President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: The love of God

"Let us be known as a people who love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and who love our neighbor as ourselves," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf declared in his Saturday morning conference address.

Love is the compass that provides direction for the Church and its members — on both sides of the veil, said President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency.

"Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings and in our livelihood," President Uchtdorf said.

"Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships," he added. "It is the bond that unites families, communities and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk."

President Uchtdorf said that when one understands what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves mortals, "the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden."

God did not give the commandment to love Him because He needs that love, President Uchtdorf said, explaining that His power and glory are not diminished without it.

"But oh, how we need to love God!" he exclaimed.

"For what we love determines what we seek.

"What we seek determines what we think and do.

"What we think and do determines who we are — and who we will become."

Latter-day Saints have a vast capacity for love because it is part of their spiritual heritage, President Uchtdorf said. "What and how we love not only defines us as individuals, it also defines us as a Church."

He declared, "Love is truly the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ."

From the beginning, "love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens," he noted, adding that at the height of misery is the love of wrong things and at the height of joy is the love of good things.

"And the greatest of all the good things is God," he said.

President Uchtdorf said God has given His children the world in which they live and gives them joy, peace, truths and guidance through periods of distress and answers righteous petitions. "He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fullness of joy. He has promised us all that He has.