Thou Art the Christ
We want our children to believe in Jesus Christ, belong to Jesus Christ and His Church through covenant, and strive to become like Jesus Christ.
When our son Eli was in fourth grade, his class set up a mock government where he was elected by his peers to serve as class judge. One day a sitting judge from the Utah Second District Court visited, put his official robes on Eli, and then administered an oath of office for their class. This ignited in Eli’s young, impressionable soul a passion for studying law and the Lawgiver Himself, Jesus Christ.
After years of diligent effort, Eli received an invitation for an interview with one of his top choices for law school. He pronounced, “Mom, I was asked 10 questions. The final question was, ‘Where do you derive your moral compass?’ I stated that throughout history humankind has derived systems of morality by patterning their lives from archetypes. The archetype of morality I strive to pattern my life from is that of Jesus Christ. I stated if all of humanity abided by the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, the world would be a better, more peaceful place.” Then the interview ended, and he thought to himself, “There go my childhood dreams. No one in secular academia wants to hear about Jesus Christ.”
Two weeks later, Eli was admitted with a scholarship. Before committing, we visited the campus. The law school looked like a castle and was set high on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake. Remarkably, as we walked through the magnificent library and stately corridors, we found on banners and carved in stone attributes from the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount is decisively the most noteworthy discourse ever delivered, pioneering in its teachings. No other sermon can help us better understand the character of Jesus Christ, His divine attributes, and our ultimate purpose to become like Him.
Lifelong discipleship of Jesus Christ begins in our homes—and in Primary as early as 18 months of age. We want our children to believe in Jesus Christ, belong to Jesus Christ and His Church through covenant, and strive to become like Jesus Christ.
Believe in Jesus Christ
First, believe in Jesus Christ.
After the bread of life sermon, “many of [the Lord’s] disciples” found it hard to accept His teachings and doctrine, and they “went back, and walked no more with him.” Jesus then turned to the Twelve and asked a heart-wrenching question: “Will ye also go away?”
Peter responded:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
“… We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
As Peter demonstrated, belief is “to have faith in someone or to accept something as true.” And for our faith to lead to salvation, it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. “We … exercise faith in [Jesus] Christ when we have an assurance that He exists, [an understanding] of His [true] character [and nature], and a knowledge that we are striving to live according to His will.”
Our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, declared, “Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief and the conduit of divine power.”
How can we help children strengthen their belief in Jesus Christ and access His divine power? We need to look no further than to our Savior Himself.
“[The Lord] spake unto the people, saying:
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ. …
“Arise and come forth. …
“… The multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one … and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he.”
I invite you to ponder what this can look like in the life of young children. Do they hear testimonies of Jesus Christ and His gospel? Do they see reverential, worshipful images of His ministry and godhood? Do they feel and recognize the Holy Ghost testifying of His reality and divinity? Do they know of His message and mission?
Belong to Jesus Christ and His Church
Second, belong to Jesus Christ and His Church.
King Benjamin’s people experienced a mighty change of heart and by covenant dedicated their lives to doing God’s will. Because of the covenant they made with God and Jesus Christ, they were “called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters.” As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a covenantal responsibility to build His kingdom and prepare for His return.
How can we help children make and keep sacred covenants? In the Come, Follow Me manual, in appendix A and B, we find conversation starters and lessons that will empower families and support teachers and leaders in their sacred responsibility to prepare children for a lifetime on God’s covenant path.
Become like Jesus Christ
Third, become like Jesus Christ.
In the Book of Mormon, the Savior admonished His newly called disciples to emulate Him as closely as possible: “What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”
How can we help baptized and confirmed children fulfill their covenantal responsibility to gather themselves and others unto Jesus Christ? Lifelong discipleship requires us to “be … doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
When extending invitations to the Lord’s youngest disciples, please take every opportunity to lead them, guide them, walk beside them, and help them find the Way. Counsel with these precious little ones as they prepare to teach, testify, pray, or serve so they are confident and experience joy in fulfilling their responsibilities. Seek inspired ways to help them come to know this is their Church and they have a vital role to play in preparing for the Savior’s return.
As Jesus Christ becomes the focus of our lives, what we desire, and how we desire it, is forever altered. Conversion changes everything! It changes our nature “that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” It changes how we spend our time, our resources; what we read, watch, listen to, and share. It even changes how we respond in a distinguished, academic, career-on-the line interview.
We need to infuse the Light of Jesus Christ into every corner of our lives. If we are not testifying to the veracity of His premortal godhood, His divine mission, and His prison-bursting Resurrection in our homes and in every single meeting of this Church, then our messages of love, service, honesty, humility, gratitude, and compassion can become nothing more than a jaunty pep talk of thoughtful living. Without Jesus Christ there is no power to change, no purpose to aspire to, and no reconciliation of the travails of life. If we become casual in our discipleship of Jesus Christ, it could be catastrophic for our children.
When we tell our children we love them, are we also telling them that their Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ love them? Our love may comfort and inspire, but Their love can sanctify, exalt, and heal.
This Jesus should not be a fictional Jesus, or a simplistic Jesus, or a bodiless Jesus, or a casual Jesus, or an unknown Jesus, but a glorified, omnipotent, resurrected, exalted, worshipful, powerful Only Begotten Son of God, who is mighty to save. And as a young child in the Philippines compellingly testified to me one day, “We are worth saving!” In the sacred and holy name of Him “whom God hath set forth to be [the great] propitiation,” Jesus Christ, amen.