Faith

     The first Christlike Attribute is Faith in Jesus Christ. Now a lot of times you will hear that you have blind faith if you believe in things that other people tell you or if there is no proof to back it up. Well, I guess that brings us to the question: What is faith? Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. I guess that would mean that all faith is blind. 

     Now back to the specifics of Faith in Christ. When you have faith in Christ, you believe in Him as the Son of God, you accept Him as your Savior and Redeemer, you believe that your sins can be forgiven through His Atonement, and you follow His teachings. Faith in Him means that you trust Him and are confident that He loves you. Faith leads to action, including repentance, obedience,and dedicated service. When you have faith in Jesus Christ, you trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments, even when you do not completely understand the reasons for them. Faith is a principle of power. God works by power, but His power is usually exercised in response to faith. He works according to the faith of His children.Your faith in Jesus Christ grows as you become better acquainted with Him and His teachings. Through faith you receive answers to your prayers and personal inspiration to guide you in the Lord’s work. 

     As I study my scriptures each and every morning I have seen my faith in Jesus Christ grow immensely. Even though there are many days us missionaries experience in which people feel that they are too good to hear the humble words we have to share, there is always that shining moment in your day when you realize that Christ did the same thing as you and his trials were way worse. Relating myself to Christ has helped me immensely to understand Him and develop an undying love for Him. My faith in Him increases as well as my desire to be like Him. 

Christlike Attributes

     Many of us have a desire to be as Christlike as possible, as this is the ultimate goal for us in this life. As spirit children of our Heavenly Father, we do have the potential to incorporate Christlike Attributes into our life. The Savior invites us to learn His gospel by living His teachings. In order to be Christlike we need to learn the basics of the gospel, and lucky for us Christlike Attributes are the basics. However, they are not so easy to develop in this life on our own. Christlike Attributes are gifts from God. They cannot be developed without His help. The scriptures describe a number of Christlike Attributes we need to develop during the course of our lives. They include faith, hope, charity and love, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, and obedience. Christlike Attributes come into our lives as we exercise our agency righteously. Developing Christlike Attributes can be a painful process. We need to be ready to accept direction and correction from the Lord and His servants. As we develop Christlike Attributes in our own lives, step-by-step, they will “bear [us] up as on eagles’ wings.” (D&C 124:18.) Since becoming a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I have learned how much I am lacking in many of these Christlike Attributes. I know as well as anyone how hard it can be to develop these characteristics, so in these next few blog posts I will share some experiences on how I have helped myself improve on them each individually. As you read and seek to develop the attributes described in this blog and other attributes found in the scriptures, the following pattern may be helpful:

     • Identify the attribute you wish to develop.

     • Write a definition and description of the attribute.

     • Record questions to answer as you read.

     • List and study thoroughly passages of scripture that teach about the attribute.

     • Set goals and make plans to apply the attribute in your life.

     • Pray for the Lord to help you develop the attribute.

     • Evaluate your progress periodically in developing each attribute.