The Perfect Student

   Many of us are familiar with the idea that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the perfect example in so many ways.  He was the example, most importantly, as the way to return to our Heavenly Father's presence.  He was the example of a sinless life, of love, of forgiveness, of patience, and of any positive or kindly attribute we could imagine.  In this entry, I feel like I should focus on a theme that we seldom think of when we think of the role of the Savior as our exemplar.  It is definitely not one of the most important attributes of the Savior, but one that we cannot stand to overlook because of the great lesson that it teaches us.  That role is that of the perfect student.

   Just as all people who are born into the world, the Savior too was born with no memory of His great pre-existent state.  As the scriptures teach us, "And I, John, saw that he received not of the fullness at the first, but received grace for grace; and he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness; and thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at the first." (Doctrine and Covenants 93:12-14)    Like the rest of humanity, all that He had learned was learned from the natural process of developing and growing, observing and seeing the great and wonderful things of the world.

   Elder James E. Talmage sets it forward in this light:
   "He lived the simple life, at peace with His fellows, in communion with His Father, thus increasing in favor with God and men. As shown by His public utterances after He had become a man, these years of seclusion were spent in active effort, both physical and mental. Jesus was a close observer of nature and men. He was able to draw illustrations with which to point His teachings from the varied occupations, trades and professions; the ways of the lawyer and the physician, the manners of the scribe, the Pharisee and the rabbi, the habits of the poor, the customs of the rich, the life of the shepherd, the farmer, the vinedresser and the fisherman—were all known to Him. He considered the lilies of the field, and the grass in meadow and upland, the birds which sowed not nor gathered into barns but lived on the bounty of their Maker, the foxes in their holes, the petted house dog and the vagrant cur, the hen sheltering her brood beneath protecting wings—all these had contributed to the wisdom in which He grew, as had also the moods of the weather, the recurrence of the seasons, and all the phenomena of natural change and order." (Jesus the Christ, pg. 117)

   The Son of God, the One who would come to calm the raging of the sea, first observed its pattern of motion and commotion. Before His profound teachings of the talents, of the mustard seed of faith, and of the prodigal son, He first learned the meaning of these things through His study.  Clearly, He had an unbreakable knowledge of the scriptures and of the doctrine, as shown by the Savior's use of scripture to counter each of the three temptations that Satan offered Christ after His forty days of fasting (Matthew 4:4,7,10 or Luke 4:4,8,12), when He taught of the second coming, comparing it to the days of Noah and of Lot (Luke 17:26-32), when He taught that the Bread of Life of His body is greater than the manna from heaven (John 6:31-51), when He explained the sacred, inseparable nature of marriage (Matthew 19:4-6), when He testified of his own Godhood (John 8:59), and as He testified of His own mission (Luke 4:16-21).

   The Savior was the perfect example of the need to study for both scriptural and secular knowledge.  He later taught this in the revelations given to the prophet Joseph Smith, now Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants,
   “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;   Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms— That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:78-80).

   Our study and our knowledge should increase in spiritual things as well as secular things because the more well versed we are, the more capacities we have to serve and to “magnify the calling whereunto” He has called us.  We have a greater ability to serve because we have greater potential to affect those around us.  The old adage that knowledge is power is true, since “The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:36).  “The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:13).   “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5).

   Knowledge, being light, truth, and the power of God, protects us from the darkness, because darkness cannot exist where light radiates.  Scriptural knowledge will protect us from the temptations of Satan, just as the Savior used scripture in every case of his temptations in the wilderness, if we truly study and carry that knowledge with us.  In the same regard, the more that we know about secular or worldly things, the more we can be protected against the dangers of mortality.  The adversary knows to attack us where we are weak; if, perhaps, our strength is our scriptural knowledge, but we do not know how to live within our means, would his strategy not be best to try and bring us into financial ruin?  If we did not know the principles of living within our means, this could quickly damage our faith and/or limit our capacities to serve the Lord.

   All in all, the desire to study and to learn should be a governing principles of the rest of our lives, whether we can continue in formal education or not.  Further study for a restaurant owner could be as simple as using the internet to learn new recipes.  It could be as common as utilizing the resources we have available in our modern society.  Perhaps even more easily accomplished would be to observe patterns in nature and in the lives of others and learn from their successes and mistakes.  Knowledge will bring us additional light, protection, and power as we strive to follow the Savior’s example of being the perfect student.

Introduction

I have often thought about keeping a blog and mocked the idea, since I don't keep up my personal hand-written journal as well as I should.  So, I decided instead of creating a blog in the sense of a diary of my comings and goings, I would use this as a medium to share my study insights and uplifting spiritual thoughts that I receive throughout the course of my life.  As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I believe that all things can be used to bring some joy and shed light to the world, so I want to write to uplift and inspire others in the world.

I will use this as a Study Journal, of my insights from my personal and other studies of the gospel in my life, and I hope that it will be able to make for some good thoughts, perhaps some pondering, and maybe even inspire some others to receive their own insights from the Spirit.  I hope you enjoy what the purpose of this is.