Area Presidency Message
Remembering Him at Christmas
The Lord’s message is one of hope, uplifting, love, and service.
Christmas is the most important season of the year.
A child expects to receive a gift, special meals are prepared, and a feeling of service and compassion fills the hearts of all good people.
Throughout the world, people celebrate Christmas in different ways: going to church, spending time with family, visiting friends, or performing a sketch to represent the birth of Jesus Christ. There are so many ways we can, together or alone, celebrate the coming of the Saviour to this earth.
Sometimes because of the short time we have to prepare so many things, we forget why we celebrate Christmas.
The greatest of all gifts
Jesus Christ is the greatest of all gifts we have received from our Heavenly Father. Why?
Because His coming to this earth means much more than a little baby born under humble conditions. Prepared since the beginning, Jesus Christ freely offered Himself to save us from both physical and spiritual death. Jesus Christ rescued us from a state of hopelessness to a state of extraordinary possibilities, even eternal life. “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Because of Him, all children of Heavenly Father that died will live again. All humankind will be resurrected and die no more, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Because of Him, all of us can feel free from the consequences of our sins. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Because of Him, we can live with our Heavenly Father in eternal life. The Lord promises us, “And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7).
Remembering Him
How can we celebrate this special season? By remembering Him.
Because our Saviour Jesus Christ did nothing for His own benefit, we can better remember Him by doing the things that He wants us to do. We can love, share and invite.
We can share the gospel message with those who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we can attend a lesson with the missionaries and bear our testimonies about the Saviour and His restored Church.
We can share a message about our Saviour Jesus Christ while ministering to someone.
We can work on our family history and send the names of our ancestors to the house of Lord.
We can express love for our fellow brothers and sisters by serving them.
We can share our love with others by inviting them to our homes or visiting them.
These are the things, amongst many others, that we can do that the Lord would do for us if He were here.
Blessing the lives of our fellow men
No matter if we are alone or surrounded by people, we can always do something the Lord would do on behalf of the children of our Heavenly Father.
I would like to invite you to express your love for Him, not only during the Christmas season but also throughout all your life by striving to keep His commandments. “If ye love me, keep my commandments”, the Lord instructs us in John 14:15.
I promise you that by loving, sharing and inviting, and keeping the commandments, the Lord will bless us with all the spiritual and temporal things that we need. “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it” (see Mosiah 2:41).
Hear Him
The message of the Lord is a message of hope, upliftment, love, and service. He is the person we need to try our best to emulate. By giving His life, Jesus Christ became the pure expression of the love of our Heavenly Father for each one of us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Our beloved prophet President Russell M. Nelson taught us in April 2020 general conference, “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.”1
Jesus is the Christ, and He loves us. May we remember Him in this season and throughout our lives because He is the source of every blessing today and forever.