“Try to Be Like Jesus,” Friend, Nov. 1996, inside front cover
Try to Be Like Jesus
(Adapted from an April 1994 conference address. See Ensign, May 1994, pages 82–83.)
A while ago, in Mexico, Sister Hammond and I picked up the telephone and heard the voice of a little child begin to sing “I’m trying to be like Jesus,” and sweetly continue:
Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.*
To that precious grandchild and to everyone else who is trying to be like Jesus, we congratulate you and express our deepest affection for you. I desire that we become more like Him. I would like us to love Him more than we do now. Will you listen as I tell you about Jesus Christ and His infinite love?
It was Jesus Christ who in the premortal state presented Himself to become the Savior of men. He would come to earth to sacrifice Himself as an atonement for the sins of all men (see Mosiah 3).
Thus, in Bethlehem of Judea, a tiny babe lay in a manger while His mother gloried in the presence of her newborn son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, a God come to earth.
“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40).
In succeeding years “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52). At the age of thirty, He began His ministry, teaching the great plan of happiness—faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, the laying on of hands to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. (See 3 Ne. 27.)
The fame of His glory and power spread throughout the land. To a father who mourned the death of his young daughter, He said, “She is not dead, but sleepeth” (Luke 8:52), and He took her by the hand, and she rose from the dead.
He rebuked all sinners. The guilty plotted to take His life. He humbly submitted Himself to the ugly lash and was nailed by His hands and feet to a wooden cross. Then the greatest of all of God’s children was left to die on a horrible cross. His body was placed in a borrowed tomb.
And then on the third day, in mighty power, He arose. His victory over death was complete.
Do we feel His Spirit burn within us? Are we really trying to be like Jesus? If so, may each one of us ask ourselves the following questions:
Do we love Jesus Christ enough to follow His chosen prophets and Apostles, giving heed to their counsel and guidance as if it came from His own mouth? (See Doctrine and Covenants 1:38.) Do we love the Savior enough to forsake our lovely home, our precious family, and accept a call to proclaim His gospel in any part of the world? Can we do too much for the Lord?
Certainly we all love Him. Therefore, I implore, keep His commandments and become more like Him. Come unto Christ, eat the bread of life, drink the living water, and feast on His limitless love. He is our Savior, our Master.
Painting by Del Parson