Perfectionism is not the same as being perfected in Christ
In John 6 it tells the story of how a great multitude of over 5,000 people followed Jesus out of the cities and into the wilderness because they wanted to witness his miracles. They were not disappointed as he spent the day teaching them and healing the sick among them. Later that day, Jesus recognized the crowd’s need for food in a desert place that rendered few options. As he expressed his concern to the disciples, he asked them to gather some food to share amongst the people. Only one lad offered five loaves of bread and two small fishes. Jesus took this small offering and gave thanks and blessed it, and as he did, the food was magnified to become much more than what was needed – with 12 baskets to spare.
This miracle demonstrates two opportunities for the magnification of things that we may be deficient of.
The first being that as we give thanks for what we have been blessed with, the Lord can and will magnify it to become more than what we need. I’ll admit that I’m often too busy calculating what I don’t have rather than considering what I do have- especially in my prayers! I always want more. I want more money, more time, more experience, more opportunity, ect. But in truth, I need to modify my perspective to see how I’ve been blessed. As we show gratitude to God, we also show our faith and trust in Him and this qualifies us for greater blessings. It says in Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.”
Acknowledging him is expressing gratitude for his blessings.
The second perspective for magnification in this story is that when we offer our earnest efforts to serve God, like the food given by the lad, the Savior will perfect them to become more than enough. This is what the atonement is all about, and thankfully, it goes far beyond improving our abilities. It offers complete healing from our traumas, our sins, and eventually our physical limitations through the atonement and resurrection. Perfectionism is not the same as being perfected in Christ. We cannot do this by ourselves because we must have our Savior.
As we accept His invitation to come unto Him and do things His way through repentance, we soon realize that our best is good enough and that the grace of a loving Savior will make up the difference in ways we cannot imagine. (Elder Vern P Stanfill - April 2023 “The Imperfect Harvest”)
