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Welcome to the Recent Speeches Podcast presented by BYU Speeches, featuring inspiring new devotionals and forums given each week on BYU Campus. Be sure to check out our other podcasts by searching BYU Speeches wherever you get your podcasts or by visiting Speeches BYU Edu Podcasts.
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This devotional address entitled Everyday Disciples of Jesus Christ was given on March 17th of 2026 by by Sean R. Dixon, second counselor in the Young Men General Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And good morning to all of you here in the Marriott Center. Imagine an early morning on the Sea of Galilee. Ordinary fishermen are on the beach cleaning their nets after a long night of toiling without success. They are tired, frustrated and ready to be done. The Savior approaches and asks to use their boat to preach a sermon to a gathering crowd. Their belief in him is so strong that after the sermon they follow his instructions to go back out fishing, despite their professional experience suggesting that this would be fruitless. After casting their nets again, they enclose a great multitude of fish and their nets begin to break. The haul is so big it requires two ships, filled and nearly sinking to bring their harvest to shore. As they sail back to the beach, the Savior gives a simple invitation to the fisherman, follow me. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Stepping onto this campus back in the fall of 1991, fresh off my mission to Toronto, Canada, was both exciting and overwhelming. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to attend the university where my parents had met 35 years earlier. But it was also a time of anxiety about the future. I had not yet determined my career path and everything felt new and uncertain. On my first day of school, I went to the traffic office, a small house which back then was right next to the bell tower, to buy a parking pass. There was a typical long line at the beginning of a semester. Fortunately for me, there was a vivacious young lady wearing a light blue shirt with white polka dots standing two people in front of me, and then, due to some strategy on my part, we were standing next to each other. She had been a student at BYU for a couple of years, so I started to ask her questions about how things worked and she was ready to answer. We got lost in conversation for about a half hour as we worked our way to the front of that line when I saw that the line was soon ending and knowing how much I was already liking her, I tried to work up the courage to get her number with the hope that we could connect later. Unfortunately, I never got the words out. The line ended. She paid for her parking passport, said goodbye. I paid for my pass and hurried out the door, hoping to see her. There she was, lingering over by her car. Brothers, that's a good sign, right? And sisters, you have no idea how much a gesture like that helps us. Well, do you know that feeling of coming up with the perfect thing to do or say? This was not one of those moments. I literally leaned down to tie my shoes, mustering my final burst of courage. When I looked up, she was getting in her car and drove away. I missed my chance. I guess a girl can only linger for so long, right, ladies? All I had was her name. No glass slipper, just her name. Michelle Lundqvist. Later that day, when I told my mom about my missed opportunity to get Michelle's number, she was unfazed. She said, what do you think BYU Information is for? What do you mean? I said, now remember, this was the 90s. She told me I could call their office, give them her name, and they would supply her number. Really? They can do that? A couple of days later, I needed a date for a fun excursion up the canyon with my friends. I thought of Michelle. I called BYU Information and got her number, just as advertised by my mom. Now, for that last bit of courage, I literally had to turn off my brain and I just called her. To make a long story short, we were married at the end of that school year. And there's more to that story. Three years later, we left this place with a degree, a brand new baby girl, and a job as a seminary and institute teacher. We have a lot to be thankful for, our time here at byu. And I must say that that last little bit of courage to call Michelle transformed my life. I love her with all my heart, and I can't imagine my life without her. I'm better in every possible way because of her love and support. And I'm so grateful to have her on the stand with me today wearing polka dots. And that was a surprise this morning to me that she wore polka dots at our graduation. The commencement address was given by James Q. Wilson, a professor of management at ucla. He had some things that day. He said some things that day that totally changed my perspective. He said, commencement speakers are supposed to urge you to rise to the highest challenge, pursue the impossible dream, excel at the loftiest ambitions. I will not do that. It's too easy. It's too empty. The easiest thing to do is to support great causes, to sign stirring petitions, endorse grand philosophies. The hardest thing to do and it's getting harder. All of the time is to be a good husband or wife, a strong father, a strong mother, an honorable friend and neighbor, he continued. The truly good deeds are the small, everyday actions of ordinary life. The employee who gives an honest day's work, the stranger who stops to help someone in need, the craftsman who builds each house as if he were going to live in it himself, the father who wants the respect of his children more than admission to the executive suite, the mother who knows that to care for an infant is not an admission of professional failure, the hiker who carries his own trash out of the park. These are the heroes of everyday life. May you join their ranks. As he concluded his remarks, all of us students here in the Marriott center erupted into a standing ovation. Although Professor Wilson didn't explicitly say it, I felt impressed that day that my greatest ambition should be to become an everyday disciple of Jesus Christ. In the simple daily decisions of life, a disciple is someone who not only believes in Jesus Christ, but, like Peter and the other fishermen, forsake all and follow him. Disciples of Jesus Christ seek to learn from him and strive to live as he lived. Discipleship is not an activity to be crammed into a busy schedule. It is who we are at the core. Disciples don't compartmentalize their lives. They strive to be the same, whether they are at school, work, church, playing BYU intramurals, or driving down the interstate. Disciples do not just have paintings of the Savior on their walls. They bring him into the center of their daily lives. As the Utah area plan suggests, disciples joyfully gather Israel one by one in Christ. Jesus Himself taught us the essence of discipleship. In his response to a Pharisee's which is the greatest commandment in the law, he replied, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So each day as his disciples, driven by our love for the Lord, we begin our day in prayer and study, focusing on how we can follow him by keeping his commandments and loving and serving others. Regardless of what we have planned for the day, we look to him in all we do. Those are the small, everyday actions of life that I think Professor Wilson was talking about. Our beloved prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks, in his opening press conference after being announced as president of the church, was asked what he would want church members to remember. His answer was simple and Jesus Christ is the way when we find ourselves in those moments when we are torn between our natural man desires and acting as a disciple of Jesus Christ, it will help us to slow down the moment and remember those five simple Jesus Christ is the way. His way will rarely be the easy way, but it will always lead to peace and joy. As you follow his way, you may decide to say, I'm sorry, offer that ride, stay in an awkward conversation, do the dishes again, let something roll off your back, call your mom, give yourself a break, Let someone merge, show up to the activity, soften your opinion, hold your tongue, pause to pray, or make room for someone on your bench. When we make spirit directed choices like these, we will begin to understand the concept of why Jesus Christ is the way. However, when we are filled with a love for God and a desire to come unto Christ and follow his path, it is normal for some of us to get caught up in perfectionism and to over rely on our own efforts. This happened to me as a teenager and I know this can be discouraging. As we make mistakes, we may hear a negative voice in our head condemning us and making us feel hopeless. The danger comes when we mistakenly associate that voice with the voice of God. In those moments, it has helped me to pause and think about the true nature of our Heavenly Father and our Savior and to recognize that belittling voice is a tactic of the adversary. As Sister Tamara W. Runia said, you are not the voice in your head or the mistakes you have made. Consider the true nature of our Heavenly Father and our Savior as you watch this clip of my granddaughter Ellen learning to pull herself up to the couch for the first time with her faithful dad Taylor, cheering her on. Look at you. Look at you. Come here. Come up here. You got it. Come here, girl. You got it. You got it. Come on girl. You strong. You can do anything. You can do it. Oh, hey. Get a little closer. Come on. Hey, you can do it. You can do it, girl. Keep going. You can do it. Good job. You can do it. You're gonna kill it. You're gonna kill it. Come on, pull yourself up, girlfriend. Pull yourself up. Look at you. You stood yourself up. Look at me. I can anything. Taylor sitting right here in the front. Can you guys relate to her pouty face when things didn't go well? I certainly can. The journey along the path of discipleship is not overseen by a God who wants to condemn us or catch us doing something wrong. Rather, we are led by a heavenly Father and a Savior who, like a parent rooting on their toddler to pull themselves up to the couch, love us and want us to learn, grow, overcome setbacks, and ultimately become like them. Listen to how President Oaks reminded us of this principle at the BYU devotional last we love you young and old, men and women. So does the Lord. God is relentless in his loving pursuit of each of you. I love that. My wife, Michelle, used to teach our preschool students something profound about how we can progress even though we make mistakes. She would say to them, mistakes are how we learn. I can still hear their little voices repeating those words over and over again. While we won't always make the right decisions, when we choose to act as one of his disciples in the day to day moments of our life, we will be filled with light, peace, deeper relationships and opportunities to be part of the Lord's miracles. But discipleship is more than just obeying the commandments and loving others. It is the condition of the heart that leads us to want to do those things. Elder Del G. Renlund taught, our Heavenly Father's goal in parenting is not to have his children do what is right. It is to have his children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him. One day while talking to a recently returned missionary, I asked her how she was different than when I had last seen her before her mission. Her answer was memorable. I have a soft heart now. She talked about how she was ready, willing and excited to do anything the Lord wanted her to do. There was a conviction in her eyes that was powerful. Her year and a half of study, prayer, service, obedience and yielding herself to God had changed her. The Lord had given her that soft heart. She had become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. She, like so many of us, had felt to sing the song Redeeming Love. Now Alma would ask her and each one of us, can you feel so now there are two choices that can make all the difference in developing and maintaining the soft heart of a disciple of Christ. And although they seem simple, the pulls of time, distraction and the natural man inside of us will battle against us consistently making these choices. It helps to remember disciples of Jesus Christ are intentional. One simple choice is to take a daily morning walk with God. This includes carving out time to build a relationship with the Lord through heartfelt scripture, study, prayer and pondering so that he can teach and prepare us for for whatever comes to us that day. This choice has less to do with the amount of time we spend and more about our intent to connect with heaven. Have you ever wondered why Nephi was so responsive to the Lord's command to return to Jerusalem to get the plates a few verses prior to his famous I will go and do statement. 1 Nephi 3:1 says, and it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord to the tent of my Father. It doesn't say speaking to the Lord. It says he was speaking with the Lord. His relationship with God developed in those quiet moments, prepared him for his discipleship moment. There have been far too many times lacking intentionality when I have woken up late and rushed out the door without taking time for that daily walk with the Lord. I have felt my spiritual flame weaken on many of those days. If you have fallen into this pattern, there is good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, with its redeeming power, gives us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and sins and reset. The second choice is to worship the Lord often in his house. There is no better way to get to know someone than being with them in their house. These visits to his house, both on Sunday as you thoughtfully partake of the sacrament, and during the week as you worship him in the temple, will deepen your appreciation and love for the Lord and inspire a desire within you to join him in his great work. True worship experiences cause our inner discipleship to be driven by a relationship rather than a task. Our fresh, soft disciples hearts cultivated in those moments of intentional worship will lead us each day to those who need to feel God's love, will give us courage when we're asked to do hard things, will give us strength when confronted with tragic news, and will lead us to want to repent when we sin. The youth theme for 2026 is found in Moses, chapter 6, verse 34. Here the Lord is speaking to Enoch when he was feeling weak and vulnerable after being asked to do a challenging act of discipleship. The Lord said, behold, my spirit is upon you, and the mountains shall flee before you, and thou shalt abide in me and I in you. Therefore walk with me. Walk with me. What a holy invitation. That is a clear definition of discipleship, to walk with him through the everyday moments of life. We walk with him when we choose to make and keep sacred covenants with the Lord. We walk with him when we look to Him. Every thought, so why do we not need to doubt or fear when we walk with Him? Because he is almighty. When we walk in covenant with him, he becomes part of us. Maybe that understanding is why David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine, and why Mary said to the angel, behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me, according to thy Word in Ether 6 the story of the Jaredites crossing the ocean to the Promised Land is a notable example of disciples of Christ choosing to walk with Him. They learned an important lesson about discipleship when they were invited to get on a boat without a steering wheel. If you remember, the brother of Jared built the boat according to the instructions of the Lord. So why did the Lord design a boat without a helm or a steering wheel? I believe it was because he was not asking the brother of Jared to steer the boat. The Lord would do that Himself through the wind. All of us like feeling in control of our lives. The Lord set up the ultimate opportunity to choose Him. When he invited Jared's family onto that boat without telling them precisely where they were going or even how long it would take to get there, he invited them to trust him. I'm inspired by the collective soft hearted response to the Lord's command by Jared's family in verse 4 of Ether 6. When they had prepared all manner of food, they got aboard of their vessels or barges and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God. Commend. What an interesting word. It means to trust someone or something. It invites us to yield ourselves and our will to God. It is a word that describes the soft heart of a disciple of Christ. For disciples, those moments where we will need to commend ourselves to God will come. Often they may come in the form of things like a new calling. You don't have time for making that difficult decision to get married or dealing with a trial of faith. One of those moments came as Michelle and I began our service as mission leaders in Redlands, California. After about a one hour orientation, the former mission leaders gave us the keys and the cell phone, wished us well and went on their way. As they left out the door, I wanted to run after them and tell them to come back and tell us how we were supposed to do this job. On the next day my family all left to explore our new city and I was left alone. I felt anxious and overwhelmed and I laid down on my bed paralyzed, wondering how I could do what the Lord had called me to do. As I laid there wallowing in my own self doubt, I received a prompting to go to my computer and read the emails that were pouring in from our missionaries. As I read their words of welcome and love and got a sense of their commitment to Jesus Christ and their missionary purpose, the Holy Ghost filled my soul with deep love for them. A clear thought came to my mind. This is not your work, this is mine. This reminder that the battle is the Lord's and we were his instruments changed everything. I couldn't wait to start. I was ready to commend myself and our family to God. When we each face our commending moments, it helps us to remember whose work this is. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, as you submit your wills to God, you are giving him the only thing you can actually give him that is really yours to give. Trusting in the Lord didn't mean the journey would be easy for the Jaredites. But it did mean that as his disciples, they would face every challenge with the strength of the Lord. A wise therapist told me that many people he works with have anxiety partly because they are trying to avoid pain in their lives. He then said, the reality is pain and suffering are unavoidable. So rather than worry or fear, we would be better off spending our time and energy anchoring ourselves to the Lord. We can build our lives according to his instructions and then lean into those trials and find the Lord and His divine tutoring along the way. It seems that in exchange for every trial we face anchored to the Savior, we receive Christlike attributes in return. And after all, isn't that why we came to Earth, to become like him in our quest to be his disciples, despite our love for the Lord, our soft hearts and our good intent, we will all fall short at times. We will make choices that distance ourselves from God. When our love for the Lord and our actions are not in harmony with each other, as disciples, we will feel something is wrong. The Spirit might whisper some needed corrections. As disciples, we will want to get rid of that heavy feeling that comes with being out of sync with who we really are. One day, Michelle and I visited a ward while on vacation and we chose to attend a youth Sunday school class that was being taught by two young men who both had mission calls. One of the young men described to the younger youth in the class the process he had just gone through to apply for his mission. By visiting with his bishop and stake president, he described the results of his Christ centered repentance in this I felt lighter. I felt like myself again. Don't you love that? I felt like myself again. Repentance truly is a joyful choice that is made possible by our Master Redeemer, exemplar, teacher and Savior. We all have access to that redeeming grace no matter what we have done. In his talk, A Joyful Choice Elder Delgy Renlund quoted President Boyd K. Packer as saying, the atonement of Jesus Christ leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. It just heals. And what it heals stays healed. The Savior has promised that he would atone and when he atoned that settled that. What an honor it is to serve and follow a leader, a master and a Redeemer like that. So if you're wondering what the Lord needs from you and me in these latter days, remember the words of President Jeffrey R. Holland describing what Jesus might have said to Peter by the shore of the Sea of Galilee after his resurrection. Wasn't it obvious then and isn't it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me and loves what our Father in heaven has commissioned me to do. The time is now. As CS Lewis said, Meanwhile, the cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is a Monday morning. May we embrace each day as our beloved Savior taught and exemplified with a love for God and a love for our neighbor. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he is in our midst and that he is on our right hand and on our left. He truly is the way. I am grateful to know that the Savior has restored His Gospel to the earth and that he leads his church through his prophet. President Dallin H. Oaks Many everyday disciples have gone before us. May we join their ranks in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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