Day 21 | The Grandeur of God
October 18, 2015 - WEEK THREE
Heinrich Hofman, Detail from Christ with Rich Young Ruler, Riverside Church in New York, [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.
DAILY READING
There is no scripture reading assigned today. Use this day to catch up as needed and ponder the supplemental reading.
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
Jesus did not come to improve God’s view of man nearly so much as He came to improve man’s view of God and to plead with them to love their Heavenly Father as He has always and will always love them. The plan of God, the power of God, the holiness of God, yes, even the anger and the judgment of God they had occasion to understand. But the love of God, the profound depth of His devotion to His children, they still did not fully know—until Christ came.
So feeding the hungry, healing the sick, rebuking hypocrisy, pleading for faith—this was Christ showing us the way of the Father…. In His life and especially in His death, Christ was declaring, “This is God’s compassion I am showing you, as well as that of my own.” In the perfect Son’s manifestation of the perfect Father’s care, in Their mutual suffering and shared sorrow for the sins and heartaches of the rest of us, we see ultimate meaning in the declaration: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son….” (John 3:16).
I bear personal witness this day of a personal, living God, who knows our names, hears and answers prayers, and cherishes us eternally as children of His spirit. I testify that amidst the wondrously complex tasks inherent in the universe, He seeks our individual happiness and safety above all other godly concerns. We are created in His very image and likeness, (See Gen. 1:26–27; Moses 2:26–27) and Jesus of Nazareth, His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, came to earth as the perfect mortal manifestation of His grandeur. In addition to the witness of the ancients we also have the modern miracle of Palmyra, the appearance of God the Father and His Beloved Son … to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. I testify of that appearance, and in the words of that prophet I, too, declare: “Our heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive…. God does not look on sin with [the least degree of] allowance, but … the nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, 1976, 257, 240–41) (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Grandeur of God,” Ensign, Nov. 2003, 70–73).
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
“The Grandeur of God,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
- People come in all sizes and look very different, but who is the Father of all these people?
- In what ways are you like your Father in Heaven?