Jesus cuddles a Lamb

Jesus cuddles a Lamb

Jesus was and is the most important being to ever live as a mortal on Earth.  He was our Savior and paid the eternal punishment price for our sins.  We all mess up at some point and as the Bible says, We fall short of the glory of God.  The atonement of Jesus Christ was what paid that price for us.  We
owe him, our big brother, more than we can ever repay.  But all he asks of us is for us to keep His commandments, and repent when we fail.  Without us repenting, Jesus died in vain.

We Latter Day Saints also believe that Jesus Christ's death and resurrection makes it possible for us to all be resurrected one day.   .   . with glorified and and perfect physical bodies.  We believe that after we die our spirit goes to the Spirit World. . . a kind of heaven where our spirit continues to learn and grow closer to God.  We also help other spirits there by teaching them the Gospel.  I personally believe that many people will accept the Gospel there.  I also think that people who were saddled with mental or intellectual challenges in mortal life will be able to have all their mental faculties both in the spirit world and after the resurrection.

I love the paintings I have seen of Jesus holding a lamb.  When we have sinned we are like the lost lamb that Jesus went and found.  There is a painting by Minerva Teichert at the Provo or Mt. Timpanogos Temple...and it is of Jesus holding a black sheep.  So if you want to color the sheep black that works.  A black sheep is rare, and sometimes considered an outcast.  So if you ever feel out of place or alone or like you don't fit in...Jesus is on your side. 

A section of the Minerva Teichert Painting of Jesus holding a Lamb

Jesus compared himself to the Good Shepherd.  OR he called himself that.  Perhaps he worked for a time as a shepherd.  Or maybe he had shepherd friends there in the Galilee area.  When I see a painting of Jesus holding a lamb I get choked up because I know I am that lamb.  We ALL are that lamb.  In my case, when I was in Boston and my throat surgery went bad and I was told I was going to die. . . this was 12 years ago . . . anyway, I felt my Savior's love and knew he knew how I felt being alone and in terrible pain.  Rather recently in my life I learned that Jesus not only suffered for our sins but in some amazing way he suffered every pain we feel in our life.  He did this so that He would be able to succor his children.  He is not God the Father, but he IS the Father of our Salvation.

The way this drawing worked out Jesus turned out to be rather stocky and perhaps short.  We really don't know for sure what Jesus looked like, but as a son of a carpenter, he probably worked as a carpenter. . . and I don't know any weakling carpenters.   So Jesus being muscular makes sense to me.  I could have altered the drawing, but it looked pretty good so I left it as it was.  After all, I thought, we really don't know what Jesus looked like. .  .  or what he looks like as a glorified resurrected being.