Comparisons can distort our view. It is easy to think that another person is so very much more righteous, or smart, or handsome, or intelligent, or wealthy, or whatever, than we are. I must occasionally remind myself that what goes on here on earth must seem fairly goofy compared to heaven. The few faces and bodies considered "perfect" by our mortal standards must pale in comparison to beauty of spirits and resurrected beings in heaven. The same goes for intelligence. Spirits have a "perfect" knowledge according to Nephi, and a "bright recollection," according to Amulek. Mortals tend to forget. Athleticism, wealth, musical ability, any positive attribute or virtue you can think of here, must be dwarfed by its heavenly counterpart.
Here on earth, we are easily impressed. It is very easy to assume that a person must be very righteous, virtuous, pure, etc. Someone who keeps ninety percent of the commandments most of the time seems to deserve praise or a medal or a trophy. But simply keeping all the commandments all the time is the MINIMUM requirement for righteousness. Dirt is more righteous than we are, because it consistently obeys God."O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God" (Hel. 12:7-8). "And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law" (D&C 88:25). The earth abides a celestial law, which is simply to do what God tells it to. Do we deserve praise for simply doing what we are supposed to? Should an audience of onlookers begin to applaud wildly when we obey traffic regulations? No; it is our duty, what is expected of us.
Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler in Mark will give us a clear picture of our current situation: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions" (Mark 10:17-22).
God is the only "good" one. The rest of us fall short of the requirement. Instead of praising the rich young man for his obedience to some of the commandments, Jesus asked him to obey the rules he was struggling with (commandment one, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," two, "No idols," and ten, "Thou shalt not covet." He was actively breaking all three commandments in his heart with his treasures.) Jesus was asking him to live the law of consecration, and the rich young man balked. He had reached his personal limit, and was shown exactly what he needed to work on, and repent of.
Ether 12:27 says that "...if men come unto [Christ], [He] will show unto them their weakness." That is exactly what happened here.
Peter noted with some pride that he and the other disciples had passed the test by leaving their worldly goods and following Jesus, and was eager to cross the finish line like the rich young ruler and receive a commendation or award or something. By comparison, they looked very good. Jesus hinted that Peter had hurdles he would trip over as well—he later denied the Lord three times.
So there we are. From our perspective, when we finally start doing the right thing, we deserve praise, but in reality, we are just beginning to do what is expected of us, the default behavior of obedience. "For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9). Jesus has bought time for us to repent, and covered our sins to soften the blow of despair that Peter and the rich young man felt when they reached their personal limit and broke the rules. If He has gone to such great lengths for us individually, despite our flaws, we should also be willing to excuse each other and forgive ourselves and others who fall short.
I believe the distance between a good person and a bad person is smaller than the distance between a good person and God. How many attributes would any mortal have to acquire (or rid himself of) before he could be equal to God? The Brother of Jared was a righteous man, so righteous that he saw Jehovah face to face, the pre-mortal Christ. But listen to the words he prayed just moments before that interview took place: "...O Lord...do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires."
I think this is the real meaning of the word "weakness" as used in Ether 12:27. It is not talking about weaknesses (bad eyesight, poor inhibition of appetites, temper, or other foibles); it is referring to our fallen nature, all weakness together, our inheritance from Adam of living in the fallen world, with fallen bodies, and tripping under the load and disobeying the commandments. This verse is often conflated with the construct or paradigm of modern self-improvement literature, in which we pick out one flaw and "work on it." But that is not what the verse is about. Our work is to obey the commandments (D&C 11:20). Jesus' work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. We can change our behavior, but that is not enough; He can change our natures, and that is what we are looking for. Receiving strength to improve behavior in spite of our nature (grace), and ultimately to have our natures changed so that we are no longer susceptible to temptations—that is what it means to have "weak things made strong unto" us. We become fit for heaven as He cleans us up, gives us strength to do what we are supposed to, and makes doing it desirable instead of drudgery. We help in the process by surrendering our hearts and agency to Him (humility), and that gets our agency out of the way, for He will not overreach agency.
Comparison to each other creates false impressions about who is good; comparison to the actual rules creates a realistic sense of how great a distance we still have to go. How do we avoid being overwhelmed by the disparity between what is and what should be? Hope through the Atonement of Christ. Not just believing the words in the scriptures, but taking the impressions of the Spirit as evidence that He is far from giving up on us, and is still working on us. A lump of clay does not look anything like a shining, colorful piece of pottery, but the kneading and pressure of the Potter's hands on the surface of the lump is evidence that He is busy molding it into what it should be, and that He sees it in terms of what it can become.
Here on earth, we are easily impressed. It is very easy to assume that a person must be very righteous, virtuous, pure, etc. Someone who keeps ninety percent of the commandments most of the time seems to deserve praise or a medal or a trophy. But simply keeping all the commandments all the time is the MINIMUM requirement for righteousness. Dirt is more righteous than we are, because it consistently obeys God."O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God" (Hel. 12:7-8). "And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law" (D&C 88:25). The earth abides a celestial law, which is simply to do what God tells it to. Do we deserve praise for simply doing what we are supposed to? Should an audience of onlookers begin to applaud wildly when we obey traffic regulations? No; it is our duty, what is expected of us.
Jesus' interaction with the rich young ruler in Mark will give us a clear picture of our current situation: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions" (Mark 10:17-22).
God is the only "good" one. The rest of us fall short of the requirement. Instead of praising the rich young man for his obedience to some of the commandments, Jesus asked him to obey the rules he was struggling with (commandment one, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," two, "No idols," and ten, "Thou shalt not covet." He was actively breaking all three commandments in his heart with his treasures.) Jesus was asking him to live the law of consecration, and the rich young man balked. He had reached his personal limit, and was shown exactly what he needed to work on, and repent of.
Ether 12:27 says that "...if men come unto [Christ], [He] will show unto them their weakness." That is exactly what happened here.
Peter noted with some pride that he and the other disciples had passed the test by leaving their worldly goods and following Jesus, and was eager to cross the finish line like the rich young ruler and receive a commendation or award or something. By comparison, they looked very good. Jesus hinted that Peter had hurdles he would trip over as well—he later denied the Lord three times.
So there we are. From our perspective, when we finally start doing the right thing, we deserve praise, but in reality, we are just beginning to do what is expected of us, the default behavior of obedience. "For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9). Jesus has bought time for us to repent, and covered our sins to soften the blow of despair that Peter and the rich young man felt when they reached their personal limit and broke the rules. If He has gone to such great lengths for us individually, despite our flaws, we should also be willing to excuse each other and forgive ourselves and others who fall short.
I believe the distance between a good person and a bad person is smaller than the distance between a good person and God. How many attributes would any mortal have to acquire (or rid himself of) before he could be equal to God? The Brother of Jared was a righteous man, so righteous that he saw Jehovah face to face, the pre-mortal Christ. But listen to the words he prayed just moments before that interview took place: "...O Lord...do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires."
I think this is the real meaning of the word "weakness" as used in Ether 12:27. It is not talking about weaknesses (bad eyesight, poor inhibition of appetites, temper, or other foibles); it is referring to our fallen nature, all weakness together, our inheritance from Adam of living in the fallen world, with fallen bodies, and tripping under the load and disobeying the commandments. This verse is often conflated with the construct or paradigm of modern self-improvement literature, in which we pick out one flaw and "work on it." But that is not what the verse is about. Our work is to obey the commandments (D&C 11:20). Jesus' work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. We can change our behavior, but that is not enough; He can change our natures, and that is what we are looking for. Receiving strength to improve behavior in spite of our nature (grace), and ultimately to have our natures changed so that we are no longer susceptible to temptations—that is what it means to have "weak things made strong unto" us. We become fit for heaven as He cleans us up, gives us strength to do what we are supposed to, and makes doing it desirable instead of drudgery. We help in the process by surrendering our hearts and agency to Him (humility), and that gets our agency out of the way, for He will not overreach agency.
Comparison to each other creates false impressions about who is good; comparison to the actual rules creates a realistic sense of how great a distance we still have to go. How do we avoid being overwhelmed by the disparity between what is and what should be? Hope through the Atonement of Christ. Not just believing the words in the scriptures, but taking the impressions of the Spirit as evidence that He is far from giving up on us, and is still working on us. A lump of clay does not look anything like a shining, colorful piece of pottery, but the kneading and pressure of the Potter's hands on the surface of the lump is evidence that He is busy molding it into what it should be, and that He sees it in terms of what it can become.
