Adopt the actions of the Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus intended for us to follow his example. He said:

Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am. (3 Nephi 27:27)

...Behold I am the light; I have set an example for you. (3 Nephi 18:16)

Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do... (3 Nephi 18:24)

...Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:16)

We are meant to live in the same manner he did.

One challenge in doing so is knowing what he would do in our place. While scriptural accounts provide stories from his life, those stories don’t directly map to every situation in our own lives. Missionary work is different than daily life, and modern life is quite different than ancient life.

The missing key in beginning to better understand what Jesus would do in your place is transcending from specifics to general principles. The stories from the life of Jesus are directly applicable in the unlikely event you find yourself in the same exact situation, but the principles they demonstrate are applicable in every situation.

The need to extract principles from particular stories is an essential task. Jesus said that what he had taught and done provided enough examples from which the character of the Father could be fully derived. In fact, he said they were so ample that anyone who knew them had seen the Father!¹ It was the Father’s principles—not specific actions —that Jesus was referring to when he spoke of how the Father had shown him his character.²

The most important principles the Lord learned from the Father are:

• Love God with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength.³
• Love others as God loves you.⁴

There are two challenges in living these principles. The first and most obvious is that they require a consummate dedication. The second and most practical is that they require a level of understanding that very few possess. What love means and how it is applied, how God is, what a totality of heart, might, mind, and strength requires, and how God loves you are all mysteries that require a great deal of faith to uncover. However, it is possible to describe the implementation of these principles in exceedingly plain language: Be the best person you can be and help others become the best people they can be. This is done by seeking, developing, obtaining, and giving what has the greatest longterm net benefit. This plain statement does not instantly confer a perfect understanding of how to live these principles, but it does instantly provide a perfectly successive path towards that perfect understanding, as well as instantly provide the next step in that direction, and it does so more than an entire lifetime of typical religious teaching would. A paradigm of improvement will vastly accelerate your efforts in learning what Jesus would do in your place.