Becoming perfected in Christ (see Moroni 10:32) is a celebration of individuality, not conformity.
When reading “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:32), I sometimes wonder, “As I become more like the Savior, will I become less like myself?”
PHOTO BY JEREMY YAP
Julie Crockett answers this question in her BYU devotional “Discovering Your Divine Individuality,” in which she teaches that we can come unto Christ and still maintain our individuality.
On our way to perfection, our heavenly parents ask us to develop specific qualities: faith, charity, patience, and many others. There are so many qualities we’re asked to improve that we might view becoming perfected as being synonymous with trading out parts of our personality to fit a Christlike mold.
But Sister Crockett explains that we are more than the habits we’re asked to refine. Referencing C. S. Lewis’s quotation in his novel The Great Divorce, Sister Crockett reminds us that “good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good.”
Continuing with the ripened fruit analogy, each fruit generally shares several underlying qualities: each is full of nutrients and vitamins; each needs sun, water, and soil to grow; and each is refreshing and delicious. However, despite their similarities, each fruit has a unique shape, color, taste, smell, and texture. A perfect peach and a perfect pineapple have the same basic qualities, but they will never be exactly the same, and that’s a good thing.
Each of us is a child of heavenly parents, and we are all full of divine potential and talents nurtured in our pre-earth life. As we develop Christlike attributes in this life, our personalities become refreshing and our service delicious to others. But we will never be the same kind of perfect as someone else—and that’s intentional.
As I become more like the Savior, I won’t lose myself. I will instead become a person that I’m proud of—a person perfected in my individuality.
Read more about how striving to become more like the Savior helps us become the best, individual version of ourselves in Julie Crockett’s full address “Discovering Your Divine Individuality.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Rachel Peterson, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY BLUE BIRD
Find more insights
Read Claire Parker’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “A Humble Roadmap to Reach Perfection” to learn about the beginning steps to become more like Jesus Christ.
Discover how to recognize your individual role in God’s plan with Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Four Titles.”