Pursuit of Perfection

What is the process of becoming like Christ? How did Jesus become what He currently is? I highly doubt that being sprinkled with some sort of "fairy dust" worked for Him nor will it do the job for us.

“And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son. And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father; And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him. And it shall come to pass, that if you are faithful you shall receive the fulness of the record of John. I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness. For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.” (D&C 93:11-20)

I think each individual must learn truth, live it, experience everything, grow up, and literally become precisely like Christ, over whatever time it takes. To be an independent, saved and perfected being, it only makes sense to me that I would need to possess precisely the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to be such, rather than merely hope that little "fairy dust" will somehow magically fill in all the missing gaps and make me equal in capacity, perfection and power with God, but without sufficient time, testing, learning, experience, and proving.

It is by keeping His commandments that opens the door of receiving of His fullness and we shall receive  grace for grace ... just like Christ did and thus showed us the way by His perfect example. Something that may be worth considering.

Tempter's Tool of the Trade

Feeling the spirit is directly tied to keeping the commandments. The adversary knows that law and therefore, repeatedly tempts us mortals to disregard the commandments of God with the intention to reduce light within us and to make us less able to feel the spirit.

“And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.” (D&C 93:39)

“And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.” (Alma 12:11)

Satan more fully understands than do we that as we harden our hearts, rebel against truth, disobey the word of God, commit sin, live untrue doctrines because of the traditions of our fathers, and fail to repent, our ability and connection with God is greatly reduced. Since we generally fail to sufficiently recognize this important relationship between obedience to God and our ability to hear Him, Satan continually uses it as his firsthand tool of the trade and too often succeeds.

Soooo …. We do not hear Him because we cannot feel Him because we lost the light we previously had because of our disobedience. Since we hear Him less, feel less, and perhaps care less, we tend to disobey more and it becomes a fast vicious spiral downhill into the captivity of the devil and the chains of hell!

The alternative is to be like Jesus: “He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them.” (D&C 20:22) Then the upward spiral ascends as we obey what we know, receive further light and truth, and continually repeat! 

Giving Heed, Receiving More

“And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.” (Mosiah 2:20-22)

The most important of all the commandments of God revealed and given to you is perhaps the one that you are having the most difficulty keeping today, the one that is always on your mind, the one that keeps "popping up". Talk to the Lord about it. Seek His help, forgiveness and comfort. He offers what no one else can.

It seems to me that receiving commandments or instructions from the Lord is a great advantage and blessing. Giving heed to the Lord's voice can be a "key" to receiving more. As you obey the revelations, directions, and guidance received from Him previously, the Lord reveals your next step to take, which is often accompanied with further light and knowledge.

"By doing the truth which we already know, let us make progress towards the truth which as yet we are ignorant of." (CS Lewis)