Developing Christ-like Attributes—Personal Project

“Pray unto the Father with all the energy of thy heart, that ye may be filled with this love.” (Moroni 7:48)

A few years ago, while I was serving the mission in Mexico, I decided to do a deep study of Christ-like attributes according to the manual Preach My Gospel. After this study, I learned much about the Savior and realized I needed to improve many areas of my life. After completing my plan, I noticed that many of the things I learned helped me to be a better disciple and feel a deep love for the people I served. However, I recently realized that after some years of that study, there are many things I still need to improve. For this reason, I decided to work on the attributes I needed to develop over the last four weeks.

For this project, I decided to finish the activity at the end of chapter six of Preach My Gospel and work on the attributes I gave lower scores, meaning those are the ones I need to improve the most. As a result, the attributes I studied were hope, charity and love, patience, and humility.

Hope

It is easy to lose perspective or to feel that the promises we receive from God never come. Nevertheless, this Christ-like attribute plays an important role in helping us remember that when we have faith in Jesus Christ, He will fulfill His promises, and they won’t always come when we expect them. The blessings will sometimes come earlier or later than we expect. Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 teaches us that when we have our hope in the Savior, all things will work together for our good. This means that even though we may feel that the blessing is not coming, we must always keep our trust in the Lord, and He will provide what we need in the moment he considers it will be for our benefit. This attribute study also helped me understand that when we repent of our sins, we will feel cleaner and, as a result, increase our hope in Christ. Having this confidence helps us have a positive attitude when things seem too difficult to bear.

Charity and Love

I think this is one of the attributes that, even though I feel I love everyone, I don’t always apply as I am supposed to. King Benjamin taught in the Book of Mormon that when we serve our neighbors, we are only serving God. Charity is described in the scriptures as “the pure love of Christ”. When we show charity towards others, we will be more willing to serve them and avoid negative feelings towards others. We will learn to respect others’ points of view and become more patient as we help them through their challenges.

Moreover, like faith, this attribute leads you to act, and the only way to strengthen it is by serving others. Often, we forget that simply greeting someone we don’t know or smiling at them can brighten their day. Charity can transform your life, and the lives of those around you. When you show this love to others through service, they will learn to love you, and you will receive the same appreciation you give them back. Developing this attribute will help you become an example of the believers in everything you do.

Patience

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith… Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well.” Developing patience helps you when things are difficult. As with hope, it is easy to become desperate when we don’t see a challenge or situation in our lives. However, developing this attribute helps you have an eternal perspective and trust in God’s timing. Being patient means recognizing that there will always be opposition when you are trying to fulfill a goal; nevertheless, when you do everything in your power, God will help you, in his time, complete whatever else you need to achieve that goal.

Patience can help you be more merciful with others because you see them the same way Jesus Christ sees them. You will understand that some things can be changed and others cannot, and accept them with courage and faith. This is very helpful, not only spiritually, but also in a secular way. When you are patient, you learn that you will grow step by step in every aspect of your life. When you are patient, you have the promise that you will be comforted and receive the help of the Holy Ghost to overcome any difficulty or trial in your life. As a result, of developing this attribute you will become an instrument in God’s hands for the salvation of his children.

Humility

Last and one of the most important attributes I studied was humility. According to this chapter, humility means that you willingly submit yourself to the will of the Lord. This means that you recognize God’s hand in everything you do and are grateful for His blessings and help. Some people think that, humility is a sign of weakness, however it is the total opposite.

When you are humble, you demonstrate that you are growing spiritually and you are obedient to God’s commandments, work hard and serve.

The opposite of humility is pride. When you are prideful, you think that you achieve everything with no help from another person including God. You also put things from the world above the things of God. As a result, you become arrogant and feel that you are better to other people. It is important to understand that God wants us to be humble and put our trust in him and not our own knowledge. Acquiring knowledge is not bad, however, we must always remember that God is there to increase that knowledge and he is the one that can make it perfect.

Humility enables us to help others when we have some knowledge that they don’t have. Many times, using our knowledge to help others or teach them, will result in our own benefit. During my last job in my country Dominican Republic, I had the opportunity to apply my knowledge to help others apply for another position. When my supervisor noticed it, she asked me if I was going to apply for that position, and I answered that I just wanted to help them because they were my friends and I loved them. Unfortunately, none of my friends received the promotion. A few months after, the company had the same job position opened and my supervisor asked me to write a cover letter and update my resume to apply for it. I was not sure if I wanted to apply, however, I did it and three weeks after, I received the promotion. That was a great blessing because I did not only receive a better pay, but I also loved my new job and coworkers. The reason why I decided to help others was because I knew that all the knowledge I had was from Heavenly Father and I could give that same knowledge back by teaching others.

Learning these four attributes has been a great blessing because they help me maintain a more positive attitude and a desire to serve others. Each of these attributes teaches me the different ways our Savior can bless our lives and the lives of those we serve. I know that He lives and that he is always there for me. I know that all the blessings and knowledge I receive are because He loves me. Moreover, I know that I can share those blessings with others who may need them in their lives.