Merry Christmas to you all! In a message I have recorded for missionaries around the world on Christmas Day, I shared three lessons (there are of course many, many more) we can learn from the birth of the Savior.
First, there is great happiness in trusting God and being trusted by God. Think of the trust God had in Mary to bring His Only Begotten Son into the world through her and for her to be His mother throughout His earthly mission. She trusted God and God trusted her.
Second, just because something comes from God does not mean it will be without difficulty. Joseph and Mary knew they were to be central stage on one of the greatest and most important events of human history, yet it was not without hardship. While the King of kings was about to be born, He was to be born in the humblest of situations. Mary, in her final days of being with child, would ride the bumpy and dusty roads on a donkey. Joseph realized there would be no place for his wife to comfortably give birth. And then the relief of the baby safely born, but still, He is laid in the most unlikely place for a kingβa manger.
Third, while Jesus was born as the divine Son of God, He still had to grow βfrom grace to graceβ (Doctrine and Covenants 93:13) to become the Savior of the world. Each of us, while we have divine qualities to believe and to do what is right, to desire goodness, and to be who we want to beβwe still need to grow into that disciple of Jesus Christ we want to become.
As an ordained Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I testify to you that through sacred experiences, special moments, precious and powerful feelings, I have a sureness to my knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives, that He is resurrected. He is exactly who we proclaim Him to be. I testify that He lives and that He is the Savior of the world.
dyejo
Kurt Francom
Guest Author
