Family Home Evening Lesson #66: I OBEY JESUS CHRIST BECAUSE I LOVE HIM

1. Opening Prayer

2. Sing "Keep the Commandments" Children's Songbook pg. 146

3. Read John 14:15   If ye love me, keep my commandments.

4. Read and discuss the following from the December, 1996 Friend:

Father in Heaven has given you great gifts—your life, your body, your agency, and many others. However, one of His gifts was so valuable and important that He asked you to remember it always. Heavenly Father gave the gift of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that you might live with Him again (see John 3:16).

The Savior gave us the gift of His life. He spent His life teaching us how to live—how to love one another, how to forgive one another, and how to help one another. He then gave up His life so that we can be resurrected. He also suffered for our sins so that we might be forgiven. He is the greatest gift of all! 

What gift could you give Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Your love and your willingness to obey the commandments are the only things you really can give. Everything else already belongs to the Lord. When you give your love and obedience to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, you are filled with a spirit of happiness, joy, peace, and love. 

And the following from Elder Robert D. Hales:

I would like to tell you a true story about a man named Abinadi. He was a prophet who preached repentance to a wicked people and a wicked king. He preached boldly and courageously.

King Noah angrily ordered his priests to kill Abinadi. He said, “Away with this fellow, and slay him; … for he is mad.”

But when the priests tried to lay their hands on Abinadi, he withstood them, saying: “Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver. … I must fulfil the commandments wherewith God has commanded me.”

The people of King Noah were afraid to touch Abinadi because the Spirit of the Lord was with him. “His face shone with exceeding luster,” and he spoke “with power and authority from God.” Abinadi declared that he would finish the message that God had sent him to deliver—and then it wouldn’t matter what King Noah and the people did to him. (See Mosiah 13:1–9.)

When Abinadi concluded his message, King Noah demanded that he deny the words he had spoken—or he would be put to death. But Abinadi refused.

The firmness of Abinadi’s faith is found in this touching entry in the sacred record: “And now, when Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered death by fire; yea, having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death” (Mosiah 17:20).

What a powerful example Abinadi should be to all of us! He courageously obeyed the Lord’s commandments—even though it cost him his life!

5. Closing Prayer

Additional Resources: The Commandments, Gifts From a Loving Father (FHE Resource Book, Lesson 2)
Commandments (Friend, March 1995)
If Thou Wilt Enter Into Life, Keep the Commandments (Ensign, May 1996)