In my studies of the scriptures, there’s one tag that I’ve used (in the Gospel Library App) over 400 times. It’s “the character of Jesus Christ” and I add it to every scripture that teaches us what we know about who Christ is, whether by word or example.
After having added this tag so many times and reviewing some of them, I can say that this practice has helped me really get to know who Jesus Christ is. I am far from a perfect knowledge of Him, and the list is not exhaustive. But I do know him much better because I’ve done this.
Here are just three of the many scriptures I’ve added this tag to and what I’ve learned from them:
Doctrine & Covenants 61:2 – “I, the Lord, forgive sins, and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts;” From this, we learn that Christ is merciful and forgives us as we humbly confess our sins.
Doctrine & Covenants 95:1 – “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven.” This teaches us that Christ is going to be stern with us and chasten us sometimes, but that He does it because He loves us. Reading between the lines a little bit I believe we can infer that Christ’s love is overarching and is the reason for all else that He does.
Alma 37:12 – “He doth counsel in wisdom over all his works.” Here we see that Christ prepares wisely for all that He does and takes care of everything that He is in charge of by counseling and wisdom.
By learning of Christ’s character, we see each part of who He is within the lens of two distinct truths:
- How He feels about us and the amount of effort He puts into caring for us.
- How we might try to be like Him, as He has commanded.
As I’ve focused on Christ in my scripture studies I’ve found that I know Him better, the Gospel makes more sense, and everything about my life seems brighter and better. I feel that anyone who takes on the same task will experience the same.
