"Let us be known as a people who love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and who love our neighbor as ourselves," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf declared in his Saturday morning conference address.
Love is the compass that provides direction for the Church and its members — on both sides of the veil, said President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency.
"Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings and in our livelihood," President Uchtdorf said.
"Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships," he added. "It is the bond that unites families, communities and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk."
President Uchtdorf said that when one understands what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves mortals, "the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden."
God did not give the commandment to love Him because He needs that love, President Uchtdorf said, explaining that His power and glory are not diminished without it.
"But oh, how we need to love God!" he exclaimed.
"For what we love determines what we seek.
"What we seek determines what we think and do.
"What we think and do determines who we are — and who we will become."
Latter-day Saints have a vast capacity for love because it is part of their spiritual heritage, President Uchtdorf said. "What and how we love not only defines us as individuals, it also defines us as a Church."
He declared, "Love is truly the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ."
From the beginning, "love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens," he noted, adding that at the height of misery is the love of wrong things and at the height of joy is the love of good things.
"And the greatest of all the good things is God," he said.
President Uchtdorf said God has given His children the world in which they live and gives them joy, peace, truths and guidance through periods of distress and answers righteous petitions. "He offers to His children the promise of a glorious and infinite existence and has provided a way for us to progress in knowledge and glory until we receive a fullness of joy. He has promised us all that He has.
"If that is not enough reason to love our Heavenly Father, perhaps we can learn from the words of the Apostle John, who said, 'We love Him, because He first loved us.'"
President Uchtdorf said he believes God does not care if people are wealthy, handsome or famous. "Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely," he said. "Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely.
"God's love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant and the wicked."
That means there is hope, not matter one's current state, he said.
Because a veil separates mortality from heaven, one must seek the Spirit, which is imperceptible to mortal eyes, to approach God, thereby experiencing love more profoundly, President Uchtdorf said.
"We increase our love for our Heavenly Father and demonstrate that love by aligning our thoughts and actions with God's word," he said. "His pure love directs and encourages us to become more pure and holy. It inspires us to walk in righteousness — not out of fear or obligation but out of an earnest desire to become even more like Him, because we love Him."
President Uchtdorf counseled his listeners not to get discouraged if they stumble at times or if they don't feel worthy of discipleship all of the time. "The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try," he said.
He admonished them to listen for God's voice as they read the scriptures, receive the messages of the conference, visit the temple and attend Church meetings. His voice can be found in the beauties of nature, the whisperings of the Spirit, daily interactions with others, the words of a hymn and the laughter of a child, he said. President Uchtdorf added, "If you listen for the voice of the Father, He will lead you on a course that will allow you to experience the pure love of Christ.
President Uchtdorf said love is the great commandment because God's love is the core message of the plan of happiness, which is activated through the Atonement of Christ.
"How clearly the Savior spoke when He said that every other commandment hangs upon the principle of love," he said. "If we do not neglect the great laws — if we truly learn to love our heavenly Father and our fellowman with all our heart, soul and mind — all else will fall into place.'
President Uchtdorf declared: "Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple's path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning and wonder. Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience and the true altitude of our discipleship.
"Love is the way of the disciple."
Watch video of this talk and other conference talks at ksl.com