Love Like Jesus

Respect Agency as You Support Loved Ones

Elder Rasband acknowledges the anguish people feel when loved ones step away from the Lord. He teaches that everyone must choose to follow Jesus Christ and warns that attempts to pressure others can deepen divisions.

By divine design, brothers and sisters, everyone must choose for themselves to follow Jesus Christ.

We feel we have failed.

If anything, these efforts can cause a greater rift.

• Grief over a loved one’s spiritual choices is a common and deeply personal burden.
• Following Jesus Christ requires an individual choice.
• Preaching, arguing, demanding, or lecturing can widen a relational rift.
• The adversary encourages confusion and misery rather than lasting peace.

• Think of a time when someone respects your agency. How does that respect affect your willingness to listen?
• Consider a situation in which listening helps a relationship more than arguing or giving advice. What can you share without revealing private details?
• What helps you recognize the difference between offering an invitation and trying to control an outcome?

Entrust Your Despair to Jesus Christ

Elder Rasband invites us to turn our despair over loved ones over to Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father knows and loves His children, and the Savior’s Atonement provides healing, hope, and a way back.

I ask you to turn over to Jesus Christ your despair for those wayward souls.

We cannot change their hearts, but He can; He is a God of miracles.

By the power of Jesus Christ’s Atonement, there is always a way back!

He gave His very life to bring them home, all the way home.

• The battle belongs to God; we do not need to carry despair alone.
• Our loved ones are first Heavenly Father’s children, and He knows and loves them even more than we do.
• Jesus Christ has power to heal hearts through His Atonement.
• The Savior bears both sins and the disappointments that burden us and our loved ones.
• Taking the Savior’s yoke upon us offers rest for our souls.

• What experience helps you trust that Heavenly Father knows someone you love better than you do?
• Think of a time when turning a concern over to the Savior brings peace even while the situation remains unresolved.
• When do you feel the Savior helping you carry a burden that exceeds your own strength?
• What personal experience strengthens your testimony that Jesus Christ makes repentance and healing possible?

Express Love Through Kindness and Steady Involvement

Elder Rasband identifies love as the center of the Savior’s gospel. Christlike love does not require approval of every decision; it involves sincere interest, welcoming relationships, faith, and the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

Love is the centerpiece of His gospel and the essence of being like Him.

Love is not stepping back or sanctioning others’ decisions and actions.

Love is being interested in their lives, their successes, and their challenges.

That holiness comes when we are peacemakers, when we are charitable, patient, forgiving, and kind.

• Loving God and loving our neighbors are the two great commandments.
• Love can positively influence people who step away from the gospel.
• We can maintain loving involvement without endorsing every choice.
• Christlike love includes a cheerful welcome and genuine interest in another person’s life.
• The Holy Ghost helps us respond with calmness, patience, forgiveness, and kindness.

• When does someone’s interest in your everyday successes or challenges help you feel loved?
• Think of a time when you maintain a loving relationship despite a meaningful disagreement. What helps?
• What experience shows you how the Holy Ghost guides your words or attitude during a difficult conversation?
• Who models patience, peacemaking, or forgiveness for you, and what do you learn from that example?

Pray Faithfully for Those You Love

Through the account of Alma and Alma the Younger, Elder Rasband teaches that prayer expresses love and faith. He shows how a parent’s prayers and teachings contribute to a son’s encounter with the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.

Love is expressed in prayer.

The Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father

O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.

The love of the Savior filled him “with joy.”

• Faithful prayer is an important way to love and support others.
• The Lord hears Alma’s prayers for his son.
• Alma the Younger remembers his father’s teachings about Jesus Christ in his distress.
• Turning to Jesus Christ transforms Alma’s torment into joy.
• Alma’s example encourages persistence in prayer without prescribing a timetable for another person’s response.

• How does praying for someone change your feelings toward that person?
• What helps you continue praying when answers do not come quickly?
• Think of a gospel teaching that returns to your mind during a difficult moment. How does it help you turn to Christ?
• When do you feel strengthened by knowing that someone prays for you?

Keep Your Arms Open to Those Who Return

Elder Rasband uses the prodigal son to illustrate the power of a loving welcome. He invites us to reflect Heavenly Father’s outstretched arms so that loved ones know where they can find compassion and belonging.

When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran [to him].

What brought him back? It was love. He knew where to find it.

Love, brothers and sisters, is the answer to connecting with all of our loved ones.

Our Father extends His protective arms to us and to those still distant from Him and His Son. He asks us to do the same.

• The prodigal son’s father responds to his return with compassion.
• A loving relationship helps people know where they can turn.
• Heavenly Father extends His arms to those who remain distant from Him.
• We are invited to offer a welcome that reflects the Father’s love.
• Jesus Christ invites the burdened to come to Him for rest.

• When does a warm welcome help you return after a mistake or a period of absence?
• What simple actions help your home or relationships communicate belonging?
• Think of someone who responds to vulnerability with compassion rather than criticism. How does that response influence you?
• How can you illustrate welcoming love without disclosing another person’s private spiritual journey?

Release Guilt and Build on Jesus Christ

Elder Rasband concludes with three invitations: let go of guilt, put people before problems, and remember that Jesus Christ is the answer. He encourages prayer and gospel study and promises that a foundation in Christ protects us from being dragged down by the adversary’s storms.

First, let go of any guilt.

We fail only when we give up and stop trying, so never, never give up on those you love.

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

Third, remember Jesus Christ is the answer. He is, always has been, and always will be.

Trust Him. He’s got this!

• Letting go of guilt accompanies continued love and faithful effort.
• President Thomas S. Monson’s counsel places the person above the problem.
• Scripture study and the teachings of devoted Church leaders help us seek Jesus Christ.
• Mighty prayer to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ is a source of strength.
• The Savior does not leave us comfortless.
• Elder Rasband’s concluding promise concerns our foundation in Jesus Christ amid storms affecting loved ones.

• What helps you distinguish loving responsibility from guilt over choices you cannot make for someone else?
• Think of a time when focusing on a person rather than a problem improves your response.
• Which scripture or prophetic teaching helps you remain grounded during a family challenge?
• When do you feel the Savior’s comfort even though a loved one’s circumstances do not change?