Neal A. Maxwell in his book ‘Even as I Am, wrote:’
“The Lord’s indignation is kindled when we refuse to keep the two great commandments, which tell us to follow Him and to love one another. His indignation is truly aflame when we live without affection for our fellows and hate our own blood. Why? Is it merely because we miss two points on an abstract checklist? Rather, it is because in lacking those attributes, we inflict so much misery upon others and upon ourselves. Furthermore, we thereby follow Satan, the father of misery.61 We chose not to follow Lucifer once: let us not go back on that decision now!
One important point must be made about the quality of the eternal attributes: In acknowledging His patience or mercy, even when we do so worshipfully, we are only acknowledging mercy and patience as we know them. His perfection of these two attributes places His mercy and patience (and this is true of all other virtues) almost beyond our reach or understanding. The most clearcut and laudatory act of mercy we have known or the most superlative display of patience within our experience does not even approach His mercy and patience. At best, our degree of development is only “a type and shadow of things which are to come.”62
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 all the attributes, but also that He has developed them so completely and perfectly.
If His patience and 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.~Neal A. Maxwell, Even As I Am (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982), 35-36
