Jesus Christ, My Example

We have fewer than 200 pages telling us of Jesus’ mortal life, and many of those pages are retellings of the the same stories. The four gospels only cover three years of His life in any detail. While we don’t know what He did in every situation, somehow there’s enough in those pages to get a pretty good idea of what Jesus would do.

Jesus Was Patient
How often we read in the Gospels of Jesus being surrounded by crowds waiting for His attention and help and healing. Yet He never reacted and demanded to be left alone or for everyone to quiet down, or go away or wait their turn. Nor did He frantically run from person to person, trying to solve everything, or do two or three things at once. He was patient as He continually ministered to the needs of those around Him.

Jesus Didn’t Consider His Service Too Lowly
Much of Jesus’ time seems to have been spent caring for people’s physical needs. He fed the hungry. He washed feet, healed blind eyes, held the children, noticed the sad and comforted them. He didn’t consider this service below Him. He was the God who had created the earth, yet He wasn’t above eating with the poor and outcast and sinners.

Jesus Was Always a Teacher
Jesus recognized teaching moments. He knew when a heart was soft, when someone was ready to learn. He didn’t postpone teaching but took the time right then when the learner was listening, and taught in a way they could understand. And he didn’t just try to hurry through the lesson and give a lecture and call it good. He took the time to do it right; to ask thought-provoking questions, to tell stories, to listen to responses.

Jesus Spent Time With His Father
As important as meeting needs of the multitudes was, Jesus put first thing first and spent time with the Father. He went to wilderness places, private places, where He could pray and listen. There were people He could have been feeding or healing in those moments when He was alone with the the Father, but He was wise enough to know we all need to fill our cups so we’ll have something to share.

Jesus Kept Covenants
In all of these things Jesus gave us the example or doing hard, or inconvenient, or unpleasant tasks. He never shirked. He didn’t let moods dictate His decisions. But nothing compares to His willingness to descend below al things for us. When He performed the Atonement, to close the gap between us and our Father, it was harder than He had expected it to be. He felt weaker than He realized. He hoped there was some other way to accomplish what He had promised. But there wasn’t, so He submitted and fulfilled all the Father asked and all that He had Covenanted.

I am so grateful for His example. Just in these ways I’ve mentioned, His example gives me a guide for most of the choices I face from day to day. It may seem a trite and worn phrase, but how much better my life is when I truly consider, “What would Jesus do?”