“Jesus Christ: My Savior, My Lord” is the title of lesson #3 in the Spencer W. Kimball manual from which we have been studying this year. Even just the simple six words of the title evoke such feelings of worship and love as to be overwhelming.
We begin the lesson with an experience from President Kimball’s life. Fairly early in his apostleship, he suffered three heart attacks in two weeks. After spending seven weeks recovering at home, he desired a change of scenery and traveled down to New Mexico to stay with his Navajo friends. One morning, his friends were unable to find him and conducted a search. They finally located him out in the desert, under a tree. He had been reading the Bible and praying. He told them, “Five years ago today, I was called to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I just wanted to spend the day with Him whose witness I am.”
President Kimball lived his life in such a way that he was a constant living testimony of the Savior. He said, “No matter how much we say of Him, it is still too little.”
He goes on to say, “I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I know that.”
I note and appreciate how he does not say, “I believe that.” He knows. He can speak with the knowledge and assurance of one who does not doubt in the slightest.
He testifies that Jesus not only lived on the earth for the span of thirty-three years, but that He lived in the premortal realm and still lives in the heavens today. He is not only the organizer of this world, but the Creator and the Redeemer of it as well. He is the cornerstone, the foundation, and the promise of His Second Coming will be fulfilled.
The most important message in the world today is that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is our Savior. No other message even comes close in eternal import.
Because Heavenly Father gave us this priceless gift, that of His Son, we now have the opportunity to live with Him again. This is done through the purging of our sins and the true desire for righteousness, but if Christ had never come to show us the way, it would not be possible for us to follow Him.
“There is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come, yeah, remember that He cometh to redeem the world.” (Hel. 5:9)
When the Savior hung on the cross, He did it out of His deep, perfect love for us. We ought to thank Him and show every ounce of gratitude of which we are capable. If we don’t, all His suffering was in vain. If we don’t keep the commandments, His mission on this earth was futile.
President Kimball then goes on to paint a tender mental picture of the Savior smiling as He looks into homes and sees families kneeling in prayer and serving each other, husbands and wives who continue to express their love and be there for each other, and as He sees us come unto Him. What a contrast – the agony of the Savior for our sins, vs. the smile on His face when we are righteous.
We have a hope of Christ in the here and now, but today is just a grain of sand in the eternities. We have a hope in Christ forever. He has always been there for us and will continue to be. He is our Savior and Friend forever.
Related Blogs:
Honorable, Happy, Successful Marriage
Prayer: The Passport to Spiritual Power