Jonas' talk

Jonas does a lot of school work, but not all learning is done Monday through Friday. 

 He gave an excellent talk this past Sunday, and we'd like to include that in our "show and tell".

The Nature of Heavenly Father and Us

We are children of God.  A child inherits certain traits from their parents when they are born.  This tells us that each of us has a bit of Heavenly Father inside of us.  We can become fully like Him by obeying his commandments with pure intent and seeking him through study and prayer.  That is why it is important to learn about the nature of our Heavenly Father.  The more we know about His nature, the more we can figure out about ourselves.  This will help us to become sanctified and have the traits that our Heavenly Father has. 

President Dieter. F. Uchtdorf said: 

“Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential. He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence.” 

John 14:7, 9

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

Christ and our Heavenly Father are different beings, but they are the same in purpose.  From this we know that Christ acted exactly the same as the Father would have if he were on the Earth.  So, when we say that we are ‘trying to be like Jesus’,  we are saying that we are trying to follow in the footsteps of our Heavenly Father to become gods as He is.

The True to the Faith booklet says:

“Our Heavenly Father is a God of judgment and strength and knowledge and power, but He is also a God of perfect mercy, kindness, and charity. Even though we do not know the meaning of all things,” we can find peace in the sure knowledge that He loves us.

Our Heavenly Father is a God who has sound judgment, strength, knowledge and power.  At the same time, He is a God of PERFECT mercy kindness, and charity, which is also known as the ‘pure love of Christ’.

In 1 Nephi 11:16, an angel asks Nephi: “Knowest thou the condescension of God?”  When I looked up the word condescension in the dictionary, it says that it is ‘an attitude of patronizing superiority, or disdain’.  Obviously, the world has a very different view on this than we do.  We know that God does not have disdainful attitude towards us.  We know that he loves us, as Nephi said in verse 17 of the same chapter:   “And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.”

We too, can follow in Nephi’s footsteps and say that although we do not know the meaning of all things, and that although we do not know everything about our father in Heaven, we do know that He loves us.  That He cares for us.  And that we can have the same characteristics that He does, and live with Him in the Celestial kingdom for eternity. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen