The Giving Path
From “O Be Wise,” by President D. Todd Christofferson · Saturday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
The Savior's path is a giving path, so we put gambling out of our lives entirely and use the time and means we save to do good.
Objective
Learners will be able to explain in their own words why gambling is contrary to the Savior's giving path, and will choose one specific good cause for their time or means this week.
Before you teach
- Read President Christofferson's talk, especially the paragraphs on opportunity cost, example, and living on a higher plane (T08.14–16 and T08.22–25).
- Read 1 Corinthians 8:9–11, Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 and 3 Nephi 12:6.
- Write on the board before class: “Where will this lead?”
- Bring a half sheet of paper and a pen for each learner.
- Pray for anyone in the room who may be quietly carrying this burden, personally or in the family. Plan to teach principles and never ask for disclosures.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
A wise friend's questions
- Begin with prayer. Point to the question on the board and explain that President Christofferson, quoting President Oaks, asked us to put it to our present choices.
- Give a brief hypothetical: a good man, in no one's ward, starts putting a few dollars on weekend games from his phone. His friends all do it. He calls it harmless fun.
- Ask learners to turn to a neighbor for one minute and name the questions a wise, loving friend might ask him.
- Take three or four answers and list them on the board. Say that President Christofferson spoke to us as that kind of friend, with what he called a sense of duty.
- What would a friend who loved him want him to think about?
Why it is wrong, in his words
- Form groups of three or four. Ask each group to read the paragraph that begins with the fact that gambling is morally wrong (T08.22) and find every reason President Christofferson gives.
- Have groups call out what they found while you list it: the desire for something for nothing; gain that comes at others' expense; our resources are stewardships; it builds nothing of value.
- Ask one learner to read Matthew 22:39. Invite the class to connect the commandment to the list on the board.
- Read aloud President Oaks's statement about the giving path and the taking path (aligned quote, T08.23).
- Which of these reasons would you most want your own family to understand, and why?
- How does asking whether a purchase builds anything change the way you look at your spending?
Counting the opportunity cost
- Read President Christofferson's three questions about opportunity cost (key quote, T08.14).
- Hand out paper. Ask learners to draw a line down the middle and write, in silence for two minutes, what a habit of wagering takes on the left under four words: money, time, relationships, worthwhile pursuits. Tell them they may also think of any pursuit of their own that takes without building.
- On the right, have them write what the same hours and dollars could build instead.
- Invite two or three to share one line from the right-hand column only.
- What did you notice when you saw the two columns side by side?
Who is watching me?
- Briefly retell Paul's counsel as the talk does: a believer firm in Christ could eat food that had been offered to idols as nothing more than a meal, yet Paul cautioned the disciples to abstain so that a weaker brother would not be led astray.
- Read 1 Corinthians 8:9–11 in pairs and look for whom Paul is protecting.
- Read the key quote about a little gambling being more costly to those who follow our example (T08.16). Point out that President Christofferson names our children and also others we may not know.
- Discuss the questions. Let learners carry the conversation.
- When have you gladly given up something you felt free to do because of someone who was watching you?
- What does it do to our choices to remember that Christ died for that person as He did for us?
A higher plane
- Read President Christofferson's plea to live on a higher plane and his description of a life well-lived (T08.24).
- Read his invitation (T08.25): not only to refrain, but to use the time and resources saved for doing good.
- Ask half the class to read Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 and half to read 3 Nephi 12:6. Have each half tell the other what the Lord asks and what He promises. Draw out the promise the talk quotes: those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled with the Holy Ghost.
- Share Elder Soares's words about fast offerings (aligned quote) as one example of the giving path already within everyone's reach.
- What good cause have you been meaning to give more of yourself to?
Choose and follow up
- Check for understanding: ask one learner to say in a sentence why gambling leads away from the Savior's path, and another to add what the speaker asked us to do with what we save.
- Invite everyone to circle one line on the right side of their paper and write next to it a day this week.
- Tell the class that next week you will begin by asking two or three people what good they did with an hour or a few dollars they redirected.
- Close with your testimony that the Savior's way is the giving way and that He fills those who hunger for righteousness. End with President Christofferson's closing words from Jacob: “O be wise.”
Key passages from the talk
“What is the opportunity cost of gambling? What do you forgo in terms of money, time, relationships, and worthwhile pursuits? Where does it lead?”
“A little gambling that seemingly has only a minor impact in your life may be more costly to them if they take license from your example.”
“Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
“A key part of a life well-lived is contributing to the well-being of others. It is being productive in worthy endeavors. It is being and doing better without others doing worse.”
The speaker’s direct invitations
“my plea again is not only to refrain from gambling but to use the time and resources saved thereby for doing good”
“Today, I am pleading with all of us to live life on a higher plane.”
Scriptures
- 1 Corinthians 8:9–11 Read in pairs in the fourth segment; look for whom Paul is protecting and why that person matters so much to the Savior.
- Matthew 22:39 One learner reads it aloud in the second segment; the class connects it to the speaker's reasons listed on the board.
- D&C 58:27 Half the class reads it in the fifth segment and reports what the Lord asks of us.
- 3 Nephi 12:6 The other half reads it in the fifth segment and reports the promised blessing; attach the closing invitation to this promise.
Other voices that agree
“The attitude of taking something from someone else in order to enhance our own position—[which is] the essence of gambling—leads us away from the giving path of Christ and toward the taking path of the adversary.”
“Though our fast offerings may seem small and simple, they become consecrated expressions of compassion, concern, and service.”
Three things to remember
- Gambling seeks something for nothing at another's expense; the Savior's path is the giving path.
- My choices are a guide to others, and every one of them is a soul for whom Christ died.
- The Lord fills with the Holy Ghost those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Ways to act this week
- Decide, and say to your family, that wagers of any size have no place in your life, including small ones made for fun.
- Name one hour and one small sum this week and give them on purpose to a good cause: a visit, a fast offering, a neighbor's need.
- Ask of one regular use of your time or money this week where it leads, and write your answer.
- Talk with your children or grandchildren about what President Christofferson taught, and listen to what they are seeing among their friends.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Have I Done Any Good?
- Because I Have Been Given Much
Adapting the lesson
- At home with adults: skip the groups. Read T08.22 and T08.24 aloud together, do the two-column page at the table, and share one line each.
- Short on time: keep the two-column writing and the higher plane segment; summarize Paul's counsel in two sentences.
- If someone raises a personal or family struggle, thank them, keep the class on the principles, and offer to talk privately afterward. The bishop can help.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.