What is Your Why?

April Tribe Giauque
May 19
5 min read

Written By April T Giauque

Elder Ricardo P. Giménez

What is your why? Why do you follow Jesus Christ? Why do you read the scriptures? Why do you attend church? Why do you go to the temple? Why do you believe? My brother always says, “If it was true once….what happened? Are you listening to ‘Bob’ in Texas or ‘Anna’ in Wisconsin? Or are you listening to the Holy Ghost and your Savior? The Gospel is true. It doesn’t change; we walk away from it, but it never strays. ”

My brother is saying, if you knew the Gospel was true at one time, why did you stop believing and knowing? Is there a pebble in your way that has become a stumbling block? Is there an unanswered doctrine that you “find hard to swallow?” If you know it is true, then of course Satan is going to do everything to distract, persuade, and destroy what you have. That is a huge clue!

Think About Your Why

Think about your “why.” If you know your “why”—why you stay connected to Jesus Christ and do what you do because you love Him. It is that basic and simple. Stick to your guts and follow Jesus.

Russell M. Nelson continuously extends invitations to us! Not surprisingly, he has invited us to study and ponder the messages shared at the last two conferences. Study! Read, apply, research, pray, ponder over, prepare, write, and teach the lessons learned from Conference.

In April 2024, he said, “I hope you will repeatedly study the messages of this conference throughout the coming months.” Then, in October 2024, he said: “I urge you to study [the speakers’] messages. Use them as a litmus test of what is true and what is not during the next six months.” My favorite way is to look at the first speaker and what they are saying, then see what message follows. I feel that it sets the “theme,” as it were, by God in our hearts.

Saturday morning started with Elder Holland teaching us to be humble, as children. That, to me, meant, "Put down your heart, your ideas, your desires, and kneel and follow the Savior. His will, not our own. Asking His children to do that in the mixed-up craziness is completely in opposition to the world.

Invitations

Elder Giménez was pondering this and all the invitations we had received, and he recalled something that he had learned and decided long ago. He thought, “I am trying to do these things, which are essential to me, because I love Him; I love our Savior.”

Elder Giménez testified, “This is the real and most powerful reason why I do what I do, and then connected with this is my love for you, my fellow brothers and sisters.”

Think about all the invitations we receive, and please consider Elder Giménez's words as a sincere invitation to seek to understand the opportunity to link everything we do with our love for the Savior. Doing this will help us understand the real “why” behind everything we do as disciples of the Savior.

Knowing your “why” will help us strengthen our covenantal connection with God by helping us understand His divine and eternal truths—His eternal and absolute truths that will never change. Elder Giménez said that eternal truths include “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Tradition

Here is a great question: “Do we do things out of tradition?” In a spiritual sphere, we have the opportunity to go beyond just doing things or achieving goals by understanding why we are doing them. Church activities or traditions, and appropriately doing them, are good things when we connect them with the “why. " We will be blessed to understand the reason.

Why do you want to follow the Savior? It is to do what is right, but it is also because you love Him. Think about it, won’t be just doing good things or doing them right; we will also get them right. If you set a goal to read the scriptures, offer sincere prayers, or prepare an activity for your family or ward, is the real goal simply to accomplish these tasks?

Elder Giménez asks us to think about these actions, the means, the tools at our disposal, to achieve the actual goal. Is the purpose merely to hold an activity because we have done it for many years, and then check the box to see if we have completed it? Or, once again, are these the means we use to learn, feel, and connect with the Savior?

More Invitations

He invites us to open our hearts and minds to the opportunity and blessing of understanding why we have activities, goals, traditions, and how we practice our religion. It is to form a connection with the Savior. When you connect with Him, you are IN!

President Oaks said: “As we enter this new year, let us prepare for an Easter celebration of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. … No matter what others believe or do, we should celebrate the Resurrection of our living Savior by studying His teachings and helping to establish Easter traditions in our society as a whole, especially within our own families.”

Elder Giménez said, “As you can see, it is not just an invitation to have traditions. Instead, we use these traditions as a means to learn more about the Savior and remember His Resurrection. Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.”

And then President Nelson extended this invitation: “Learn more about His Atonement, His love, His mercy, His doctrine, and His restored gospel of healing and progression. Turn to Him! Follow Him!” Is President Nelson’s invitation a “check off to-do list,” or is it more than that?

Great Pondering Question

Is he inviting us to consider the aspects of these eternal truths and principles as an opportunity to understand the “why” and connect the Savior’s covenantal love for us with our lifelong discipleship journey?

When we accept the invitation, understanding the “why” behind it, we will have more opportunities to become closer to the Savior. We will begin to understand that because Elder Giménez loves the Savior, he wants to learn more about Him by studying the words of the living prophets. And because he loves my fellow man, he will share the teachings of prophets, seers, and revelators with others, starting with my love. He hopes you can feel and see the importance of connecting our actions with our love for the Savior.

Warning!

Don’t be misled or influenced by all the wrong voices. The Holy Ghost will testify to the truth of all things! The love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for us and our love for them as the reason to follow them.

Elder Giménez shared his testimony: God the Father and His Son spoke with Joseph Smith to restore Jesus Christ’s Church and dispense the fullness of times. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the means established by Heavenly Father to access covenants that enable us to return home. Thus, we need more than just a personal relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son; we require essential priesthood ordinances to make covenants with Them.

With all the energy of my soul, I bear witness to the reality and divinity of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He loves you. He knows what is happening in your life. His arms are wide open, extending the invitation “Come unto me, … and I will give you rest.” I love the Savior, and my love for Him is my “why.”