- Come unto Him

- Conform to His standards- Have pure intents

"What a gift it must be to understand how the Savior sees us," Elder Cecil O. Samuelson declared Saturday afternoon.

Giving his first general conference address since being called to the Seventy last October, Elder Samuelson continued: "And how are we to know how we are perceived by Jesus Christ?" He then answered his question by saying, "By how closely we conform to the standards that He has established for us and by the purity of the intents of our hearts. He is the one who has provided the perfect pattern and the perfect standard for all mankind by not only all that He is and did but with His compellingly clear question and invitation: `What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.' (3 Ne. 27:27.) To do as He asks and to be what we should, assures us of His approval. To do otherwise invites His disappointment.

"He, who not only knows us best but loves us most, has provided through the grandeur of His Atonement all that we need to compensate for our failings, mistakes, sins and disappointments if only we accept the Master's invitation to come to Him by way of the narrow gate and the straight path identified by His prophets and obtain the blessings made available to all who seek them through His authorized agents."

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Elder Samuelson explained, "the Son of God clarified His expectations for all people who would want to be like Him. Not only did He model and teach the attitudes and actions that He expects and requires from each of us, but He also provides the ordinances and covenants whereby we through His duly appointed servants might obtain all the blessings He has promised both proximate and timeless.

"He, who under the direction of the Father, had created the world and literally could do it all Himself, involves others in His ministry. At the time of His crucifixion, He asked His beloved John to care for His mother Mary as if she were John's own mother. During our time, Jesus Christ Himself, together with His Father, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and yet Moroni was given the privilege and honor to be His agent in bringing forth the Book of Mormon. This is the Savior's Church, and yet He has called President Gordon B. Hinckley to preside over us during our day. I certify with gratitude, but also with some hopefully appropriate trepidation, that the Lord has called you and me to represent Him in various important ways and duties whether they seem large or small to us.

"As we strive to better understand how Jesus sees us . . . , let us remember His instructing observations and their universal applications in literally all that we do: `If ye love me, keep my commandments.' " (John 14:15.)