By President Dallin H. Oaks
First Counselor in the First Presidency

Photo by Olga Doganoc on Unsplash

The first step in following Christ is to obey what He defined as “the great commandment in the law”:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

“This is the first and great commandment.

“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The commandments of God provide the guiding and steadying force in our lives. Our experiences in mortality are like the little boy and his father flying a kite on a windy day. As the kite rose higher, the winds caused it to tug on the connecting string in the little boy’s hand. Inexperienced with the force of mortal winds, he proposed to cut the string so the kite could rise higher. His wise father counseled no, explaining that the string is what holds the kite in place against mortal winds. If we lose our hold on the string, the kite will not rise higher. It will be carried about by these winds and inevitably crash to the earth.

That essential string represents the covenants that connect us to God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. As we honor those covenants by keeping Their commandments and following Their plan of redemption, Their promised blessings enable us to soar to celestial heights.

The Book of Mormon frequently declares that Christ is “the light of the world.” During His appearance to the Nephites, the risen Lord explained that teaching by telling them: “I have set an example for you.” “I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do.” He is our role model. We learn what He has said and done by studying the scriptures and following prophetic teachings, as President Russell M. Nelson has urged us to do. In the ordinance of the sacrament, we covenant each Sabbath day that we will “always remember him and keep his commandments.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/18oaks?lang=eng