The Image of God

Over the past few weeks I have been pondering what makes a great person. As you are passing through life, you may have noticed a select few who seem to radiate goodness. Its easy to trust them, and not in a bad way. They never think about themselves, Always the first to rush to someones aid for nothing in return. These are great people.
Its hard to pick just one of these individuals out of the world to study. I sound kind of like a mad scientist. I want to study this type of behavior! I want to pick apart every part of this person, because I desire so much to be this type of person. In many movies, the hero is set up to be this person. Someone who will never fail. Goodness always Wins! Everyone can relate to this type of person, Because everyone desires to some degree to be there.
There is one person. There is an individual who actually lived his life, and had it documented. It was documented for us to pick apart this individual. A person to study so we can learn to become the same. This is Jesus Christ.
Christ lived a life to perfection. He did this for us. One of the only ways we can live close to a perfect life is to see how one was lived. So we have the Scriptures to help us learn. Without Christs perfect example, it is impossible to know how to live our lives towards perfection.Study the scriptures. There is a Road map to Perfection there.
So what does this mean? What happens when we start to live our lives like Christ lived his?
This is really quite fascinating. We actually begin to radiate goodness. I'm not talking about having a physical aura around our bodies. I'm not talking about looking good because people see our good acts. I'm talking about a feeling that we can shine from ourselves, that others can literally feel. Its us becoming a conduit for Christ to shine through.
We learn that we need to have Christs countenance to shine through us. In the Book of Mormon, Alma, an ancient prophet on the American continent spoke to his people and asked them an intense question. “Can ye look up to God … with a pure heart and clean hands … , having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?” (Alma 5:19) Imagine how it would feel, to be repentant, to know where you stand with God. To have an increased power over temptation of any kind.
This can happen. And it can happen to you. Remember that you are an actual spirit son or daughter of God. He wants you to become like him. He made it possible for you to do it. Its going to take work. It will takes lots of it. It will take practice. But as we grow closer to Christ, and radiate his spirit to others. We will have strength and JOY that is well worth the effort.
For us to truly have his countenance in us. We need to change for the right reasons. It needs to become a part of us. We need to apply what we learn in our lives in such a way that we do not deceive ourselves. We need to be true followers of Christ. In the following months I will go over what I have learned about Christ, and his attributes. I will discuss how we can apply them in our lives. These attributes have to do with us spiritually and physically. I hope this can help others in their effort to become like Christ.