“And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water! And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water? Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them. And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.” (2 Nephi 31:5-7,9,16). Jesus Christ was baptized so that He could set an example for us. He fasted and prayed to set an example for us. He visited and spent time with the outcast and the downtrodden, healed the sick, fed those that were hungry, gave living waters to those that were thirsty, and took up His cross to set an example for us. When we are baptized, we are following His example. Baptism is the first step to becoming more like Him by doing the things that He did first. Even the baptismal covenants that we make are designed to help us to become like Him. We covenant to bear one another's burdens that they may be light because that is the example that Jesus set when He invited each of us to take His yoke upon us that our burdens may be light. Every time we help lift someone who is struggling, we are following the example of the Son and becoming a little more like Him. We covenant to mourn with those that mourn because we are following the example of Jesus, who wept at the tomb of Lazarus with Mary and Martha, His dear friends, to name just one instance. We covenant to comfort those in need of comfort because we are following His example and trying to be more like Him, just like when Jesus sought to comfort the thieves being crucified on either side of Him, or His beloved mother and dear friend John even as He was dying from excruciating pain. And we covenant to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places because we are following the example of Jesus Christ. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19). The more earnestly we resolve to keep and honor our baptismal covenants, the more closely we are following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the more we are becoming like Him. As we study the life of Jesus Christ and observe the things He did and the way He did them and the reasons that He did them, and seek to follow His example in all of these things, we will become more and more like Him every day.
