President Monson gave a dictionary definition of virtue as "conformity to a standard of right, a particular moral excellence, the beneficial qualities of courage, strength - even valor." He referred to a series of posters and wallet-size cards the Church developed years ago under the heading "Be Honest With Yourself." One message in the series was: "Virtue is its own reward."
"Temptation is part of life and will be experienced in one way or another by every traveler through mortality," President Monson said. "However, the Apostle Paul, acknowledging this truth, gave us this assurance: `There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' (1 Cor. 10:13.)
President Monson spoke of the work of a psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger, who stated that mental health and moral health are identical, and the only way today's suffering, struggling, anxious society can hope to prevent ills is by recognizing the reality of sin. President Monson spoke of Dr. Menninger's publication, Whatever Became of Sin? The publication, President Monson said, is "a plea for mankind to stop and look at what we are doing to ourselves, to each other and to our universe."
After relating a story from his boyhood in which he told of how one of his friends tested and increased his physical strength by swimming against the current in the Provo River, President Monson said: "I'm certain our duty and responsibility is frequently to swim upstream and against the tide of temptation and sin. As we do so, our spiritual strength will increase, and we shall be equal to our God-given responsibilities."
President Monson related how President N. Eldon Tanner, when he was a branch president in Alberta, called students who had gone to Edmonton to attend college into his office and talked about the purposes of education and the goals of the Church. President Tanner said to the students: "If you will work hard on your studies during the week, live the principles of the gospel, and attend to your Church duties on Sunday, I will promise you that you will graduate from the university. And what is more important, I will promise you that you will be a better and a happier person than if you don't attend Church." Many students, President Monson observed, bear humble and grateful testimony that President Tanner's promise was fulfilled.
