Apostle D. Todd Christofferson gave his first devotional speech Tuesday since his recent elevation to the governing First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Appearing in the Marriott Center on the campus of church-owned Brigham Young University, the 80-year-old Christofferson delivered a holiday message focused on the life of Jesus.

He invited church members to reflect on Christ’s mortal mission and, most important, his “condescension,” or his voluntary descent “from a higher rank or dignity to a lower level or status.”

“We should study his life and model his discipleship,” he said. “His condescension, culminating in his Atonement, gives hope, direction and purpose to our lives.”

Christofferson noted that, in this life, all individuals undertake a condescension when they enter this world.

“You too are experiencing a personal condescension of your own,” he said. “Prior to your birth, you lived in a higher state — you lived in the presence of God, your Heavenly Father. His plan to help you achieve your highest and happiest destiny entailed your voluntary condescension or descent from that ‘first estate’ to a lower, ‘second estate.’”

To receive this “second estate” and achieve the condescension’s full purpose, members must endure to the end.

For Latter-day Saints, enduring to the end means staying faithful, living out their lives heeding God’s commandments and developing the character of Christ.

“It is about what we are becoming,” Christofferson said. “It is not just about boxes we check or points we collect for doing good. Salvation is not a matter of good works alone, neither is it a matter of divine grace alone.”

He concluded by imploring members to think of their own purpose in this “fallen world” and to take up their cross, follow Jesus and, “with ‘good cheer’ ... overcome the world.”

Note to readers • Dylan Eubank is a Report for America corps member covering faith in Utah County for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps to keep him writing stories.