CONSIDERATIONS IN
MOVING TOWARDS PERFECTION
Stephen
D. ZoBell
See the chart first followed by text for explanations:
See the chart first followed by text for explanations:
THE SAVIOR'S PLAN
1. The Savior has invited all to turn our faces
towards perfection, to leave imperfection behind us and to move forward on the
path leading to perfection. His plan respects
our agency, provides for His help to be given to us and He expects the glory
and honor to be given to Heavenly Father.
2. Working on the Savior's plan for perfection is a process, it is a way of life, it
is a step by step approach and we move toward perfection line upon line,
molecule upon molecule, principle/practice upon principle/practice. The Savior’s plan for perfection is a journey
not an incident.
3. Some of the methods that the Savior
uses to help us on our pathway to perfection include:
a. He respects and honors our agency so He gently invites us to consider His plan of perfection. The Holy Ghost is a major part of the plan through gently inviting and guiding.
b. He has arranged covenants for us, so that as we are worthy and commit to them, they
help to keep us on the right path.
c. Within the Lord's Kingdom we are never alone, we have leaders,
supervisors, guides and supports on both sides of the
veil. They help us as we move towards
perfection
d. Since we make many mistakes along the way,
the Savior gives us opportunities to change and to repent. These opportunities
come because of His love and sacrifice for us.
The most notable opportunity given to us by the Savior is the Atonement.
e. Our Father in Heaven and our Savior are kind,
patient, loving and understanding. Our
work on earth is important but they do not rush us through our step by step
process. As we move forward to
perfection one step at a time, they
patiently encourage us. Don't quit on
the path to perfection, keep trying.
f. Our responsibility is to accept the Savior's
invitation, become involved in His covenants, realize we are never alone,
repent when we become distracted and
patiently move forward towards perfection one step at a time. Another important responsibility we have is
to be kind and merciful to ourselves as we make our attempts. We have the responsibility to treat ourselves
good and to say kind encouraging things about ourselves when we talk to
ourselves. It is not appropriate to be
self critical or harsh in our judgement of ourselves. God loves us and we must learn to love
ourselves. Kindness and mercy
towards self, as well as positive self
talk, will help us to move forward on the path towards perfection.
g. We also have the responsibility to treat
other people as the Savior would treat them.
He is kind, loving, gracious and encouraging towards those who believe
in Him and have willing hearts. We
should learn the skills of cooperating with all others in our circle of
influence. We should treat all people with
charity. This includes our self. We should have charity for our self. This takes practice. But as we have charity and cooperate with others in building God's Kingdom, we will be on the
Savior's plan for us moving towards perfection.
h. The Savior's plan is based on truth.
If we know the truth it will set us free. We need to accept the truth about ourselves,
our relationship to Heavenly Father and the Savior, learn the Holy Ghost's role
in witnessing of truth, the truth that we need humility and a willing heart,
the truth that we are nothing without the Savior in our lives and that He is
the only means of obtaining our exaltation, the truth about the plan of the
Savior to lead us to perfection, the truth about where we are at on our own
personal path according to the Lord's point of view.
i. If we follow the above methods, plus others that the Savior has given us, then our confidence in the Lord begins to wax strong, we feel a sense of progression and improvement, our hope for a brighter day shines forth as we have a sense that, although we are not perfect, we are facing the right direction and we are moving forward towards perfection one step at a time.
SATAN'S DECEPTION
4. Satan has tried to imitate the Savior. Satan's
imitation for a plan of perfection is based on lies and illusions. In the pre mortal life, Satan wanted to take
away our agency and force us all to
be perfect. Then he wanted to have the
glory for himself and disregard Heavenly Father. His plan was rejected, it is impossible that
his plan could ever work and Satan was cast out. He still tries to offer his plan to God's
children here on this earth.
5. Some of Satan's methods to entice us
into his false notion of perfection include:
a. lies,
illusions and force
b. Satan wants us to feel shame for who we are and manipulates us to feel that we are nothing
and should be hiding in the
shadows never amounting to anything good.
c. Satan tries to frighten us into feeling that
we are alone, not connected,
isolated from others and from God. He wants us to feel lonely,
afraid and vulnerable, with no support.
d. Satan promotes the lie that we are failures when we make mistakes in the
gospel. He wants us to be discouraged and to quit trying to do good
things. He wants us to feel that we are useless.
e. Satan wants others to condemn us for our
mistakes and he wants us to condemn ourselves. Condemnation is a harsh final judgement
that says: you cannot move forward any
more, you are done, you have lost, there
is no hope for you, you have no worth.
f. Satan accuses and seduces people to be
involved in blame. If we blame others
then no one is taking responsibility, we are just accusing others. If it is
someone else's fault then we don't need to try to improve. So Satan works towards having others blame us
and worst of all, he works towards having us blame ourselves, calling ourselves
bad names and saying negative things to ourselves about ourselves because of
our mistakes. Blame also leads to
contention. Contention is not of the
Lord and so Satan wants to promote
fighting and arguments.
g. Constant condemnation and blame will
ultimately lead to self-hatred and self criticism. These
are dangerous positions to take as they remove light, life, hope, faith and
charity. Two of Satan's main methods are promoting self-hatred and self
criticism so that we will constantly criticize
everything we do, we will say negative things about ourselves, we will never do anything right or be anything
good. Constant self-hatred and self-criticism
take away hope.
h. Feeding self-hatred and self criticism are
the acts of comparing self to others
and competing with others in a gospel framework
or in a framework of our person-hood. There are appropriate times
in this world for competition and comparisons and those are in places like
sporting fields, musical
recitals, car races, etc. But in a
gospel context, or in relationships where we serve in the church or in family arenas, competing
and comparing can be dangerous. Satan
promote inappropriate competitions
and inappropriate comparisons so that he can increase anger, hatred, fighting, blame, envy
and jealousy which all take away the light of the gospel.
i. If we use Satan's methods then our confidence
in ourselves and our confidence in the Lord
becomes weak, we feel more
like we are moving backwards rather than forward. Despair becomes
strong. If we continue with Satan's
methods we will feel no confidence, no progress and a great deal of despair.
CONCLUSIONS
6. Ultimately, there are two paths to choose. We can choose the Savior's true plan for
perfection or we can choose Satan's imitation which is an illusion that cannot
come true.
7. But, there are also two methods to
choose. We can choose Satan's methods or
we can choose the Savior's methods.
8. It is important to be on the Savior's plan
for perfection. But there are times when
even good people might use some of Satan's tactics and methods even though they
are on the Savior's path.
9. It is important for all of us to consider
very carefully the methods we are using as we move forward on the Savior's plan
for perfection. If we are using any of
Satan's methods, we must change quickly to begin to use the Savior's methods.
10. We all
need to move towards perfection on the right plan using the right methods
