Elder Gerrit W. Gong on worthiness and peace through Christ

Elder Gerrit W. Gong (born December 23, 1953) was called as a Seventy in April 2010, then to the Presidency of the Seventy in October 2015. He was sustained to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in April 2018.

"To be worthy does not mean to be perfect. Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness invites us to be humbly at peace on our life’s journey to someday become perfected in Christ (see Moroni 10:32), not constantly worried, frustrated, or unhappy in our imperfections today. Remember, He knows all the things we don’t want anyone else to know about us—and loves us still.

"Sometimes life tests our trust in Christ’s mercy, justice, and judgment and in His liberating invitation to allow His Atonement to heal us as we forgive others and ourselves....

"When trust is betrayed, dreams shattered, hearts broken and broken again, when we want justice and need mercy, when our fists clench and our tears flow, when we need to know what to hold onto and what to let go of, we can always remember Him. Life is not as cruel as it can sometimes seem. His infinite compassion can help us find our way, truth, and life (see John 14:6)."

- Elder Gerrit W. Gong, "Always Remember Him," General Conference April 2016
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So much is conveyed in that first simple line: "To be worthy does not mean to be perfect." Sometimes we confuse the two qualities. To be worthy means we are striving for perfection, and we can be "humbly at peace" with that knowledge:

We must be careful to remember that the Atonement of Jesus Christ provides for us the power to "heal us as we forgive others and ourselves." If we truly believe Him and trust in Him, then we should be filled with the hope and understanding of that healing and know that our worthiness in His eyes means we are accepting his offering on our behalf.

In addition, we must remember that life will have challenges that attempt to drag us down to despair. Elder Gong notes that we must occasionally deal with those times "when trust is betrayed, dreams shattered, hearts broken and broken again, when we want justice and need mercy, when our fists clench and our tears flow" and we fact the various disappointments and frustrations of life. Those are the critical times for us to "always remember Him" in order to bring back hope and faith.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2018)