Perfection
We do not achieve perfection by itemizing sins and hammering ourselves over our past imperfections. We are not stones that God uses to chip away excess materials to create something beautiful. We are flesh and blood endowed by an immortal spirit and an eternal intelligence. We have freewill. God is not our sculptor. He is our Savior. He works with us, not on us. He invites us to become like him and accepts our decision. He entices us but does not drive us. It is a kind of denial of the atonement of Christ, who died that we may be free, to think that we cannot be forgiven of our sins. We become candidates for perfection by daily repenting of our sins and striving to obey the commandments of Christ, and, at the final judgment, if we endured to the end, he, through his grace will make us perfect.
The finest manor built by man, like a turreted castle made of soft sea-sand, is subject to the tides of time and melts into liquid earth, indistinguishable. Many castles of the past, which once dominated the high hilltop, decorated in purple, now lie on the barren plains in ruins, their gray stones broken and scattered, their former royal-robed occupants forgotten.
The richest man who places his trust in himself will of himself fall, lying in ignominy and obscurity. I am reminded of a poem by Percy Shelley that aptly illustrates the vanity of pride:
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Wealth cannot purchase salvation, and poverty cannot purchase redemption. We are not condemned for our wealth nor exalted for our poverty. Humility, not suffering, satisfies the conditions of grace. The poorest man, though he lived in a crumbling shack on earth, who places his trust in Christ, will inherit a mansion made of everlasting materials and receive immortality and eternal life with Christ, to rule and reign forever.
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)
All sin is violation of spiritual law. We can’t control others or change their habits—and the sins of others often affect us—but we may control our own and change ourselves. Freewill is of the spirit and cannot be taken from us regardless of the calamity around us. Agency gives us the ability to take charge of our lives. If we learn that great secret, then living the laws of God becomes a treasure hunt for truth and the doorway to freedom.
