I read Riding the Bicycle and The Ladder of St. Augustine, among others, many of which talked about Eternal Progression. The basic idea was that we might not progress very quickly, but as long as we keep progressing day by day, after a while, we'll be surprised at how far we've come. When I started writing on my blog, I had no idea how much I would end up having written, but looking over it all, I'm kind of impressed.
I wonder if spiritual progression happens the same way. I don't feel like I'm making enormous amounts of progress. At times I doubt whether I'm making any progress at all. But perhaps, farther down the road, I'll look back on my life and be surprised at how much progress I've made. I hope that's what's happening.
When Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke of the commandment to be perfect in October 1995, he noted that it's easy to get discouraged if we think of how far we are from this goal, but he also shared an important perspective on this commandment that I may not have shared with you yet.
In Matt. 5:48, the term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios,which means “complete.” Teleios is an adjective derived from the noun telos, which means “end.” 10 The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono,which means “to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.” 11 Please note that the word does not imply “freedom from error”; it implies “achieving a distant objective.”
Actually, this sounds really familiar. Maybe I have already shared this. But whatever. It's still good.
I love that last sentence of the quote. Most often, I think about perfection as not having any problems, and, thinking that way, I get discouraged, thinking that I'll never reach that goal. But when I think of Eternal Progression as a process that will last into the Eternities, I think that goal is a bit more realistic. I won't become perfect any time soon, but if I have an eternity to work on it, I may have a chance.
Elder Nelson also illustrated the difference between Mortal Perfection and Immortal or Eternal Perfection.
Mortal Perfection is possible in some cases. There are some things that we can do perfectly, such as pitching a perfect baseball game, bowling a perfect score, and playing a full game of golf and getting a hole-in-one on each course.
We can also achieve Mortal Perfection at keeping certain commandments. Some people go their entire lives without taking the name of god in vain. In keeping that commandment, those people were perfect. Many people pay a full tithe. That's a relatively easy commandment to keep perfectly, though it does take a lot of faith.
Immortal Perfection is more along the lines of what we think of when we think of Eternal Progress. Jesus Christ himself said that He wouldn't be "perfected" in that sense until after His resurrection.
Just prior to his crucifixion, he said that on “the third day I shall be perfected.” (Luke 13:32) Think of that! The sinless, errorless Lord—already perfect by our mortal standards—proclaimed his own state of perfection yet to be in the future.
"Eternal perfection," as Elder Nelson says later in his talk, "is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the fulness of the Father in his heavenly mansions. Perfection [in this sense] consists in gaining eternal life—the kind of life that God lives." Which, I may add, cannot be achieved until after the end of this life.
God does want us to be perfect, in every sense of the word, eventually. But He who knows us best knows that this is a very distant goal for us. In the meantime, He just wants us to strive for perfection and to make some progress toward that goal. As long as we continually improve, little-by-little, day-by-day, we can eventually become perfect, even as our Father who is in Heaven is perfect.
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