Welcome to closer to Christ through general conference
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent general
conference talks. This is Abby and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we get to talk about taking
on the name of Jesus Christ, and this is by Elder
Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Welcome. So happy to be here. Abby, happy to
have you here. So in 2018, the University of
Utah established a Dr. Russell M. Nelson and
Dancil M. Nelson Presidential Chair in Cardiothoracic
Surgery to honor President Nelson's pioneering
work as a heart surgeon. and the support of his
wife, Danzel. Now, this was funded by a permanent
endowment, and the professorship provides its
recipient with professional recognition, salary
support, and also research funding. This was
such a great beginning of this. Dr. Craig H.
Selsman was a highly respected heart surgeon,
not a member of our faith, and he was selected
as the first recipient of this professorship.
And at the award ceremony, that was attended
by President Russell M. Nelson and his wife,
then sister Wendy W. Nelson, President Nelson
spoke humbly about his surgical career. Dr. Selsman
then follows up and shares personal experience
of learning after an exhausting day in surgery
that one of his patients would require another
operation, meaning he would have to spend another
unexpected additional night at the hospital.
So, a difficult event for him. And in that difficult
time, he had one of those life -changing conversations
with himself, considering that in just a few
days, he would be the first recipient of this
professorship. He considered the name Dr. Nelson
had built for himself, and he had always known
that someone, he knew President Nelson, Dr. Nelson
in his line of work, was always someone who kept
his emotions in check, treated everyone with
respect, and never lost his temper. Soon, his
name would be linked with his, and he needed
to try to be more like him. So cool. So as the
first recipient of this award, Dr. Selsman was
already a very considerate surgeon, but this
new designation made him want to become even
better. He prepared for the surgery differently,
even though he was fighting fatigue and frustration
and exhaustion. He didn't want that to reflect
to his team. In fact, he made every effort to
be even more supportive to them during surgery.
In his opinion, he felt it made a difference
and resolved to continue trying to be more like
Dr. Nelson. The fun part about this talk was
we get a fast forward five years when we hear
from Dr. Salzman again. This time is as President
Nelson is being honored for donating his professional
papers to the University of Utah. President Nelson's
initials are RMN and those initials are connected
to an ethos that the cardiothoracic surgery department
at the University of Utah have come to recognize
and live by. Particularly when things are frustrating,
they focus, they get over it, and they do the
best that they can with the circumstances. This
ethos lives with them every day to the point
that the students, residents probably, They are
given lapel pens to every member of the division
and each new trainee. At the bottom of the pen
are the letters R, M, N. It's foundational to
their training. Everyone is taught what those
initials mean, what it embodies. Love that. It's
incredible to think that Dr. Nelson's intentional
behavior lives on. Current and up and coming
surgeons will continue to do so long after his
passing. Dr. Salzman had intentionally improved
his prior attitude and aspirations because his
name is now linked to that of President Nelson.
And I love hearing this perspective because we
know him as our beloved prophet, but I love hearing
it more about his profession and just like the
papers that he donated. How cutting edge he was,
how impactful he was. Yes, on many levels. It's
incredible for me to think about the impact of
one man, but this experience caused Elder Renlund
to consider. this question, how have I changed
since I linked my name with the name of Jesus
Christ? So I think it's a great lead -in. We
know so much about the prophet. He's a great
person. People want to emulate him in that realm
of life. But Elder Renlund says, you know, his
personality is so tied to being a Christ -like
example or a disciple of Jesus Christ that, you
know, in that secular world, that those ideals
translate to professionalism and something they
want to emulate. But Elder Renlund said at the
heart of it, it's because he's a man of Christ.
And if we follow that example, he can find five
parallels in the story that show what happens
when we link our name to the name of Jesus Christ.
He says, I've genuinely tried to become better
and more like Christ. I think everybody should
have the opportunity to think. When I adopted
the name of Jesus Christ on myself, like a baptism,
let's say, or made further covenants with Him
in the temple, stop and think, how has your life
changed by trying to become more like Him? This
is such a great buildup of the talk, and like
we discussed just a couple talks ago, taking
His name upon us, when we truly do that, we're
going to try each day to live like Him. And at
the same time, we know that we're going to fall
short, but in His perfect way, He's able to make
up the difference of what we're not able to achieve.
And each time that we try, we get iteratively
better. That's something that Elder Renlund likes
to emphasize a lot. This process begins with
baptism, like I said, when we take our names
upon ourselves, but it's not something that has
a completion date done, check, I'm like him.
It's something that we try every day our best
at. We try to live by His example that He set
while He was on this earth and recognize we're
going to fall short of it, but, you know, tomorrow.
Yeah. We always have tomorrow, especially if
we're trying today. It's going to help propel
us for the next. Absolutely. Elder Renlon identifies,
like Abby said, five parallels to the story above,
and then our relationship in taking upon ourselves
the name of Jesus Christ. So the first one, the
first parallel is identification. When we take
upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, we link
our name with His. We identify with Him. We gladly
become known as Christian. We acknowledge the
Savior and unapologetically stand up to be counted
as His." Closely related to identification is
another parallel. That's remembrance. So for
us, we partake of the sacrament each week. That
helps us remember Jesus Christ. As we partake
of that sacrament, we do in remembrance of the
price that He paid to redeem us. We create covenant
anew to remember Him, recognize His greatness,
appreciate His goodness. We acknowledge repeatedly
that it's only in and through His grace that
we're saved from physical and spiritual death.
And you know, in a recent talk, just a couple
back, we discussed how the holy garment is a
daily reminder of that covenant link. So, no
matter where we are, what we're doing, it's such
a great opportunity to try our hardest to remember
Him in everything that we're doing. So number
three is emulation. Emulation precedes remembrance.
Dr. Saltzman began to emulate President Nelson
and the RMN ethos. So the more we identify with
and remember Jesus Christ, the more we want to
be like him. As his disciples, we change for
the better when we focus on him, more so than
when we focus on ourselves. We strive to become
like him and seek to be blessed with his attributes.
We pray fervently to be filled with His charity,
the pure love of Christ. And, just like President
Nelson taught in April, as charity becomes part
of our nature, we will lose the impulse to demean
others. We will stop judging others. We will
have charity for those for all walks of life.
Charity towards all is essential to our progress.
Charity is the foundation of a godly character.
Alongside charity, we seek, cultivate, and expand
other spiritual gifts from the Savior, including
integrity, patience, and diligence. Alignment
with His purpose is the next parallel in these
talks. We join with Him in His work willingly,
intentionally, enthusiastically, aligning our
goals with His. We join Him in His work when
we love, share, and invite. We join Him in His
work when we minister to others, especially the
vulnerable and those who have been wounded, shattered,
or crushed by their earthly experiences. The
fifth one and last is empowerment. We access
God's power and blessings in our lives when we
remember Him, live like Him, and join His work.
When we take upon ourselves the name of the Savior,
our Heavenly Father blesses us with His power
to help us fulfill our mission and mortality.
When I think about those five points, I don't
think that they're sequential necessarily. I
mean, the way that he words is kind of like,
and then you're thinking about him more, then
you're doing more. When you know about him more,
then you know what his purposes are, you join
him in his purposes. It's so intertwined that,
I mean, maybe I didn't stop to think about him,
and then I stopped to help somebody. I have the
impression to help somebody do something, and
then in the process of helping them, I'm like,
oh. That great feeling, oh, this reminds me of
my savior, turns me back to remembering him and
being grateful for the opportunity that I had
to sort of like intertwine. As we make additional
covenants with God, we take upon ourselves more
fully the name of Jesus Christ, so consequently,
God will bless us with more of His power. As
President Nelson taught, each person who makes
covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples and
keeps them has increased access to the power
of Jesus Christ. The reward for keeping covenants
with God is heavenly power that strengthens us
to withstand our trials. Temptations and heartaches
better doesn't remove the trials. That's such
a good lesson. I think we both testified of that
time and time again. And if you haven't heard
us say it, I might just say it again. The reward
for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power
that strengthens us to withstand our trials,
temptations, and heartaches better. Not remove
them. Amen, Abby. The more familiar we are with
our Savior and the more we become like Him, the
more spiritually receptive we become. the more
courage to confront seemingly impossible circumstances.
We're strengthened more in our resolve to follow
Jesus Christ. We more speedily repent and return
to Him when we transgress. So all of these things,
like you said, are iterative, like we get better
a little bit and a little bit and a little bit
with each pass. We become better at sharing His
gospel with His power and authority. We help
those in need while being less judgmental, far
less judgmental. We retain our mission of our
sins. We have greater peace. We are more cheerful
because we can always rejoice. This airs right
in the thick of Easter season, and we're all
coming up with different things that we can do
to draw closer to our Savior and make this season
last more than just a day, more than just Holy
Week. And I'm thinking this might be the thing
that propels you. Maybe it's these words, maybe
you put identification, remembrance, emulation,
alignment, empowerment. maybe those five words
can be written on something that you're not just
focusing on one of them, but they're just kind
of in front of your face, you're just kind of
looking at them and you think, just like Christmas
time, we're thinking about Christ more, we're
doing, we're more charitable, and then again,
it makes us nicer people. If that same spirit
could encompass this whole Easter season, and
however that ... Take shape in your life. It's
gonna look different for each of us I'm sure
but that's kind of what I'm feeling this talk
is an opportunity for a lot of us to kind of
start the day with that challenge to Remember
him and do as he would do and make decisions
that we would not Otherwise make if we weren't
thinking about him and trying to be like him
any thoughts from you In closing? No, I'm excited
for Easter, though, and like we talk about the
Christmas spirit, the Easter spirit that is around
and just, yeah, keeping Jesus Christ in our thoughts
and in our hearts is going to make the season
so much better. And the world better. Yeah. I
think I'll just close with his final thoughts.
The Savior invites us, come unto the Father in
my name and in due time receive of his fullness.
Come unto our heavenly Father. Take upon yourself
the name of Jesus Christ. Identify with him.
Always remember him. Strive to be like him. Join
with him in his work. Receive his power and blessings
in your life. etch His name in your heart willingly
and intentionally. This gives you standing before
God and qualifies you for the Savior's advocacy
on your behalf. You will become an exalted inheritor
in the kingdom of our Father in heaven, a joint
heir with His firstborn, our beloved Savior and
Redeemer. He lives, I absolutely know it. He
loves you. He gave His life for you. He pleads
with you to come to His Father through Him."
And this He said in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen. Amen. Thank you, Abby. Thanks for being
with us, guys. Catch you next time.