I took an exam today. I studied for the exam for three hours straight, in addition to having already read those sections of the textbook for quizzes and other assignments, and I spent a full hour taking the exam. There were fifty questions, and I only missed five, but as soon as I saw how many questions I missed, I was immediately disappointed in myself. I had hoped to do much better than that. I was mentally prepared to miss one question, or maybe two or three. But five? That was too many. I'm a better student than that. I studied too long to get a grade that low.
But that's the thing, isn't it? My grade was fine. My grade on that exam was practically perfect. forty-five correct answers out of fifty questions is ninety percent. That's an A. That's barely an A, but it's an A, and it's the same A I would have gotten if my score had actually been perfect.
In life, our ultimate goal is perfection. We are trying to be/become like our perfect Father in Heaven. But we fall short. We fall painfully, hopelessly short. We are not perfect; we're far from perfect. Yet, despite how far we fall short of perfection, it may not ultimately matter. So long as we're good enough, so long as we're as good as we know how to be and are capable of being, God will make up the difference and assign us a passing, perfect grade.
Our imperfections don't ultimately matter. Those five questions I missed won't ultimately matter. God will bless our efforts, and us, even if we got a few, or even several, things wrong. So long as we are good enough, or at least trying to be, we'll make it to the Celestial Kingdom, the same Celestial Kingdom that Christ Himself dwells in.
We're not perfect. We don't have to be. So long as we are good and are trying to become better, that's good enough for an A grade, the same grade we've have gotten had we actually managed to be perfect.
So, I'm not perfect, but I'm going to be, and when I am, it won't matter that I got a few questions wrong along the way.
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