Jesus Christ = Perfect

"Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith."

This beautiful quote by the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley is one of the most complete and glorious statements I know of about the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.  It confirms the truth of His absolute and eternal love for all of us.  One of the most disputed concepts in the world today, if not the single most disputed one, is the idea of absoluteness in anything.  The rise and fall of nations, the history of mankind in all it's glory as well as corruption, the reign and fall of every leader, the start and end of every war, the beginning and end of every period of prosperity or poverty, all of it, every last one, was based, if you really think about it, on a difference in opinion regarding the existence of absolute truth, a single creed or code of living or standard by which any human being could successfully live their life.

Well the point of this one is to emphasize that there is most certainly a perfect "measuring stick", an ideal standard, a perfect, fool proof, unwavering truth and example to look to for ultimate happiness.  Every decision to believe whether absolute truth exists is either manifestation or rejection of faith in Jesus Christ, our immovable, unfailing, constant, everlasting Rock of Salvation.

I may do a 3rd (or 4th or 5th or whatever) set of 5 entries down the road dedicated entirely my feelings about my Savior, but for this, the last in my current series for that purpose:

#5 Jesus Christ = Perfect

He lived on this earth while subject to inclinations of the natural man but rejected every last one of them at every turn.  As a modern prophet has declared, "He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them."  Every word out of His mouth was true, factual, eternally binding, 100% directed by the Father, flawlessly in agreement with the Holy Ghost. Every act in His mortal life was in complete obedience to our Father, out of perfect celestial love for Him and for us, complete and total selflessness and submission to the Father's plan, absolute respect for the Father's role as our Eternal Parent and His faultless plan.

The resurrected Christ appeared to the Nephites on the American continent and affirmed, "blessed are ye because of your faith.  And now behold my joy is full [underline added]".  His service to our Father and to us was based on Charity, pure Godly love, and pure, untainted joy.

Not only has He always been perfect by action and word, but by nature.  His desires are perfect.  The reason the elements of the universe obey Him is because He loves them perfectly.  He knows all of His creations, including us, by name.  His humble respect for His Father's plan and pure-hearted submission to it were key in His filling the role of Savior and Redeemer for mankind and our Advocate with the Father.  His humility enabled Him to live in perfect obedience, inwardly and outwardly, and in doing so became, by the power granted Him by the Father, our Lord and our God.

Jesus' also exercised perfect control over His mortal body and today, because of such, has a perfected body of flesh and bone.  He is perfect by action, word, intent, desire and condition (in all imaginable ways) as well.  This level of perfection came to Him by means of His absolute trust in His Father, demonstrated by the very person He was.

It's no wonder that Jack R. Christianson illustrates the following in "The Mortal Christ": "in section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants when He comes to Joseph Smith as the postmortal Messiah, most of you returned missionaries hopefully know this one, it's in section 93 verse 24, what does it say?  “And truth is a knowledge of things are as they” what? “are,” as they “were” and? “as they are to come” or will be. So truth is a knowledge of things past, present, future.  Now, that's what truth is.  It's a knowledge of the plan, because past, present, future, doesn't deal with our life, only part of it. Truth is a knowledge of things as they are, mortal life, as they were, premortal life, as they will be, post mortal life, after we're dead.  Truth is a knowledge of the plan. That's what it is.  So now I ask you again, the second question that we've got to ask. Who is the Truth? It's Christ.  So when one comes to a knowledge of the truth, they come to a knowledge of the Son of God and His plan of happiness.  Does that make sense?  So now, what was Pilate really asking?  He's asking the same question that the lion asked Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and that the big cat asked Alice in Alice and Wonderland, “Who are you?” That's what he's asking. What is the truth? In other words, “What are you? What is your plan?"

He always was, is and always will be the very embodiment of truth, His Father's truth.  Why else would one of His names be Emmanuel, the Greek form of the Hebrew name Emmanu'el, meaning "God with us"?  The Lord Himself said, in response to Philips request "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us", "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, Shew us the Father?"  This is not, of course to say the Jesus is the Father.  Rather it is to say that He was so unified with the Him, that He was so utterly flawless in His representation of the Father's nature and will, that They are so perfectly similar that, in effect, to know the Savior is to know the Father.

Neither I nor anyone else could ever imagine a more perfect example by which to measure our lifestyle and motives.  No one can conceive of a more trustworthy figure on which to base confidence.  To attempt to counter the absolute certainty of His love for us and divine engineering of our lives in accordance with our choices is futile at best.  He is, as mentioned via the words of President Hinckley at the beginning of this, "...the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith."

He is the only sure way to happiness.  I love Him, I trust Him and want to become like Him in every way so I can partake of His eternal joys with my family forever.  I would invite you to do the same.