Lesson Helps

April 2015 Visiting Teaching Lesson: The Attributes of Jesus Christ--Without Guile or Hypocrisy

Visiting Teaching Message April 2015

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.”

Read more on how you can become more like Christ here.

Supplement: Read the following excerpt from Elder Wirthlin's talk, "Without Guile" from the April 1988 General Conference.

I believe the Savior was seeking purity of soul in those he called to be his twelve Apostles. When he spoke of being without guile, he referred to something far deeper than outward appearance. He was reaching into the soul, to the very heart of righteousness. He was touching the key to goodness and to the Christlike life.

To be without guile is to be pure in heart—an essential virtue of those who would be counted among true followers of Christ. He taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8; see also 3 Ne. 12:8). He revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith that Zion is the pure in heart (see D&C 97:21) and that a house is to be built in Zion in which the pure in heart shall see God (see D&C 97:10–16).

If we are without guile, we are honest, true, and righteous. All of these are attributes of Deity and are required of the Saints. Those who are honest are fair and truthful in their speech, straightforward in their dealings, free of deceit, and above stealing, misrepresentation, or any other fraudulent action. Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil; the devil was a liar from the beginning. Righteousness is living a life that is in harmony with the laws, principles, and ordinances of the gospel.

See the rest of Elder Wirthlin's talk here.

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