Gospel basics — Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy!
Gospel basics – Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy!
- We can become like God – Before we were born on earth, we all lived with Heavenly Father as His spirit children. He presented a plan to help His children learn and grow. Through His plan, we can become more like Him and be worthy to enjoy eternal life. This plan is possible because God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to suffer for our sins, a sacrifice call the Atonement. Heavenly Fathers plan is called the plan of happiness (Alma 42:8), the plan of salvation (Moses 6:62), the plan of redemption (Jacob 6:8) or the plan of mercy (Alma 42:15). As these and other scriptures show, Heavenly Father wants us to become like Him, return to Him, and be truly happy (Moses 1:39).
- We come to earth to learn and grow – God sent us to earth, where we could have a physical body (Genesis 1:26-27). We needed bodies to help us e experience life on earth. God knew that we would not feel happy all the time. We experience disappointments, pain, and even death. But through life’s challenges, Heavenly Father helps us learn and grow. God also gave us agency, the ability to choose between good and evil. He lets us choose for ourselves what we think and do. He has given us scriptures and living prophets to help us learn to choose what is right (Abraham 3:25).
- We should try to be like Jesus – God didn’t send us to earth without an example to follow (John 13:15). He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us the way. To learn how to follow Him, we can read the scriptures to learn who He is and what He did during His life on earth. We can also do our best to be like Christ by obeying God and loving others. When we make mistakes, we ask for forgiveness and draw upon the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to help us change. We can be happy as we try each day to become more like Him.
- Death isn’t the end – When we die, our spirits go to the spirit world. There we continue to learn as we prepare for the Resurrection. During the Resurrection, our bodies and spirits will reunite. Our bodies will be perfect, and we will never again suffer death or disease (Alma 11:44-45). Just as Jesus Christ died and came to life again, we all will live again. When God judges us, He will consider our actions and our desire. IF we have tried to keep the commandments and the promises we made to Heavenly Father, then we can alive with Him again.
- Life with God and our families in Heaven – In the Celestial Kingdom, we will live with God and Jesus Christ. We will also be able to live there with our families forever if we are sealed to them. We will find peace, happiness, and rest (Mosiah 2:41). Our life on earth may be hard at times, but if we follow Jesus Christ, we can find joy in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come.
- What do scriptures say about the plan of happiness? – The way we live our lives is important. God will judge and reward us according to our thought and actions (Alma 41:3). Satan is the enemy to our happiness. He tempts us to misuse our life on earth and to sin. He wants us to become miserable like him (2 Nephi 2:27). When we have faith in God’s plan for us, we can have peace no matter what trials we face. We can look forward to living forever with God (D&C 59:23)
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