The Greek rendering for “perfect” is,
by the way, “complete finished, fully developed.” After his atonement and resurrection,
Jesus included himself as our pattern. “Therefore I would that ye should be
perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (3 Nephi 12:48).
One of the problems we have in the Church is that we consider perfection in abstraction,
and it becomes too intimidating. But when we think of it in terms of the specific,
cardinal attributes, and we strive to develop these in a steady process of
self-improvement, it is quite a different matter.
Ponder this ancient self-description with
its focus on attributes:
And the Lord pass
by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth. [Exodus 34:6; emphasis added]
When Jesus visited his hometown, the
people wondered at his gracious words (see Luke 4:22). What is enjoyed upon us
in thus very specific. The specific qualities are made clear again and again in
the scriptures. So is our need to follow the developmental path:
For I have given you
an example, but that ye should do as I have done to you. [John 13:15]
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. [2 Nephi 31:9]
These qualities are not only
developmental destinations, but, meanwhile, if developed significantly, they
also provide us with the balance urgently needed for traveling on the demanding
narrow path! It is so easy to fall off one side of the other!
The divine direction is clear: “Behold
I am the light; I have set an example for you” (3 Nephi 18:16)
Too often when we seek to excuse
ourselves, it is, ironically, “the natural man” we are excusing. Yet scriptures
inform us “the natural man” is to be “put off” (see Mosiah 3:19). “He”
certainly should not be “kept on” because of a mistake sense that the natural
man constitutes our individuality.
In this process, substance and style
interplay constantly—more than we realize! How can we become “even as [Jesus]
is” if we are impatient or proud?
The gospel gives proportion as to both
substance and style. For example, it is far more important to be morally clean
rather than to be a clean-desk individual. Similarly, it is better to “speak the
truth in love,” as Pual counsels, than it is to simply speak the truth (see
Ephesians 4:15).
These scriptural virtues are intertwined,
interactive, and interdependent. (Neal A. Maxwell, “'In Him All Things Hold
Together,'” March 31, 1991, in Brigham Young University 1990-91 Devotional
and Fireside Speeches [Provo, Utah: University Publication, 1991], 105)
