Love Like Jesus
Jesus Christ is the perfect embodiment of love. Love is the centerpiece of His gospel and the essence of being like Him.
My dear brothers and sisters, my message is for everyone whose heart aches for loved ones who have turned away from the Lord, stepped away from obedience to God’s laws, breached their covenants, and left behind a string of broken hearts, becoming, as the Bible says, “tossed to and fro.”
As the Apostle Paul described, you may feel “burdened excessively,” beyond your strength, weighed down as if being “pressed out of measure.” If I asked for a show of hands of how many feel that way, hands would shoot up in this hall and around the world. Most of us have faced such anguish in our families or circle of friends. I know Sister Rasband and I have.
In our grief, we continuously ponder the whys, hows, and what ifs. We feel we have failed. We spend sleepless nights going over how we tried to draw our loved ones close to Jesus Christ and the Spirit. We preach, cajole, argue, demand, lecture, ignore, sit them down to watch general conference, and even send them links to the talks, like this one, but to no avail. If anything, these efforts can cause a greater rift.
By divine design, brothers and sisters, everyone must choose for themselves to follow Jesus Christ.
The Book of Mormon prophet Lehi viewed in a dream “numberless concourses of people … pressing forward” to the tree of life, which is the love of Jesus Christ. But “there arose a mist of darkness,” and some “wandered off,” setting up residence in the growing skyline of great and spacious buildings. The adversary’s deceit leads to confusion and misery. He can promise no life eternal, no life with God the Father, and no peace. Not now. Not ever!
How do we reset the clock while the adversary works overtime to destroy God’s plan of happiness?
Gratefully, the answer is in the Old Testament: “Be not afraid nor dismayed … ; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
Listen carefully. I ask you to turn over to Jesus Christ your despair for those wayward souls. We cannot change their hearts, but He can; He is a God of miracles. We love our family members and friends profoundly, but they are foremost children of our Father in Heaven, who knows and loves them even more than we do. Our Father, the great Elohim, gave His Beloved Son the authority and power necessary to heal all His children. That is the good news of the gospel. By the power of Jesus Christ’s Atonement, there is always a way back!
By His Atonement from the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross on Golgotha, He paid for the sins and bore the disappointments that wrack their souls and yours.
In the vernacular, Jesus Christ says to all who grieve, “I’ve got this!”
Jesus Christ is the perfect embodiment of love. Love is the centerpiece of His gospel and the essence of being like Him. Love can positively influence those who have strayed. The first great commandment is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” And the second great commandment is “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” As the Primary song says, “As I have loved you, love one another.”
Love is not stepping back or sanctioning others’ decisions and actions. Love is being interested in their lives, their successes, and their challenges. Love is being there with arms outstretched and a cheerful countenance. Love is lifting with faith and hope in our Lord and Savior. Love relies upon the calming influence of the Holy Ghost. The book of Proverbs teaches, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding … , and he [will] direct thy paths.” The path is marked by love.
President Dallin H. Oaks has counseled: “Let us avoid what is harsh and hateful. Let us seek to be holy, like our Savior.” That holiness comes when we are peacemakers, when we are charitable, patient, forgiving, and kind.
Love is expressed in prayer. In the Book of Mormon, Alma the Younger, talented and smooth-talking, “had rebelled against … God” and “had not kept his holy commandments.” An angel, “with a voice of thunder,” declared, “The Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to [a] knowledge of the truth … that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.” His father, Alma, had prayed for weeks, months, years, maybe decades.
For three long days and nights, young Alma “was racked with eternal torment.” Somewhere deep within came his father’s teachings of the coming of Jesus Christ “to atone for the sins of the world.” Alma cried in his heart, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.” The love of the Savior filled him “with joy.” He became a mighty prophet and a major figure in the Book of Mormon.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,” our Savior says, “ … and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ pulls more than His weight. His Atonement is witness of His all-encompassing love for each one of us. Brutal as it was for Him, His Atonement was crucial for our eternal journey. Remember, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
He has already paid for the sins and errant choices of all of God’s children, including those for whom you and I grieve. He knows them. He knows their hearts; He loves them. He gave His very life to bring them home, all the way home.
Remember the prodigal son who chose to leave his safe moorings for “riotous living.” He lost his fortune and his self-respect, and he returned home in a wretched state.
“When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran [to him].” “He was lost” and now was “found.”
What brought him back? It was love. He knew where to find it. Love, brothers and sisters, is the answer to connecting with all of our loved ones. Our Father extends His protective arms to us and to those still distant from Him and His Son. He asks us to do the same. Jesus Christ beckons, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
I close with three suggestions to help us find rest:
First, let go of any guilt. We fail only when we give up and stop trying, so never, never give up on those you love. Remember the example of Alma praying for his son.
Second, follow the admonition of President Thomas S. Monson: “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.”
Third, remember Jesus Christ is the answer. He is, always has been, and always will be. Seek Him through study of the scriptures and words of prophets, apostles, men and women leaders who are devoted to serving the Lord. And pray. Pray mightily to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. He will not leave us “comfortless.”
I promise you, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, that when the devil sends “forth his mighty winds” pulling loved ones off course, “his mighty storm … shall have no power … to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built.” If that rock is Jesus Christ.
Trust Him. He’s got this! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.