Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus
Ideas for Opening the Lesson
- Begin by sharing a personal story about a time you struggled to recognize someone you knew well, and how that experience made you feel.
- Start the lesson by discussing the concept of "face blindness" and its implications in our spiritual lives.
- Open with a discussion about the importance of recognizing Jesus in our lives and the consequences of spiritual face blindness.
Topics
Understanding Spiritual Face Blindness
Elder Daines uses the concept of face blindness to illustrate how we sometimes fail to recognize God's love and see Him as a loving Father. He shares his personal experience of being "spiritually face-blind", focusing more on rules and standards than experiencing God's love.
I suspect you know someone (perhaps you are someone) who suffers from a kind of spiritual face blindness.
- What does it mean to be spiritually face-blind?
- Have you ever felt spiritually face-blind?
- How does focusing solely on rules and standards affect our relationship with God?
- What are some possible causes of spiritual face blindness?
- How can we help others who may be experiencing spiritual face blindness?
Seeking to See Jesus
Elder Daines emphasizes the importance of seeking to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love. He suggests that this should be the focus of our activities in the Church.
Sir, we would [like to] see Jesus. That is what we all want—we want to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love.
- What does it mean to truly "see" Jesus?
- How can we make seeing Jesus and feeling His love the focus of our Church activities?
- Why is it important to see Jesus for who He is?
- How does seeing Jesus affect our understanding of God's love?
- What changes might we need to make in our lives to better see Jesus?
Overcoming Spiritual Face Blindness through Charity
Elder Daines shares his personal journey of overcoming spiritual face blindness by praying fervently to be filled with love for God and to see Him as He is.
When I realized I was spiritually face-blind, I started to follow Mormon’s counsel to pray with all the energy of heart to be filled with the love promised His disciples—my love for Him and His love for me—and to see him as he is … and have this hope.
- How can prayer help us overcome spiritual face blindness?
- What role does charity play in helping us see God as He is?
- How does feeling God's love help us overcome spiritual face blindness?
- Why is it important to pray for love for God and others?
- What experiences have you had with praying for love and understanding of God?
Understanding Covenants as a Cure for Spiritual Face Blindness
Elder Daines teaches that understanding our covenants as relationships rather than rules can help cure spiritual face blindness. He emphasizes that God already loves us perfectly and our covenants are a way to understand and shape our lives to His love.
When prophets and apostles talk of covenants, they aren’t like coaches yelling out from (red velvet) bleachers, telling us to try harder! They want us to see our covenants are fundamentally about relationships and can be a cure for spiritual face blindness.
- How can understanding our covenants as relationships rather than rules help us overcome spiritual face blindness?
- Why is it important to see our covenants as a way to understand and shape our lives to God's love?
- How does the knowledge that God already loves us perfectly affect our understanding of covenants?
- How can we help others see their covenants as relationships rather than rules?
- What changes might we need to make in our lives to better understand our covenants?
Serving Others as a Way to See God's Love
Elder Daines suggests that serving others can help us see God's love. He describes serving in the Church as standing in the river of God's love for His children, and encourages everyone to join in carrying His love to His children.
Finally, we can learn to see Him by serving Him. For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served?
- How can serving others help us see and feel God's love?
- What does it mean to stand in the river of God's love?
- How does serving in the Church help us overcome spiritual face blindness?
- What opportunities do we have to serve others and carry God's love to His children?
- How have your experiences serving others helped you see and feel God's love?
Additional Discussion Questions
- How can we better recognize God's love in our lives?
- What can we do to help others who may be struggling to see God's love?
- How does understanding Jesus' love for us affect our relationship with Him?
- How can we make our Church activities more focused on helping people see and feel Jesus' love?
- How does understanding our covenants as relationships rather than rules change our perspective on obedience?
- What steps can we take to pray more fervently for love for God and others?
- How does serving others help us understand and feel God's love more deeply?
- Why is it important to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love?
- How can we help others see their covenants as a way to understand and shape their lives to God's love?
- What changes might we need to make in our lives to better see Jesus and feel His love?