A few weeks ago I was asked to give a sacrament meeting talk a few days in advance. Actually, my wife was asked to give a talk a few days in advance and she recommended me instead.
July 13, 2025
I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but sometime in high school, a new slogan started popping up everywhere: What Would Jesus Do? Now, it is certainly possible that it had been popular for a few decades, and that because I lived in Vernal, I had never heard of it. Nevertheless, WWJD bracelets were all the rage—except, of course, to the Mormons. This slogan was a bit too Evangelical for us, and we preferred our very own slogan—Choose the Right—and our cool shiny rings.
Looking at it now, I think these two slogans have a lot in common and were most likely invented by well-meaning parents looking for some way to stop their children from doing drugs and making mischief.
I can relate to those parents. I want my kids to make good choices, to become productive, happy, well-adjusted humans who make the world around them a better place. So it is not surprising that we want them to choose the right and do what Jesus would do.
Unfortunately, through the decades, both slogans – like most symbols – have become less impactful. Today, when most of us hear “What would Jesus do?” we often move on to something else, confident that we know exactly what Jesus would do. He would choose the right.
My goal for today is that after we spend a few minutes together, you will feel inspired to bring these slogans back into your everyday thought processes, because they are more important than we might realize.
I am going to share a story, a parable, and two scientific concepts that I hope will get you to ask yourselves more often the question – What would Jesus do?
The Story
About a year into my mission, we had a zone conference in San Luis Obispo. My mission president taught us a lesson I will never forget. He made us list all of the characteristics of the Holy Ghost – things like comforter, teacher, light giver, etc. It was a fairly long list we compiled on the chalkboard. Toward the end of us listing off these characteristics, he asked us to look at the list and said, “Now go out and do those things and be the Holy Ghost for the people around you.”
Feeling inspired, we did just that over the next few weeks. We started looking for ways to help in every circumstance: at the grocery store, we helped people load their groceries who were struggling; once at the bank, we saw someone crying and we became a listening ear and gave her some encouragement. On one P-day, the elders in our apartment met a woman who desperately needed help moving. She was being evicted and had no one to help her, and she had a disability that prevented her from lifting or packing anything. Her name was Debbie Van Damm (probably not related to Claude). Anyway, so we spent quite a bit of time helping her load up a van, and when we were finished, she drove off and we never heard from her again. I still hope to this day that her life got better.
As she drove away, my companion and I felt prompted to go see someone who lived in that apartment complex we had spoken to months before. Her name was Liz.
We knocked on the door and she looked at us and said, “I am so glad you guys came. I wanted to kill myself the other night, but God sent me an angel just like you said happened to Joseph Smith, and he promised that someone would come to help me soon.”
Liz hadn’t experienced love or friendship for most of her life. She was alone in the worst kind of way. She was in her darkest moment, and somehow we ended up there when the Lord needed us to be. The following months were likely the happiest Liz had ever had as she was welcomed into the local ward and to a community of disciples that loved and cared for Liz.
The Parable
On the eve of what would be Jesus’ last days, the very last parable that Jesus taught was the parable of the sheep and the goats. It goes like this:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
We have all heard this parable before, but I wonder if we consider its significance. We know almost nothing about Judgement Day from the scriptures except this parable, and Jesus explains to us the methodology of our true judgement.
According to this parable, we will be exclusively judged based on how we treated our fellow human beings in our lifetimes.
The Science
There are two fascinating scientific concepts that I want to talk about briefly, and then hopefully I can bring this message together for us all.
The first concept is Neuroplasticity – This scientific discovery explains that our brains have the unique ability to create new connections or strengthen and weaken old connections in response to what we focus on and the information we consume. We can completely reprogram our brains throughout our lives. An example is positive self-talk – it is proven through studies that when people speak positively about themselves, their confidence increases, and the way they see themselves is completely altered to match the positive focus.
The second is the Reticular Activating System – this part of our brain stem can filter what we consume to support the neural connections that we are currently focused on. This leads to the strengthening of the priority neural pathways and weakening of the neglected pathways. Our brains are essentially designed to change based on what we decide to focus on through our experiences and consumption of information.
This is both scary and wonderful.
First, the scary. In our world today, we consume so much information that is full of negative bias. We constantly hear and see people tearing down everything and everyone around us. We are being trained and our brains are changing to see the worst in everything, and it is making us unhappy, and it is making us distant from our fellow humans, and it is causing a whole generation of people to despise each other.
In my opinion, the world is not worse today than it was in the past (close to 100 million people died in WW2 – that represented 3% of the world population). However, what is becoming worse today is how we view the world. This is all built around the information we consume and the biases we focus on. Our brains are quite literally being rewired to hate each other.
On the other hand, as you can see from the story about Debbie and Liz, when we focus on doing good for others, loving others, and trying to change our behavior to match the questions “What would Jesus do?” then our brains can be rewired to love and help others. This rewiring toward Jesus Christ has the additional benefit connecting our brains to the Holy Spirit and we can be guided to be instruments in God’s hands.
We don’t know that much about God, but we do know that He wants us to love, help, and minister to each other, as explained by Jesus in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. We are on Earth together, going through all the hard things together. We need each other’s help.
I am going to ask you to start introducing the slogans, “What would Jesus do and Choose the Right,” back into your life. We all know already that it is good to help your neighbor with her groceries, even when you are busy – that it is better to love each other than to despise each other. What we have to do is decide what we plan to focus on. How we plan to wire our brains.
Let’s go retro and ask ourselves every day, “What would Jesus do?” and spend time consuming more things that increase our love for humanity and our desire to make this world a better place.
I love Jesus Christ. I am grateful that I feel his love every time I come back to him when I fall. I know that my life is more fulfilling and happy when I spend more time loving and enjoying others. I can see the shifts in my attitude based on what I consume and what I focus on.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Podcasts
- Faith Matters Podcast: Encouraging faithful inquiry amid complexity.
- Comeback Podcast: Sharing Stories of those who left the church and came back.
- Unshaken with Jared Halverson: In-depth historical and doctrinal studies for those wrestling with tough questions.
- Leading Saints: Insights into modern leadership and discipleship, often addressing nuanced challenges.
Books
- Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days (Vols. 1–2): Thorough Church history, incorporating modern research.
- Planted by Patrick Q. Mason: A compassionate approach to faith challenges.
- The Crucible of Doubt by Terryl and Fiona Givens: Thoughtful exploration of faith reconstruction.
- Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman: A deeply researched biography reflecting Joseph’s certainty and complexity.
- Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants by Steven C. Harper: A summary of the history and context for each section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Blogs and Articles
- Gospel Essays: Accessible discussions suited for individual and group study.
- Faith Matters: Engages contemporary faith topics with candor.
Gospel Essays 