“Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life”

Posted on by Mitch Peterson

General Conference Applied

S4 E15 – Sunday, January 12, 2025 | “Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life” by Elder Gerrit W. Gong; October 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life:

  • “All around us are opportunities to laugh, delight, see with grateful eyes. Ours is a gospel of joy and holiness in everyday life. Holiness sets things apart for sacred purpose. But holiness also invites us to infuse daily living with the sacred—to rejoice in daily bread amidst this world’s thistles and thorns. To walk with the Lord, we must become holy, for He is holy, and to help us become holy, the Lord invites us to walk with Him.

    “We each have a story. As Sister Gong and I meet you—Church members and friends in many places and circumstances—your stories of holiness to the Lord in everyday life inspire us. You live seven Cs: communion with God, community and compassion with each other, commitment and covenant with God, family, and friends—centered in Jesus Christ.

    “Growing evidence highlights this striking fact: religious believers are on average happier, healthier, and more fulfilled than those without spiritual commitment or connection. Happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, even financial and material stability—on each measure, religious practitioners flourish.

    “They enjoy better physical and mental health and greater life satisfaction across all ages and demographic groups.

    “What researchers call ‘religious structural stability’ offers clarity, purpose, and inspiration amidst life’s twists and turns. The household of faith and community of Saints combat isolation and the lonely crowd. Holiness to the Lord says no to the profane, no to snarky cleverness at others’ expense, no to algorithms that monetize anger and polarization. Holiness to the Lord says yes to the sacred and reverent, yes to our becoming our freest, happiest, most authentic, best selves as we follow Him in faith.”

Bio

  • “Gerrit W. Gong was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 31, 2018.

    “Gerrit W. Gong was born in Redwood City, California, in 1953. He married Susan Lindsay in January 1980. They are the parents of four children and three grandchildren.

    “He has served in numerous Church callings, including full-time missionary, seminary teacher, bishop, stake mission president, stake president and Area Seventy.

    “He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian and University Studies from Brigham Young University in 1977. In 1979, he received a Master of Philosophy degree and in 1981 a Doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

    “Elder Gong had served as a General Authority Seventy from April 3, 2010 until the time of his call to the Twelve. He was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on October 6, 2015. From 2011 to 2015, Elder Gong was a member of the Asia Area Presidency, headquartered in Hong Kong, and concluded that service as the Area President.

    “In 1985 he served as special assistant to the undersecretary of state at the U.S. State Department and in 1987 as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, China. From 1989 he served in several positions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He was assistant to the president for planning and assessment at Brigham Young University until April 2010.”
  • followHim Podcast – Mormon 1-6 – Dr. Larry Nelson: “Early in my career I had been asked to serve on a committee. I worked four years on that committee. It was a lot of time, a lot of effort. We hit a point over four years in which the fruits of our work were finally going to be seen. We were going to get some data that was going to be helpful in understanding for students and when we hit that point, without any explanation, without any warning, I was dismissed from the committee. I was the only one. The others on the committee were specifically told that I wasn’t to see the data. I was the only full-time faculty member on the committee. Everybody else had administrative posts and you can only imagine that was distressing. I felt devalued, unappreciated, mistrusted. It really hurt. As I understand it, the person who made the decision never spoke with me, didn’t know me, which made it hurt even more.

    “Well, there was an administrator, I believe at the time this person held the title of special assistant to the president. I don’t know how he found out about how I was feeling about all this, but he had his administrative assistant invite me to have lunch with him. Went up to his office and sat knee to knee with this individual as he listened to me, didn’t change the situation, nothing about it, but just listened to me and changed how I felt about the situation because of his love, his compassion, his listening, his empathy.

    “Well, about two weeks later, I was back in my office and there was a knock on my door and I opened it and this individual was there and he said, ‘I’ve just been thinking about you and I wanted to check in and see how you’ve been doing since our visit together.” He had taken the time to come over, leave his office and come and seek out the one who he perceived maybe needed a visit, wanted to follow up with me. Who was that individual? It is the now Elder Gerrit Gong, that quiet service filled approach to ministering to leadership. So, there’s no one way to be a leader to fulfill a calling. The Lord can and will use all of us with all of our strengths, those inborn, those nurtured. He will use all of those in his service.”
  • This was Elder Gong’s 16th general conference address. Here are his five most recent addresses:

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “Make holiness to the Lord ours each day.”

  • Make our “daily living sacred.”
  • Christlike Attribute: “I am clean and pure in heart. (Psalm 24:3–4)” (Virtue)
  • “With nine sacred words, our temples invite and proclaim:

    “‘Holiness to the Lord.
    “‘The House of the Lord.’

    “Holiness to the Lord makes daily living sacred. It draws us closer and happier to the Lord and each other and prepares us to live with God our Father, Jesus Christ, and our loved ones.”
  • “In the Language of Adam: Reading Scripture Like the Book of Mormon’s Visionary Men” | D. John Butler – “Jacob strikes a startling note about holiness:

    “‘O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.’ [2 Nephi 9:20]

    “To be holy is to know things. And it seems that the more you know, the holier you are. This is consistent with Jacob’s theme in this discourse about the difference between being learned and being wise. It’s moreover consistent with how Nephi, maybe riffing on Isaiah 28:13, describes the progression of knowledge:

    “‘For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.’ [2 Nephi 28:30] …

    “Holiness is knowledge. Salvation comes by knowledge, and knowledge comes one step at a time to those who learn to listen to God’s counsel. …

    “‘Behold, if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin. Behold, my soul abhorreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness; and I will praise the holy name of my God.’ [2 Nephi 9:48-49]”
  • It seems to me that holiness is the combination of consistently learning more (especially about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but really any type of learning) as well as consistently seeking and then obeying Heavenly Father’s will.
  • Action:
    1. Make my daily contribution to my employer “sacred” by seeking to build up the kingdom of God, “even while [I’m] at work.” As I take action, note in my journal what works in this regard, and what doesn’t.
      • “The Power of Everyday Missionaries: The What and How of Sharing the Gospel” | Clayton M. Christensen: “I say with conviction at the outset that when Christ said, ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’ (Matthew 6:33), He meant what He said. I have felt – literally – that my personal abilities have grown beyond what my normal abilities could otherwise have been because I have sought to contribute to building the kingdom of God – even while I have been at work.”

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

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Tags

Discipleship | Holiness | Missionary Service | Temples

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