Elder D. Todd Christofferson on the matchless blessings of the Savior

Elder D. Todd Christofferson (born January 24, 1945) was called to the Seventy in 1993, and as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 2008.

"We must in the end acknowledge that we cannot achieve ultimate justice apart from Jesus Christ. To establish and preserve the law is a great good, but the greatest good we can do in helping others become what they can become will be to lead them to the Savior.

"Only His Atonement has the power to overcome all weakness and imperfection and to make right all injustice. Only He can convert offense and injury into blessings; only He can bring life again to a life unjustly cut short; only He can return a perfect body for one diseased or malformed; only He can reinstate beloved associations lost and make them permanent; only He can make right the suffering entailed upon the innocent by ignorance and oppression; only He can erase the impact of sin on one who is wronged; only He can remove the stain and effect of sin in the sinner; only He can eliminate sorrow and wipe away all tears (see Isaiah 25:8); only He can provide immortality; only His grace can compensate for our inadequacy and justify us before that law that enables us to become joint heirs of eternal life with Him. Of the glorious reality of the living Christ, I bear my witness."

- D. Todd Christofferson, "Law and Becoming," fireside presented to the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, February 4, 2011
Click here to read the full talk

Elder Christofferson was trained in the law and had a significant career in that field before his call as an apostle. In this address to BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law Society, he discussed the role of law in our society and the responsibility to establish and preserve law. But then he addressed a higher responsibility: that of the Christian disciple:

The list in the second paragraph of the excerpt from the talk is a fascinating compilation of the contributions of the Savior, the areas where only He can bless us and make all things possible for us. It is beneficial to ponder that list carefully and recognize how much we have to be grateful for as we strive to follow Him.

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