April 2015

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the life and mission of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring aspects of the attributes of the Savior.

 The Attributes of Jesus Christ: Without Guile or Hypocrisy 
( Downlaod message)
Understanding that Jesus Christ is without guile and hypocrisy will help us faithfully strive to follow His example. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “To beguile is to deceive or lead astray. … A person without guile is a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his [or her] daily actions to principles of integrity. … I believe the necessity for the members of the Church to be without guile may be more urgent now than at other times because many in the world apparently do not understand the importance of this virtue.”1

Of hypocrisy, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”2

We know “we will be judged according to our actions, the desires of our hearts, and the kind of people we have become.”3 Yet as we strive to repent, we will become more pure—and “blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Additional Scriptures

Psalm 32:2; James 3:17; 1 Peter 2:1–2, 22

From the Scriptures

Little children are without guile. Jesus Christ said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. … And he took [the children] up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:14, 16).

Christ also ministered to the children in the Americas after His Crucifixion. He commanded that the people bring their little children to Him and “set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; …

“… [And] he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. …

“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and … they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, … and the angels did minister unto them” (3 Nephi 17:12, 21, 24).
 

Consider This

What can we learn about being without guile from little children? (See Guide to the Scriptures, “Guile.”)

Notes

  1. Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Without Guile,” Ensign, May 1988, 80, 81.
  2. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join with Us,” Liahona, Nov. 2013, 23.
  3. Handbook 2: Administering the Church (2010), 1.2.1.
 
 Suggested handout (download)

I thought it might also be nice to have a list of the attributes mentioned each month. This handout will updated each month.

Download

 These files will download automatically and is 6x4 suitable for a photo print if you wish


Some other sites to check
Sugardoodle
The Idea Door
Inkablinka
My Happy Tribe 

Still looking for ideas? Google 'Visiting Teaching Message April 2015'