There is a profound difference between doing, and becoming. When I was a little chap, I loved saying "what I wanted to be when I grew up." I wanted to be a train conducter! I wanted to be the dude who was in control of those magnificent locomotives. How sweet would that be? Aside from careers, what do we want to be when we grow up? Who do we want to become?
Our Savior teaches us what we need to become in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us to, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce! I have got some work to do! So how in the world do we become perfect? Only the Son of God was perfect! Alright lets take a deep breath and take a step back for a minute. We must focus on what we need to become, rather than what we need to do. Checklists are easy. We can live the commandments that God has given us daily, but unless we are growing and becoming the sons and daughters of God that we need to be, it availeth us nothing. That is the difference between doing, and becoming. Let's face it. We cannot become perfect while in mortality. We will inevitably slip up! But Christ teaches us that if we live the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, we will receive eternal life. There we have the capabilities of becoming perfect, as the Master teaches us that we must be. That is what we want to become. James E. Talmage, a modern-day Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a great analogy of this. "A college student in his freshman or sophomore year may be perfect as freshman or sophomore; his record may possibly be a hundred percent on the scale of efficiency and achievement; yet the honors of the upper classman are beyond him, and the attainment of graduation is to him remote, but of assured possibility, if he do but continue faithful and devoted to the end."
My friends, we cannot find ourselves focusing on the to-do lists. We need to have a vision of what we want to become, and focus on achieving it. Perfection is the end result we should seek. This is only found in and through the Savior of the World. But while we are in our "freshman" years, we can get straight-a's! My prayer is that of Lynn G. Robbins, a General Authority of our faith, "May your efforts to develop Christlike attributes be successful so that His image may be engraven in your countenance and His attributes manifest in your behavior." I love you all. Stay classy.
Elder Hill
Our Savior teaches us what we need to become in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us to, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce! I have got some work to do! So how in the world do we become perfect? Only the Son of God was perfect! Alright lets take a deep breath and take a step back for a minute. We must focus on what we need to become, rather than what we need to do. Checklists are easy. We can live the commandments that God has given us daily, but unless we are growing and becoming the sons and daughters of God that we need to be, it availeth us nothing. That is the difference between doing, and becoming. Let's face it. We cannot become perfect while in mortality. We will inevitably slip up! But Christ teaches us that if we live the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, we will receive eternal life. There we have the capabilities of becoming perfect, as the Master teaches us that we must be. That is what we want to become. James E. Talmage, a modern-day Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a great analogy of this. "A college student in his freshman or sophomore year may be perfect as freshman or sophomore; his record may possibly be a hundred percent on the scale of efficiency and achievement; yet the honors of the upper classman are beyond him, and the attainment of graduation is to him remote, but of assured possibility, if he do but continue faithful and devoted to the end."
My friends, we cannot find ourselves focusing on the to-do lists. We need to have a vision of what we want to become, and focus on achieving it. Perfection is the end result we should seek. This is only found in and through the Savior of the World. But while we are in our "freshman" years, we can get straight-a's! My prayer is that of Lynn G. Robbins, a General Authority of our faith, "May your efforts to develop Christlike attributes be successful so that His image may be engraven in your countenance and His attributes manifest in your behavior." I love you all. Stay classy.
Elder Hill
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