Perfection

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"There is certain frustration awaiting anyone who attempts to perfect themselves without the aid of the Holy Spirit.  It is not uncommon for someone to make a list of everything they feel they should be doing in their lives, then select a few to begin working on.  As wholesome as this sounds, it will only create feelings of impotence and frustration.  Read all the scriptures, and nowhere is there an account of someone achieving spiritual power by making lists of needed improvements, and then working the list!

They all did it by obedience to the voice of the Lord.  You must also; there is no other way...The Lord knows the exact course our lives should take, which sin should be eliminated first, which weakness should be addressed first, and which blessings we will need to accomplish these things...He will direct us, step by step...He will change and purify our hearts...

The way to perfection is not through the disciplining and reshaping of the soul by the will of man, but through the discipline of obedience and reshaping of the soul by God...To what are we to be obedient?  It is the voice of the Lord in our hearts and minds."
(see Enos 1:10-11, 1 Nephi 22:2)

- John M. Pontius -
From the book Following the Light of Christ into His Presence