The Savior's command to the stormed-tossed sea, "Peace be still," can also apply to His calming influence on people as they experience the buffetings of life's storms, Elder Robert E. Wells of the Seventy said Sunday afternoon.

"Our closeness to the Lord will in great measure determine the peace and comfort and renewed strength that we feel as we invite the Spirit into our lives," Elder Wells explained.He said that when Christ was born, angels proclaimed, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." But in the 2,000 years since Christ's birth, there has been little peace in the world.

"Even with a successful cessation of major hostilities in the gulf, there still remains an uneasy peace between some nations and great unrest within other nations," Elder Wells explained. "Just as Christ's atonement has saved us from both physical and spiritual death, the peace of which the Savior of mankind spoke is also both physical and spiritual."

Elder Wells spoke of the Sermon on the Mount, when the Savior gave the beatitude about peacemakers. (Matt. 5:9.) "The entire sermon is a blueprint for us to use in our personal path toward perfection, as well as a pattern of the many attributes and qualities we must develop in our eternal quest to approach the perfection and peace Jesus personifies."

"To follow Christ and bring forth the blessings of heaven, we must actively make peace in the world, in the community, in the neighborhood, and above all, in the home we live in," Elder Wells noted.

He described some of the sources of personal strife and lack of peace as sin, selfishness, failure to live the commandments, pride, lack of love, lack of willingness to make sacrifices for others, lack of commitment, or even being an innocent victim.

"No matter what the reason, the solution to achieve peace is always the same: Turn to Christ - follow His example," Elder Wells declared.

He explained that personal peace and spirituality will increase by studying and thinking about Christ every day, by loving and thanking Christ more each day for His atoning sacrifice, by daily striving to serve Christ better through becoming more involved in missionary service, by making a greater effort to find His lost sheep, His lost coins, His lost prodigals and helping them return to the fold, by making a more concerted effort to be in the temple more frequently and by researching family history more diligently.

Elder Wells concluded by admonishing Church members to "look forward with steadfastness unto Christ. Talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, live like Christ would have us live and worship Him and our Heavenly Father with all your heart, might, mind and strength."