3 Nephi 12: 48; Moroni 10: 32-33

 

How can we become perfect like the Savior?

"48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (3 Nephi 12: 48)

"32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moroni 10: 32-33)

And here's the end part of the commentary entitled: "I can be a true disciple of Jesus Christ." : 

"The commandment in 3 Nephi 12:48 can seem overwhelming—even impossible. What do you learn from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s message “Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 40–42) that helps you understand the Savior’s words in this verse? According to Moroni 10:32–33, what makes it possible to be perfect like the Savior?

See also Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32–34; “Lord, I Would Follow Thee,” Hymns, no. 220; “Jesus Christ Teaches How to Live the Higher Law” (video), Gospel Library."

Here's a quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's message "Be Ye Therefore Perfect--Eventually" : 

"Jesus uses an unfathomable measurement here because His Atonement is an unfathomable gift given at an incomprehensible cost. That, it seems to me, is at least part of the meaning behind Jesus’s charge to be perfect. We may not be able to demonstrate yet the 10,000-talent perfection the Father and the Son have achieved, but it is not too much for Them to ask us to be a little more godlike in little things, that we speak and act, love and forgive, repent and improve at least at the 100-pence level of perfection, which it is clearly within our ability to do."

What I learned from here is that the commandment to "be perfect" is possible for us to achieve to some degree. It's not impossible for us to improve and level up. The Lord is expecting us to do what we can to become better than we were yesterday. We are not expected to reach the same level of perfection as God's while in this earthly existence. We are expected to strive to do what we can in our power to become our better version. 

We can become perfect like the Savior when we "deny ourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all our might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for us, that by his grace we may be perfect in Christ."