Visiting Teaching Message: August

Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ—Meek and Humble

Jesus said, “He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:26–27).

“The Savior is our supreme example of the power of humility and submissiveness. After all, His submitting His will to the Father brought about the greatest, and even the most powerful, event in all of history. Perhaps some of the most sacred words in all the scriptures are simply, ‘Not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42).”¹

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we always seek to be like Him. “Meekness is vital for us to become more Christlike,” said Elder Ulisses Soares of the Seventy. Without it we won’t be able to develop other important virtues. Being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness, showing strength, serenity, healthy self-worth, and self-control.”² As we work to develop this attribute, we will find that “humbly submitting our will to the Father brings us the empowerment of God—the power of humility. It is the power to meet life’s adversities, the power of peace, the power of hope, the power of a heart throbbing with a love for and testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ, even the power of redemption.”³

Additional Scriptures

Matthew 26:39; John 5:30; Mosiah 3:19; Helaman 3:35

From the Scriptures

One of the sweetest and most powerful moments of Christ’s ministry was when He washed the feet of His disciples. “He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded” (John 13:4–5).

As the Savior introduced this ordinance, the disciples may have been overwhelmed that their Lord and Master knelt before them and performed so meek a service. Jesus then explained the lessons He wanted them and all of us to learn:

“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15).

Consider This

How can having humility help us love as the Savior did?

June Visiting Teaching Message

Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ: Virtue

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the divine attributes of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring divine attributes of the Savior.

“Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven” (D&C 121:45).

What is virtue? President James E. Faust (1920–2007) said: “Virtue in its fuller sense encompasses all traits of righteousness that help us form our character.”¹President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) added: “Love of God is the root of all virtue, of all goodness, of all strength of character.”²

Of the relationship between women and virtue, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Women bring with them into the world a certain virtue, a divine gift that makes them adept at instilling such qualities as faith, courage, empathy, and refinement in relationships and in cultures. …

“Sisters, of all your associations, it is your relationship with God, your Heavenly Father, who is the source of your moral power, that you must always put first in your life. Remember that Jesus’s power came through His single-minded devotion to the will of the Father. … Strive to be that kind of disciple of the Father and the Son, and your influence will never fade.”³

Additional Scriptures

Psalms 24:3–5; Philippians 4:8; 2 Peter 1:3–5; Alma 31:5;Doctrine and Covenants 38:23–24

Detail from Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole, by Walter Rane

From the Scriptures

Today, virtuous women, full of faith, reach out to the Savior. In Luke 8 we read of a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years that could not be healed. She sought healing when she “came behind [Christ], and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood [stopped]. … And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue⁴is gone out of me.” This virtuous faithful woman fell down before Him, declaring “unto him before all the people” that “she had touched him” and “was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole” (seeLuke 8:43–48; see also 6:17–19).

Through His virtue,⁵ Christ can heal, enable, strengthen, comfort, and cheer when we choose with courage and faith to reach out to Him.

Consider This

How does virtue empower and strengthen us?

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May Visiting Teaching Message

May 2015 Message

General Conference—Select from the talks given in the April general conference to share a visiting teaching message. Use inspiring messages from our leaders to teach and uplift.

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April Visiting Teaching Message

The Attributes of Jesus Christ: Without Guile or Hypocrisy

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the life and roles of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring attributes of the Savior.

Understanding that Jesus Christ is without guile and hypocrisy will help us faithfully strive to follow His example. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “To beguile is to deceive or lead astray. … A person without guile is a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his [or her] daily actions to principles of integrity. … I believe the necessity for the members of the Church to be without guile may be more urgent now than at other times because many in the world apparently do not understand the importance of this virtue.”¹

Of hypocrisy, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”²

We know “we will be judged according to our actions, the desires of our hearts, and the kind of people we have become.”³ Yet as we strive to repent, we will become more pure—and “blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Additional Scriptures

Psalm 32:2; James 3:17; 1 Peter 2:1–2, 22

From the Scriptures

Little children are without guile. Jesus Christ said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. … And he took [the children] up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:14, 16).

Christ also ministered to the children in the Americas after His Crucifixion. He commanded that the people bring their little children to Him and “set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; …

“… [And] he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. …

“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and … they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, … and the angels did minister unto them” (3 Nephi 17:12, 21, 24).

Consider This

What can we learn about being without guile from little children? (see Guide to the Scriptures, “Guile,”scriptures.lds.org).

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March Visiting Teaching Message

The Attributes of Jesus Christ: Long-suffering and Patient

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the life and roles of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org

Faith, Family, Relief

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring attributes of the Savior.

Patience is often thought of as a quiet, passive trait, but as President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said, “Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something … even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!”

In our premortal life, our Heavenly Father prepared a plan for us—His spirit children—and we shouted for joy at the opportunity to come to earth (see Job 38:7). As we choose to align our will with His during our earthly life, He “will make an instrument of [us] in [His] hands unto the salvation of many souls” (Alma 17:11).

President Uchtdorf continued, “Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being ‘willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father’ [Mosiah 3:19]. Ultimately, patience means being ‘firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord’ [1 Nephi 2:10] every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so.”¹

Additional Scriptures

Psalm 40:1; Galatians 5:22–23; 2 Peter 1:6; Alma 17:11

From the Scriptures

The scriptures tell us that in our earthly life, we should “be patient in afflictions, for [we shall] have many.” God then gives us this comforting promise, “Endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days” (D&C 24:8).

The following Bible story is an example of patience and faith.

“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years … touched the border of [Christ’s] garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched [stopped].

“And Jesus said, … Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

“And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.

“And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace” (Luke 8:43–48).

Like her, we can find blessings and comfort, and even healing, as we reach out to Jesus Christ—whose Atonement can heal us.

Consider This

From the account in Luke 8, how was this woman’s years of patience and then her faith in Jesus Christrewarded?

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February Visiting Teaching Message

The Attributes of Jesus Christ: Without Sin

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Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the life and roles of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring attributesof the Savior.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, was the only one capable of making anatonement for mankind. “Jesus Christ, the Lamb without blemish, willinglylaid Himself on the altar of sacrifice and paid the price for our sins,” saidPresident Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency.¹Understanding that Jesus Christ was without sin can help us increase ourfaith in Him and strive to keep His commandments, repent, and becomepure.

“Jesus was … a being of flesh and spirit, but He yielded not to temptation(see Mosiah 15:5),” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum ofthe Twelve Apostles. “We can turn to Him … because He understands. Heunderstands the struggle, and He also understands how to win thestruggle. …

“… The power of His Atonement can erase the effects of sin in us. Whenwe repent, His atoning grace justifies and cleanses us (see 3 Nephi 27:16–20). It is as if we had not succumbed, as if we had not yielded totemptation.

“As we endeavor day by day and week by week to follow the path ofChrist, our spirit asserts its preeminence, the battle within subsides, andtemptations cease to trouble.” ²

Additional Scriptures

Matthew 5:48; John 8:7; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Nephi 2:5–6

From the Scriptures

The Savior paid the price of our sins through His divine Sonship, Hissinless life, His suffering and the shedding of His blood in the Garden ofGethsemane, His death on the cross and His Resurrection from the grave.Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become clean again as werepent of our sins.

King Benjamin taught his people of the Atonement of Jesus Christ andthen asked if they believed his words. “They all cried with one voice,saying: … the Spirit … has wrought a mighty change in us, or in ourhearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do goodcontinually. …

“And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will,and to be obedient to his commandments in all things” (Mosiah 5:1–2, 5).

We too can have a “mighty change” like the people of King Benjamin, who“had no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah5:2).

Consider This

How does being pure differ from being perfect?

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