Divine Nature

"Divine Nature" is perhaps my favorite scriptural phrase. It is, in my mind, connected to individual worth.  It means that in my very essence, I have the qualities of Godhood.  I'm not sure that I have to develop them so much as I just have to remember them, to remember who I am so that I can exhibit those qualities.

From The Young women's Personal Progress:

I have inherited Divine qualities, 

which I will strive to develop. 

I am of infinite worth with my own Divine mission, 

which I will strive to fulfill.

Our new young women theme begins:

I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents, 

with a divine nature and eternal destiny.

This truth is so essential to who we are. It should stand as the core of what we believe about ourselves. It means we literally are a child of a our Heavenly parents. We lived with them before we came to earth. We have within each of us the possibility - the ability - to become like them. My divine nature means I can become:

Loving      Kind      Patient      Forgiving      Trustworthy      Optimistic      Confident    

Filled with hope      Chaste      True      Just      Pure      Humble      Charitable

Diligent      Long suffering      Gentle      Meek      Honest      Benevolent

Capable of Learning and Doing anything

C. S. Lewis wrote:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

I think he was right but I am more optimistic than he.  I hope and pray with all my heart that each child of God will eventually realize who they are, and choose everlasting splendors.  The Gospel makes it possible.  

Eternal

I am eternal

I am a child of God

first and foremost

This is my eternal identity.

I lived with Him - with both 

my Eternal Heavenly parents 

before I came to Earth.

D&C 93: 29

Man was also in the beginning with God. 

Intelligence, or the light of Truth, 

was not created or made, 

neither can be.

I am progressing to become 

like my Heavenly Parents.

That progression continues after this life. 

Learning, becoming, progressing 

is the natural state 

of a child of God.

I am eternal

Goodness

The world is filled with trouble and always has been.  Watching the news is depressing. It could make you believe the old Protestant teachings - that man is by nature sinful and unclean - utterly depraved.

The great miracle is that there is more goodness than bad in the world and what is more amazing is that at the heart of every person - no matter who they are and what they have done - lives a capacity to change and progress and become like God.

It is in the book of Moses chapter 6 where this is made clear.

Moses 6: 54
The sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children for they are whole from the foundation of the world.

It then goes on to explain in verses 55-57
... Even so when they begin to grow up, send conceived it in their hearts and they taste the bitter that they may know to price the good.

And it is given unto them to know good from evil: wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment. Wherefore teach it on to your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent..."

We MUST believe in the innate goodness of humans - their divine nature.  We MUST believe in the goodness that is possible. We must join hands with God in helping all his children to "return home", which means they become like God, realizing their full potential.  That happens when we finally understand God's plan for His children: Who am I?  Where did I come from?  What is the purpose of my life?  Where am I going?

Knowing the Gospel truths helps us to fulfill our potential because we "remember" who we are.

Those of us blessed to know that about ourselves have the privilege of sharing that with the world.  I have always loved the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.  It inspires me to bring God's peace into the world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace on earth.

Lord, let me thy servant be.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love,

Where there is offence, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine master

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Saint Francis of Assisi 1182 - 1226

Image

What does it mean that Jesus is the express image of the father? And that we, too, are created in the image of God?

Once again we are brought back to basics. Who is God? Who is man?

"Of the many magnificent purposes served in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, one great aspect of that mission often goes un-celebrated. His followers did not understand it fully at the time, and many in modern Christianity do not grasp it now, but the Savior himself spoke of it repeatedly and emphatically. It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in his atoning suffering and sacrifice, he was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children of every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven." Jeffrey R Holland, The Grandeur of God, October 2003

I have heard people make comments that Jesus and the Father look exactly alike. How shallow a reading of what is a significant truth!

So how then is Man created in the image of God? Yes, God is a glorified man and it is wonderful to know He is not that being described by early Christians - a God who is "unknown and unknowable, formless, passionless, exclusive, ethereal, simultaneously everywhere and nowhere at all."

And yes, we His children are like Him in that our bodies are like His. But that is only a part of what it means. Our divine nature (see that section for more on this) is in its essence what it means that we are created in God's image. We can become like him.  We have within us the potential to become the same kind of being that He is. 

Jesus not only showed us what the Father is like; "merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness." (Joseph Smith Lectures on Faith), he showed us what we are to be. "Come, follow me" was not an invitation to just allow him to lead us - it was an invitation to live like Him, take his attributes upon us.

His Image in Your Countenance

"We seek for light and learning as followers of Christ

That all may see His goodness reflected in our lives.

When we receive His fullness and lose desire for sin

We will radiate His perfect love, a beauty from within.

Have you received his image in your countenance?

Does the light of Christ shine in your eyes?

Will He know you when He comes again because you shall be like Him?

When He sees you will the Father know His child by His everlasting image in your eyes? "

Janice Kapp Perry

Also check What Heaven Sees in You by Doug and Sherry Walker

"And the father looked

And the angel surrounded that place

They knew the truth, all that you could

And you will, too, if you have eyes to see

What heaven sees in you."