Be Perfect???

I have been thinking a lot recently about the Saviour in light of me reading 'Jesus the Christ' and the New Testament and generally reflecting a lot on the atonement and how it applies to me. I think I've never really taken the time out to understand why we have such a need for what Christ did for us. However, I've come to understand more recently how essential it is to everyone to learn how to apply the atonement.


Christ, we are told in 'Jesus the Christ', was born with the ability to sin. He wasn't totally different to us, living a life with no temptation. He was tempted and tried, but not once did he ever choose bad. Jeffrey R. Holland calls Him: "this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing".

The Saviour told us to be perfect (Matthew 5:48) and there is so much discussion over whether we are really expected to attain perfection. I, myself, knew the commandment but I have often wondered, "how?"...

We are told in the Book of Mormon that God will not give a commandment unless He prepares a way for it to be accomplished. (1 Nephi 3:7). Therefore, He would not tell us to be perfect and then give us no way to achieve it.

We all do things wrong. If there was no way prepared for imperfect people, then the second one told a lie, or even thought something uncharitable about someone else, they have actually barred themselves from reaching the presence of God. He is perfect and to be with Him, we have to be also. Psalm 24:3-4 says that those who stand in His holy place are those with clean hands and a pure heart.

I think some of the confusion over our relationship to grace has come due to the idea of our human state and the commandment to be perfect. Sometimes even sins of omission make us unworthy. There is not a single person who has ever lived, except Jesus, who has never committed a sin. Therefore, it becomes obvious that we need the Saviour. We need the atonement. We need grace and mercy to meet the demands of justice, that we cannot possibly fulfill ourselves. Justice would dictate that a single sin would keep a person from God's presence. We have dirty hands and can not dwell in a clean place. Mercy, grace and atonement provide us with water and soap. If we use these gifts, our hands can be squeaky clean again. We have to apply them over and over again, though, because this world is a dirty place. More than this- more than an outward repentance- we must have a change of heart. We must strive to keep our hands out of the mud. Just because we know we are subject to sin, doesn't mean that we can accept it.

The command to be perfect reminds us of our reliance on the Saviour. If we walk hand-in-hand with Him daily through prayer and scripture study and listening to the Holy Ghost, chances are that we will have less moments where we fall over and get our hands muddy. Not only that, but when we realise that holding His hand has this effect, if we don't do all that we can to stay beside Him, the times where we trip up and get muddy become more and more a result of our careless hearts. We haven't changed if we don't try to fall over less!

Perfection is an overwhelming concept to the human, mortal mind. What we need to focus on right now is moving forward with faith in Jesus that He can bridge the gap between us and perfection. If we believe in Him, we begin to build the pillars that we can walk across. That's why faith and hope are so essential, and they are things we need to cultivate because they fade if we don't. Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He is interested in getting us back to the presence of God- for both Him and the Father it is their work and their glory. (Moses 1:39). I know He loves me. He knows my heart and He will help me to chisel away at it. I just have to have faith that He knows what He's doing and I have to allow Him to turn this lump of rock into something far greater; so I become someone with function and purpose- a heart that He can use within His Kingdom.