Summary: In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that it is possible to someday become just as perfect as our Father in heaven (Matthew. 5:48). For this reason, faithful Latter-day Saints try very hard to live a perfect life. However, for some, the idea of becoming perfect as our Father in heaven seems more like a nightmare than it does a heavenly dream because they feel they can’t do all that God requires of them. Worse yet, when they see others who seem to be doing everything right, they feel they don’t have what it takes to be perfect. But the problem isn’t that there is something wrong with them, or that the church demands too much of them, but rather, it’s because they have a misunderstanding or misperception of what God’s plan is for their salvation. This article seeks to dispel the myth that we are not capable of becoming perfect.

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus counseled His followers to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew. 5:48).

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that it is possible to someday become just as perfect as our Father in heaven. In fact, the scripture just quoted infers that it’s not just a suggestion but a commandment, and if that is true, then God must expect us to do what we can to become perfect.

In addition to this, the scriptures also tell us “that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). The way many people understand this is that our salvation is dependent on how much effort we put into keeping God’s commandments, and the more diligent and faithful we are in doing that the more assured we are of being saved.

This idea is further reinforced when it’s taught that when we are baptized, we make a covenant with God, which we renew each week as we partake of the sacrament, that we will keep the commandments he’s given us. Although a covenant can be thought of as a promise, it is much more than that. It is a solemn oath that we should never break.

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we should be kind, gentle, patient, long-suffering, meek, humble, honest and full of faith, and that we shouldn’t be angry, contentious, quarrelsome, lying, commit adultery, be drunk, rebellious, or believe in false doctrine, and the scriptures tell us “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

For this reason, faithful Latter-day Saints stive to live a perfect life. Although they intellectually know they can’t become “perfect” in this life, they nonetheless diligently seek to become as perfect as they possibly can. And each time they fail to live up to that standard, there is the principle of repentance, which means they are to feel godly sorrow for not doing what they should and then strive even harder not to make that same sin again. It’s also taught that since we sin every day therefore, we should repent every day.

At the same time, it’s taught that the gospel of Jesus Christ is known as “the great plan of happiness (Alma 42:16). In other words, all the effort we’re expected to put forth in becoming perfect is supposed to make us happy, however, for many people, just the opposite is true.

The scriptures tell us, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward… Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them” (Psalm 127:3,5), and Latter-day Saints are encouraged to have large families where they are to “teach them to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, when eight years old [or] the sin be upon the heads of the parents” (D&C 68:25).

In addition to this, parents should “not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another” (Mosiah 4:14), and that they should “provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

To do this, requires holding Family Home Evening once a week where parents present a spiritual lesson along with games followed by refreshments. It also requires holding a special family lesson each Sunday and in addition to this, parents need to have family and personal prayers twice a day, along with family and personal scripture study each day. And to properly raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord requires attending church each Sunday and fulfilling callings in the church, as well as going to the temple as often as possible.

Of course, with a large family, parents also need to spend a considerable amount of time and effort supporting their children’s activities both in and out of the church, in addition to helping them with their public schooling homework.

There are many Latter-day Saint women who diligently strive to be the perfect mother by doing everything they feel the Lord expects of them but instead of finding joy in serving the Lord, they feel exhausted, frustrated, and depressed. They find themselves yelling at their children, sometimes many times a day, where their patience and long-suffering seems to be non-existent.

Instead of having a nice, neat and tidy home, their entire house looks like a tornado went through it. Instead of having pleasant, obedient children, their children are constantly arguing with one another and not doing what they’re told. Too many times husbands and wives argue with each other, sometimes over trivial things. And with so much going on, there seems to be no time for family prayer, let alone scripture study or Family Home Evening, and instead of Sundays being a day of rest, for many women it’s the busiest day of the week.

When they come to church, they look at other women who seem to be full of happiness while their children seem to be perfectly behaved. They also see women serving in leadership positions in both the ward and stake level who appear to be handling great church and home responsibilities with ease. When they compare themselves to these women, they wonder why they can’t be like them which only makes them feel like they are a complete failure. This then leads them to think they are not only letting their families down but are not living up to the promise they made to God.

But life is not just about living the gospel. It also involves working at a job and handling the emergencies that come up in loife, such as having to deal with a serious illness either for themselves or someone they love. It could involve dealing with difficulties at work or with a spouse or a child. They could be struggling with finances or coping with a hard situation or worrying about something they have no control over. All these things by themselves can drain a person’s spiritually and leave them with feelings of hopelessness, despondency and being disheartened.

At times like this, for some the idea of becoming perfect as our Father in heaven seems more like a nightmare than it does a heavenly dream. At times like this, the plan of happiness can seem to be non-existent, at least for them. It’s times like this that many people feel like giving up trying to be spiritually strong because it doesn’t seem to be working for them, no matter how hard they try. In fact, the harder they try, the worse it makes them feel and the more it reinforces the idea that they are a failure, that it’s useless to keep trying to do the impossible, that God must be very disappointed with them, and that they are never going to make it to heaven because they don’t have what it takes to get there.

Not everyone who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feels this way, but unfortunately, far too many do have these kinds of thoughts. But the problem isn’t that there is something wrong with them, or that the church demands too much of them, but rather, it’s because they have a misunderstanding or misperception of what God’s plan is for their salvation.

The first thing that has to be understood is that the situations we’ve just looked at are what’s normal. In nearly all cases, the people we see at church who seem to be perfect or nearly so, are very rarely what they appear to be. They are either having or have had the same kind of problems that everyone else is going through. Even those who serve in the church on the general level, whether it is a General Relief Society, Primary, or Young Woman’s president, or a General Authority Seventy, or an apostle, or even the President of the church, as we come to know the stories of their personal life, we find that nearly every one of them have had some very rough times to go through.

For example, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has shared in a General Conference talk that there was a time in his life when he struggled with depression. Elder Christopherson has told of a business deal he was involved with that he thought was going to cause him to lose a very large sum of money, which caused him great anxiety. Elder M. Russell Ballard has told of going home every evening from his very busy work schedule as an apostle to care for his wife who had dementia. President Eyring had a similar situation with his wife who was an invalid. Elder Spencer W. Kimball had throat cancer that nearly left him unable to speak. It was very hard on President Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder Holland when their wives died after being happily married to them for over sixty years, not to mention the void of loneliness they had to endure afterwards. And there are many, many similar stories that could be told about the tragedies, heartaches, and traumas that our modern-day apostles have faced in their personal lives. What we see then is that no one is immune from these kinds of problems.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” yet that’s exactly what we do when we see people at church, even at the general level, who appear as if they’re so happy and that their life is picture perfect. In fact, I would venture to say that at least 90% of the people we see in our own wards are having difficulties of some sort but when we come to church, for the most part, we leave our troubles at home and put forth our best self for others to see.

For example, we may yell at our children at home, but we rarely do that at church. Therefore, when people see us, we look to them as if we are happy and are spiritually strong. For this reason, when we learn of couples in our ward who divorce, or members who fall away from activity because they no longer believe what the church teaches, most ward members are shocked because they had no idea these people were having such problems.

So the first thing we have to realize is that what we are going through and the feelings we have are perfectly normal, and that there is nothing wrong with us because of them.

With that understanding, the second thing we need to realize is that God’s plan for our salvation was made for imperfect people. It wasn’t designed just for the spiritually strong but is meant to help even the least of the saints make it back to the celestial kingdom. That means God expects that we are going to have bad days, and maybe bad weeks or even bad years, but if we could see what God has seen over the history of mankind, we’d probably think much more highly of ourselves compared to how people behave who don’t have the gospel in their life.

When we compare ourselves to perfection, of course we’re going to come up very short of that ideal, but when we compare ourselves to most people in the world, in the majority of cases, we are head and shoulders above where they are spiritually. So, despite our many faults, in reality we’re doing better than we think we are, and more importantly, God recognizes that.

That then leads us to the third thing we need to understand which is that God is not so much concerned with where we are but where we’re going. No parent expects their three-year-old child to behave like a thirty-year-old, yet that’s exactly what many people expect of themselves.

Throughout the scriptures, God refers to us as his “little children.” Because we can only see things from our mortal experiences, we tend to think of ourselves as being grown, mature adults, but from an eternal perspective, we are still very much “little children” when compared to where we are in our spiritual journey to perfection.

To put this in earthly terms, it’s as if we’re currently in the seventh grade of our divine education and our goal is to get a Ph.D. in godhood. It’s only when we eventually reach that level that we will have finally become as perfect as our Father in heaven. Therefore, it is foolish to think we are failures because we haven’t yet achieved a Ph.D. while only being in seventh grade.

God isn’t expecting us to be perfect at this point in our spiritual development. What he is most interested in is our progress. Each of us are at different levels of spirituality and God fully understands that, however, even the slowest learner can still acquire the knowledge and skill needed to become like our Father in heaven as long as they don’t give up trying. Instead of being disappointed because of our lack of perfection, God is there cheering us on to keep trying. It’s when we quit that we fail, and that’s what’s disappointing to God.

As we struggle with the trials of life, the question has been asked more than once, “Why must life be so hard? Why are there so many problems in life?” The Lord gave the answer when he said, “know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7). Just like a seventh grader doesn’t understand why they have to do homework because it’s so hard and no fun, so also most people don’t understand why we have so many trials in life, but God knows that ultimately, they’re for our good.

For this reason, earth life was designed for man to work by the sweat of his brow, both physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually because it teaches us valuable lessons we can’t learn any other way and that are necessary for us to become perfect. Most people want to live an easy, comfortable life where nothing but happiness and joy exists, but that doesn’t provide us with opportunities to grow. It’s the hard times we go through that stretch us, refines us, and helps us improve.

With that understanding, instead of thinking we’re a failure for not doing everything perfectly, we should remind ourselves that every experience we have, whether it is good or bad, or if it brings us joy or sorrow, builds our faith or weakens it, makes us feel proud of ourselves or makes us doubt ours abilities, all of these things are meant to teach us valuable lessons that are necessary to help us become perfect. Stated differently, we can’t become perfect without having these kinds of experiences.

But beyond all of this, what we first and foremost have to understand is that we are incapable of perfecting ourselves. Moroni taught that we should“come unto Christ, and… [for it is] by his grace ye may be perfect” (Moroni 10:32). It’s not our job to perfect ourselves. That’s Christ’s responsibility. Our job is to come unto him and strive to “love God with all your might, mind and strength.” as we do our best to keep the commandments he’s given us.

This is no different than going to school where we are taught the lessons we need to know, and as long as we show up to school, listen to the information we’re being given, and do our homework assignments, we will gain the knowledge and skills we need. In the same way, as we come unto Christ, listen to what he tells us to do, and then seek to follow his instructions, little by little we inch closer and closer to becoming perfect.

The homework assignments Christ gives us come in the form of the experiences we have, and they are designed specifically for each of us as individuals. To better understand this concept, before we came to earth we had our own personality, skills, interests and abilities, and since we are all unique, each of us have our own special areas we need to improve in. For that reason, the lessons God has to teach us have to be tailored to each of us individually. Therefore, the experiences we have are deliberately designed to help us grow in those areas where we personally need improving.

We see this in the book of Abraham where we read “And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers” (Abraham 3:23). But before they could effectively fulfill their assignment, God first has to train them to be a ruler, and to do that he has to provide them with the kinds of experiences that would prepare them for their future leadership role.

As we look at the life of Moses we see how everything that happened to him – from the time he was born and discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, to him growing up as a son of the Pharaoh, to his killing an Egyptian taskmaster that lead him to flee in the desert where he lived for forty years with a priest of God named Jethro, to meeting God on the mountain, all of these experiences were critical in preparing him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the land God had promised to Abraham.

And God is doing the same with each of us. Therefore, with this understanding, instead of complaining about how hard our life is and about our shortcomings, weaknesses and failures, we should view these as if they were homework assignments meant to help us grow to someday become as perfect as God and be capable of doing what he does. Instead of wanting to give up, we should remember the counsel the apostle Paul gave to the saints in his day when he said, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

When we come to better understand God’s plan of salvation for his children, it dispels the myth that in the eyes of God, we are not good enough

Summary: In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that it is possible to someday become just as perfect as our Father in heaven (Matthew. 5:48). For this reason, faithful Latter-day Saints try very hard to live a perfect life. However, for some, the idea of becoming perfect as our Father in heaven seems more like a nightmare than it does a heavenly dream because they feel they can’t do all that God requires of them. Worse yet, when they see others who seem to be doing everything right, they feel they don’t have what it takes to be perfect. But the problem isn’t that there is something wrong with them, or that the church demands too much of them, but rather, it’s because they have a misunderstanding or misperception of what God’s plan is for their salvation. This article seeks to dispel the myth that we are not capable of becoming perfect.

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus counseled His followers to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew. 5:48).

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is taught that it is possible to someday become just as perfect as our Father in heaven. In fact, the scripture just quoted infers that it’s not just a suggestion but a commandment, and if that is true, then God must expect us to do what we can to become perfect.

In addition to this, the scriptures also tell us “that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). The way many people understand this is that our salvation is dependent on how much effort we put into keeping God’s commandments, and the more diligent and faithful we are in doing that the more assured we are of being saved.

This idea is further reinforced when it’s taught that when we are baptized, we make a covenant with God, which we renew each week as we partake of the sacrament, that we will keep the commandments he’s given us. Although a covenant can be thought of as a promise, it is much more than that. It is a solemn oath that we should never break.

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we should be kind, gentle, patient, long-suffering, meek, humble, honest and full of faith, and that we shouldn’t be angry, contentious, quarrelsome, lying, commit adultery, be drunk, rebellious, or believe in false doctrine, and the scriptures tell us “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

For this reason, faithful Latter-day Saints stive to live a perfect life. Although they intellectually know they can’t become “perfect” in this life, they nonetheless diligently seek to become as perfect as they possibly can. And each time they fail to live up to that standard, there is the principle of repentance, which means they are to feel godly sorrow for not doing what they should and then strive even harder not to make that same sin again. It’s also taught that since we sin every day therefore, we should repent every day.

At the same time, it’s taught that the gospel of Jesus Christ is known as “the great plan of happiness (Alma 42:16). In other words, all the effort we’re expected to put forth in becoming perfect is supposed to make us happy, however, for many people, just the opposite is true.

The scriptures tell us, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward… Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them” (Psalm 127:3,5), and Latter-day Saints are encouraged to have large families where they are to “teach them to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, when eight years old [or] the sin be upon the heads of the parents” (D&C 68:25).

In addition to this, parents should “not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another” (Mosiah 4:14), and that they should “provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

To do this, requires holding Family Home Evening once a week where parents present a spiritual lesson along with games followed by refreshments. It also requires holding a special family lesson each Sunday and in addition to this, parents need to have family and personal prayers twice a day, along with family and personal scripture study each day. And to properly raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord requires attending church each Sunday and fulfilling callings in the church, as well as going to the temple as often as possible.

Of course, with a large family, parents also need to spend a considerable amount of time and effort supporting their children’s activities both in and out of the church, in addition to helping them with their public schooling homework.

There are many Latter-day Saint women who diligently strive to be the perfect mother by doing everything they feel the Lord expects of them but instead of finding joy in serving the Lord, they feel exhausted, frustrated, and depressed. They find themselves yelling at their children, sometimes many times a day, where their patience and long-suffering seems to be non-existent.

Instead of having a nice, neat and tidy home, their entire house looks like a tornado went through it. Instead of having pleasant, obedient children, their children are constantly arguing with one another and not doing what they’re told. Too many times husbands and wives argue with each other, sometimes over trivial things. And with so much going on, there seems to be no time for family prayer, let alone scripture study or Family Home Evening, and instead of Sundays being a day of rest, for many women it’s the busiest day of the week.

When they come to church, they look at other women who seem to be full of happiness while their children seem to be perfectly behaved. They also see women serving in leadership positions in both the ward and stake level who appear to be handling great church and home responsibilities with ease. When they compare themselves to these women, they wonder why they can’t be like them which only makes them feel like they are a complete failure. This then leads them to think they are not only letting their families down but are not living up to the promise they made to God.

But life is not just about living the gospel. It also involves working at a job and handling the emergencies that come up in loife, such as having to deal with a serious illness either for themselves or someone they love. It could involve dealing with difficulties at work or with a spouse or a child. They could be struggling with finances or coping with a hard situation or worrying about something they have no control over. All these things by themselves can drain a person’s spiritually and leave them with feelings of hopelessness, despondency and being disheartened.

At times like this, for some the idea of becoming perfect as our Father in heaven seems more like a nightmare than it does a heavenly dream. At times like this, the plan of happiness can seem to be non-existent, at least for them. It’s times like this that many people feel like giving up trying to be spiritually strong because it doesn’t seem to be working for them, no matter how hard they try. In fact, the harder they try, the worse it makes them feel and the more it reinforces the idea that they are a failure, that it’s useless to keep trying to do the impossible, that God must be very disappointed with them, and that they are never going to make it to heaven because they don’t have what it takes to get there.

Not everyone who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints feels this way, but unfortunately, far too many do have these kinds of thoughts. But the problem isn’t that there is something wrong with them, or that the church demands too much of them, but rather, it’s because they have a misunderstanding or misperception of what God’s plan is for their salvation.

The first thing that has to be understood is that the situations we’ve just looked at are what’s normal. In nearly all cases, the people we see at church who seem to be perfect or nearly so, are very rarely what they appear to be. They are either having or have had the same kind of problems that everyone else is going through. Even those who serve in the church on the general level, whether it is a General Relief Society, Primary, or Young Woman’s president, or a General Authority Seventy, or an apostle, or even the President of the church, as we come to know the stories of their personal life, we find that nearly every one of them have had some very rough times to go through.

For example, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has shared in a General Conference talk that there was a time in his life when he struggled with depression. Elder Christopherson has told of a business deal he was involved with that he thought was going to cause him to lose a very large sum of money, which caused him great anxiety. Elder M. Russell Ballard has told of going home every evening from his very busy work schedule as an apostle to care for his wife who had dementia. President Eyring had a similar situation with his wife who was an invalid. Elder Spencer W. Kimball had throat cancer that nearly left him unable to speak. It was very hard on President Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder Holland when their wives died after being happily married to them for over sixty years, not to mention the void of loneliness they had to endure afterwards. And there are many, many similar stories that could be told about the tragedies, heartaches, and traumas that our modern-day apostles have faced in their personal lives. What we see then is that no one is immune from these kinds of problems.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” yet that’s exactly what we do when we see people at church, even at the general level, who appear as if they’re so happy and that their life is picture perfect. In fact, I would venture to say that at least 90% of the people we see in our own wards are having difficulties of some sort but when we come to church, for the most part, we leave our troubles at home and put forth our best self for others to see.

For example, we may yell at our children at home, but we rarely do that at church. Therefore, when people see us, we look to them as if we are happy and are spiritually strong. For this reason, when we learn of couples in our ward who divorce, or members who fall away from activity because they no longer believe what the church teaches, most ward members are shocked because they had no idea these people were having such problems.

So the first thing we have to realize is that what we are going through and the feelings we have are perfectly normal, and that there is nothing wrong with us because of them.

With that understanding, the second thing we need to realize is that God’s plan for our salvation was made for imperfect people. It wasn’t designed just for the spiritually strong but is meant to help even the least of the saints make it back to the celestial kingdom. That means God expects that we are going to have bad days, and maybe bad weeks or even bad years, but if we could see what God has seen over the history of mankind, we’d probably think much more highly of ourselves compared to how people behave who don’t have the gospel in their life.

When we compare ourselves to perfection, of course we’re going to come up very short of that ideal, but when we compare ourselves to most people in the world, in the majority of cases, we are head and shoulders above where they are spiritually. So, despite our many faults, in reality we’re doing better than we think we are, and more importantly, God recognizes that.

That then leads us to the third thing we need to understand which is that God is not so much concerned with where we are but where we’re going. No parent expects their three-year-old child to behave like a thirty-year-old, yet that’s exactly what many people expect of themselves.

Throughout the scriptures, God refers to us as his “little children.” Because we can only see things from our mortal experiences, we tend to think of ourselves as being grown, mature adults, but from an eternal perspective, we are still very much “little children” when compared to where we are in our spiritual journey to perfection.

To put this in earthly terms, it’s as if we’re currently in the seventh grade of our divine education and our goal is to get a Ph.D. in godhood. It’s only when we eventually reach that level that we will have finally become as perfect as our Father in heaven. Therefore, it is foolish to think we are failures because we haven’t yet achieved a Ph.D. while only being in seventh grade.

God isn’t expecting us to be perfect at this point in our spiritual development. What he is most interested in is our progress. Each of us are at different levels of spirituality and God fully understands that, however, even the slowest learner can still acquire the knowledge and skill needed to become like our Father in heaven as long as they don’t give up trying. Instead of being disappointed because of our lack of perfection, God is there cheering us on to keep trying. It’s when we quit that we fail, and that’s what’s disappointing to God.

As we struggle with the trials of life, the question has been asked more than once, “Why must life be so hard? Why are there so many problems in life?” The Lord gave the answer when he said, “know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7). Just like a seventh grader doesn’t understand why they have to do homework because it’s so hard and no fun, so also most people don’t understand why we have so many trials in life, but God knows that ultimately, they’re for our good.

For this reason, earth life was designed for man to work by the sweat of his brow, both physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually because it teaches us valuable lessons we can’t learn any other way and that are necessary for us to become perfect. Most people want to live an easy, comfortable life where nothing but happiness and joy exists, but that doesn’t provide us with opportunities to grow. It’s the hard times we go through that stretch us, refines us, and helps us improve.

With that understanding, instead of thinking we’re a failure for not doing everything perfectly, we should remind ourselves that every experience we have, whether it is good or bad, or if it brings us joy or sorrow, builds our faith or weakens it, makes us feel proud of ourselves or makes us doubt ours abilities, all of these things are meant to teach us valuable lessons that are necessary to help us become perfect. Stated differently, we can’t become perfect without having these kinds of experiences.

But beyond all of this, what we first and foremost have to understand is that we are incapable of perfecting ourselves. Moroni taught that we should“come unto Christ, and… [for it is] by his grace ye may be perfect” (Moroni 10:32). It’s not our job to perfect ourselves. That’s Christ’s responsibility. Our job is to come unto him and strive to “love God with all your might, mind and strength.” as we do our best to keep the commandments he’s given us.

This is no different than going to school where we are taught the lessons we need to know, and as long as we show up to school, listen to the information we’re being given, and do our homework assignments, we will gain the knowledge and skills we need. In the same way, as we come unto Christ, listen to what he tells us to do, and then seek to follow his instructions, little by little we inch closer and closer to becoming perfect.

The homework assignments Christ gives us come in the form of the experiences we have, and they are designed specifically for each of us as individuals. To better understand this concept, before we came to earth we had our own personality, skills, interests and abilities, and since we are all unique, each of us have our own special areas we need to improve in. For that reason, the lessons God has to teach us have to be tailored to each of us individually. Therefore, the experiences we have are deliberately designed to help us grow in those areas where we personally need improving.

We see this in the book of Abraham where we read “And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers” (Abraham 3:23). But before they could effectively fulfill their assignment, God first has to train them to be a ruler, and to do that he has to provide them with the kinds of experiences that would prepare them for their future leadership role.

As we look at the life of Moses we see how everything that happened to him – from the time he was born and discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, to him growing up as a son of the Pharaoh, to his killing an Egyptian taskmaster that lead him to flee in the desert where he lived for forty years with a priest of God named Jethro, to meeting God on the mountain, all of these experiences were critical in preparing him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the land God had promised to Abraham.

And God is doing the same with each of us. Therefore, with this understanding, instead of complaining about how hard our life is and about our shortcomings, weaknesses and failures, we should view these as if they were homework assignments meant to help us grow to someday become as perfect as God and be capable of doing what he does. Instead of wanting to give up, we should remember the counsel the apostle Paul gave to the saints in his day when he said, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

When we come to better understand God’s plan of salvation for his children, it dispels the myth that in the eyes of God, we are not good enough

 

Related articles can be found at The Nature of Salvation