Becoming Like Him

I have a chance to watch a video from the Church website title, “Your Great Adventure: Overcoming Life’s Obstacles”. It is about an experienced runner decides to train for a 100 mile ultra marathon in a hostile dessert, he must face the daunting task of doing something that seems impossible.

Becoming Like Him

by Elder Scott D. Whiting

It relates me to the talk today by Elder Scott D. Whiting – Becoming Like Him. It is such an impossible thing to do! Elder Whiting taught,

“Over time the daunting task ultimately became achievable—step by step.”

“The first step on this path to becoming like Jesus Christ is to have the desire to do so. Understanding the admonition to be like Him is good, but that understanding needs to be coupled with a yearning to transform ourselves, one step at a time, beyond the natural man.⁷”

“To develop the desire, we must know who Jesus Christ is. We must know something of His character,⁸ and we must look for His attributes in scripture, worship services, and other holy places.”

“As we begin to know more of Him, we will see His attributes reflected in others. This will encourage us on our own quest, for if others can attain in some measure His attributes, so can we.”

“… it is vital that we also ask our loving Heavenly Father what we are in need of and where we should focus our efforts. He has a perfect view of us and will lovingly show us our weakness.¹¹ Perhaps you will learn that you need greater patience, humility, charity, love, hope, diligence, or obedience, to name a few.¹²”

“Once you have made an honest assessment and resolved to start the hike up the mountain, you will need to repent. President Russell M. Nelson lovingly taught: “When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ.”¹⁴

“Becoming as Jesus Christ is will require changing our hearts and minds, indeed, our very character, and doing so is possible only through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.¹⁵”

Then, as Elder Whiting says, we need to prayerfully identify the most important attribute we need to acquire or improve. Prayerfully make up a plan, and then follow the plan.

“Christlike attributes are gifts from a loving Heavenly Father to bless us and those around us. Accordingly, our efforts to obtain these attributes will require heartfelt pleas for His divine assistance. If we seek these gifts to better serve others, He will bless us in our efforts.”

As Elder Whiting closes, he notes that we should record our progress, our learning and the tender mercies of the Lord as we try our best to become like Him.

“In order to see real progress, you will need to put in sustained effort. Much like climbing a mountain requires preparation before and endurance and perseverance during ascent, so too will this journey require real effort and sacrifice.”

“The commandment to be like Him is not intended to make you feel guilty, unworthy, or unloved. Our entire mortal experience is about progression, trying, failing, and succeeding.”

“You are good enough, you are loved, but that does not mean that you are yet complete. There is work to be done in this life and the next. Only with His divine help can we all progress toward becoming like Him.”

All these are exactly what the video are talking about. Like the runner, we on earth must face our own great adventure, traversing a seemingly endless array’s of like’s peaks and valleys, in our journey back to God.

But as we do so, pushing through the darkest trials and obstacles, we gain perspectives about why we are here and how to ultimately succeed become more like Him and find our way to our heavenly home.

This reminds me of my physical goal that I had set last year. I have achieved stage 1 goal, and I have stopped on stage 2 goal during this Chinese New Year festive season. I need to restart next week.

The lesson is the same either it is for exercise, or generally in life as well!