from . . .how glorious and wonderful. . .two days ago. . .
Continuing, Neal A. Maxwell wrote in his book ‘Even As I Am’. . .
“True, our experiences tell us what these attributes are, but only as a sample of beautiful carpet tells us what a whole room will be like when so furnished. It is not simply that Jesus has developed them so completely and perfectly.
If His patience or mercy were like ours, it would not have been sufficient to give Aaron another chance to redeem himself after his errors. If His submissiveness were like ours, then after a few skirmishes with Jewish authorities that tested His obedience to the Father, Jesus would have sought a reasonable settlement instead of marching courageously onto Gethsemane and Golgotha.
To make such allowances for His unique personality, at least as best we can, marks the difference between the mere admiration of Him and the greater adoration of Him, between verbal veneration and genuine emulation. Verbal veneration is like tipping one’s hat and nodding with a smile—instead of falling upon one’s knees. In like manner if we are only mildly responsive to Him, we will stop short of the serious pursuit of His challenge to become like Him.
Only when what He is begins to dawn more fully upon us—to fill us with awe instead of respect—will we follow Him. Only when what we are ponders the many-splendored “I Am” can we truly begin to respond to His invitation to follow Him: “And He said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?”[63]
Those who say there is danger in regarding Him as so far out of reach as to make following Him an intimidation must recall that the invitation to follow comes from Him. The offer of help for that long journey also comes from Him. So will the tutoring come from Him—for we cannot bear all things yet.[64] All He asks initially is that we leave our entangled nets. He will lead us along, line upon line and precept upon precept.
Indeed, when we say that Jesus “will never leave us alone,” we intend to say that He will not desert us. But His determination consists of much more than that: He will insistently press upon us the promptings and thoughts and experiences that will be for our good. He will not let us alone when pressing on, instead of pausing, is needed. Or a reminder instead of repose. Or a lesson instead of luxury. Or deprivation instead of accumulation. Or submissiveness instead of selfishness.
In such moments, we will know the Shepherd, not alone in reassuring and comforting mental imagery of holy scripture, but also in relentless application of His attributes to our lives. There can be no discounting of His personality then, no waving off of the immense and tugging truth that each of His traits represents, and no relegating of Him to a more relaxed role in our lives. He will not have it. Mercifully for us, He will not have it! ~ Neal A. Maxwell, Even As I Am (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book 1982), 34-37
