Prophets Weren't Meant to Be Perfect,but Perfected"

Faith is tough even for me,  it takes a constant effort sometimes to do your best and not give up.  It can be tiring, inconvenient, and even intimidating at times.  As a member of the LDS church, we are reminded daily of the responsibility of taking on ourselves, the name of Christ. Facebook, church members, daily scripture study, and prayer with our families to name a few.

 Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but usually only when I'm not doing all I can or should be doing.  Like the Brother of Jared, I've forgotten to pray for long lengths of time, but unlike the Brother of Jared; I have never been rebuked by the Lord for three straight hours.  Like Jonah, I have tried to run away from the Lord, unlike Jonah it didn't take the belly of a whale to convince me I was wrong to run.  One day, I decided that I didn't want to be on anyone's team.  I didn't choose Christ and I didn't choose Satan.  I was going to sit on that fence until I died.  I was sitting in the middle of a Relief Society lesson when this happened.  I heard a voice say to me: 'you can't hide from me.  There is no corner of the universe that I will not find thee.'  It also said 'if you do not serve the Lord thy God then you serve the adversary for there is no fence.  The fence is a deception.'  In Matthew 6:24 it reads, " ¶No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [the world]."

"Not too many months ago I received a letter from a man who once thought he could have it both ways. He has now repented and has brought his life into compliance with gospel principles and commandments. I want to share with you a paragraph from his letter, for it represents the reality of flawed thinking: “I have had to learn for myself (the hard way) that the Savior was absolutely correct when He said, ‘No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’8 I tried, about as hard as anyone ever has, to do both. In the end,” said he, “I had all of the emptiness, darkness, and loneliness that Satan provides to those who believe his deceptions, illusions, and lies.”  ( October 2011 General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson, "Dare to Stand Alone")

Like Captain Moroni, I have wanted to be of good courage and stand up for what's right no matter what it cost me; unlike Moroni, my faith wavers and I'm still struggling to be bold with my testimony of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes I lack such confidence or I'm so afraid of a confrontation I won't stand up for the truth, but stand in the shadows or wait to see how it plays out.  Sometimes unless it's happening to you why should you care about stepping in and doing something?  Why?  Matthew 25:5, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  
Abinadi sealed his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ with his life.  With that testimony, Alma, who was the priest of a wicked ruler named King Noah that loved no one more than himself, believed Abiniadi's testimony and repented and became a great and noble leader.  Sometimes I think about this story whenever I'm afraid to speak up.  Alma wasn't perfect.  He was wicked.  But through the Lord's guidance, counsel and forgiveness Alma could be perfected in Christ.

"We often make the mistake of expecting perfection from the prophets. One of the main reasons why some early saints apostasized was because of perceived imperfections in the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph openly admitted that he was not perfect, and in the D&C, he was sorely chastised because he feared man more than God (DC 3:7). Similarly, Nephi struggled with his weakness, which was an uncharitable anger towards his enemies (2 Ne 4:17,27-29). Moses' faithless disobedience brought upon him a sore chastisement (Num 20:11-12). And the brother of Jared became, for a time, negligent with his prayers, only to suffer an unimaginable three-hour rebuke from the Lord. Yet, the brother of Jared later became legendary for his great faith. What are we to learn from this?

Rather than be critical of the prophets, or make the equally fatal mistake of covering their sins, we should rejoice that the Lord's most valuable servants were, after all, only human. In this, we can take consolation. If Joseph feared man more than God, maybe there is hope for us. If Nephi felt anger, Moses was disobedient, and the brother of Jared forgot to pray, maybe there is hope for the rest of us. We can only hope!"  (gospeldoctrine.com, related to Ether 2:14)

  
 I, like many of you, have a lot in common with prophets of the past.  I mess up.  Some of us seem to coast right through trials quickly and some of us seem to be in the depths of despair depending on their level of difficulty and our level of faith that we will get through them.   We are human; struggle is an every day part of life.  But through the Atonement of the Savior we can be refined and perfected in Him if we but follow His commandments.  Do it His way.  It's never easy to recover from transgression, but it is possible.

"Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.

Into every life there come the painful, despairing days of adversity and buffeting. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. The thorns that prick, that stick in the flesh, that hurt, often change lives which seem robbed of significance and hope. This change comes about through a refining process which often seems cruel and hard. In this way the soul can become like soft clay in the hands of the Master in building lives of faith, usefulness, beauty, and strength. For some, the refiner’s fire causes a loss of belief and faith in God, but those with eternal perspective understand that such refining is part of the perfection process.

In our extremities, it is possible to become born again, born anew, renewed in heart and spirit. We no longer ride with the flow of the crowd, but instead we enjoy the promise of Isaiah to be renewed in our strength and “mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa. 40:31)." (April 1979 General Conference, James E. Faust, "The Refiner's Fire)