NOTE: This is a Valentine's message that my home teaching, companion, Stanton Roseman, and I gave to our home teachees.
On this day when love is celebrated, we, as your home teachers, thought we’d take some time to remind you of He who loves you most—the Lord Jesus Christ. The central characteristic of Christ is His love—as the apostle John put it: “God is love” (1 John 4:6). Of this, we are convinced. We have both learned through precious experiences that Christ loves us, and that He stands willing to help us. We know that He loves you and stands ready to help you through any difficulty or trouble in which you may find yourself.
The Savior once said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:14). Truly, Christ has demonstrated His love—the greatest love of all—through His Atonement, in which he sacrificed His life and suffered all things for all of us—as He told Joseph Smith: “The Son of Man hath descended below them all.” Why did the Lord suffer all things? To help us in our times of trial! Whatever difficulty you may encounter in life, Christ can help you through it because He has Himself gone through the exact thing that has you down. He personally knows our disappointments—and, on the days that we all have from time to time—when we feel life is just terrible, and we get down and discouraged, it’s easy to think that God—and everyone else, for that matter—has forgotten us. That is simply not true. Christ once spoke directly to those who wonder if He has abandoned them:
“But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.
“For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (1 Nephi 20: 14-16).
Here, Christ tells us He loves us even more than our moms do! He remembers us always, for His love for us has been engraved on His palms through His loving sacrifice—the purpose of which was to help us realize our own happiness. In our most desperate moments, we can take comfort that the Great God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, is mindful of us and He loves us and is waiting for us to come unto Him that He can share our burden with us! We are never unloved; rather, we are always loved. One of the great messages of the Book of Mormon is that no matter what we have done, Christ says: “I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long” (2 Nephi 28:32). When we read the phrase, “Mine arm is lengthened out,” we like to think of the Savior standing, arms outstretched, ready to embrace us with His love. And, indeed, we do know that there is nothing the Savior would rather do—than hug you and listen to your troubles whatever they may be and help you realize the happiness that He so desperately wishes will come your way.
We particularly love the “love poem” the Apostle Paul wrote about the Savior’s love:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
“. . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39).
We hope and pray that this Valentine’s Day—and every other day, you will feel loved by your Savior Jesus Christ. We know He loves you and is rooting for your success and happiness. May God bless you!
Sincerely,
Stephen Vincent
Stanton Roseman
