• Loving support and prayer can help another person trust the Lord.
• The Childs’ experience connects their efforts to change with their goal of being sealed in the temple.

• Think of a habit or attitude you work to surrender to the Lord. How do prayer and trust support your efforts?
• Recall a time when someone’s prayers or encouragement help you keep trying.
• Consider an experience in which focusing on a meaningful spiritual goal strengthens your willingness to change.
• Reflect on a moment when you recognize the Lord’s help in your progress. What makes His grace evident?
• Choose an experience you can share without exposing another person’s private struggles. How does it illustrate hope through Christ?

Turn Toward Christ When Faith Feels Uncertain

Elder Dube responds to a former missionary’s uncertainty with an invitation to come unto Christ. He directs those who feel the ache of diminished faith toward the Savior’s promise of abiding and full joy.

One of our former missionaries wrote me recently and said, “As for my faith, my testimony is not as certain as it once was.”

To him, and to all who feel that same ache, I invite you, please come unto Christ and embrace His promise, “that [His] joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

• Uncertainty in testimony is met with an invitation to approach Christ.
• Elder Dube acknowledges the ache that can accompany diminished spiritual confidence.
• The Savior’s promise of joy gives hope to those who struggle with faith.
• We can encourage people toward Christ without treating their questions as grounds for exclusion.

• Recall a period when your spiritual confidence feels weaker. What helps you continue turning toward Christ?
• Think of someone who responds to your questions with patience and love. What can you learn from that response?
• Consider a moment when following the Savior brings joy amid unresolved difficulties.
• Reflect on how you can share a testimony that offers hope without suggesting that every question receives an immediate answer.

Invite One Person to Come unto Christ

Elder Dube asks each listener to invite one person to exercise faith in Christ, follow His teachings, or meet with the missionaries. His ministering visit to the Childs illustrates prayerful, personal service. He teaches that losing ourselves in helping others come unto Christ brings help with our own problems.

Last June on the way to the airport, President Brian Pace from the Wilmington North Carolina Stake asked, “Can we make one more ministering visit?”

“Heavenly Father,” I pleaded, “please put words in my mouth.”

My humble invitation to us all: Will you find one person and invite him or her to come unto Christ by exercising faith to follow His teachings, or invite a friend to meet with the missionaries?

As you lose yourself in helping him or her come unto Christ, you will find solutions to your current problems.

• The invitation is specific and personal: find one person to help come unto Christ.
• Ministering can require making room for someone’s needs despite a busy schedule.
• Prayer helps us seek words and invitations suited to another person’s circumstances.
• Helping someone follow Christ can include inviting that person to meet with the missionaries.
• Serving others connects us with the Savior’s promise that losing our lives for His sake helps us find them.

• Recall a time when you make room for an unexpected opportunity to serve. What do you learn?
• Think of an occasion when you pray for guidance before a meaningful conversation. How does that prayer shape your approach?
• Consider an invitation that helps you take a step toward Christ. What makes it loving and personal?
• Reflect on a time when helping someone else brings perspective or help with your own difficulties.
• Identify one person you can invite to take a next step toward Christ. What respectful, specific invitation fits that person’s circumstances?