This is the mission president letter to the mission. I hope you enjoy. I really liked it.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48). That’s a tall order.
The JST adds this: “Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect…” (JST Matt 5:50). Ouch – that’s strong.
However, the Greek word translated as “perfect” is also be translated as “complete,” “finished,” or “fully developed.”
These alternate translations suggest a life-long process of improvement as opposed to our too-often expectations and anxieties over the very real fact they we are not yet “perfect.” Of course you are far from finished. “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32).
Christ “commanded” us to work throughout our life to become “fully developed.” It is essential that we understand that He also provided the enabling power of the atonement to do just that.
When we despair that our trials are too difficult, that our performance is inadequate, that we are not “perfect,” then we need to turn to Christ in full faith that He has promised us His help to grow and to progress. Only in a life-time and beyond and only with His grace will we eventually become all that we are capable of being.
King Benjamin wisely cautioned us, “See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.” The requirement is not perfection now and it certainly is not a comparison of our perceived weaknesses with the apparent talents of others. What is important is that we “…should be diligent, that thereby [we] might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order” (Mosiah 4:24).
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