The Beatitudes: A Finishing School

"Here it was that the greatest person who
ever lived delivered the greatest sermon ever
given—the Sermon on the Mount."

The Sermon on the Mount included a list of something called "Beatitudes," which are defined as the following:

certain elements that go to form the refined and spiritual character, all of which will be present whenever that character exists in its perfection (Beatitudes; emphasis added).

In the Sermon on the Mount, the true aspects of that overarching goal of perfection are delineated; what an overwhelming and daunting thought. However, Elder Robert E. Wells' comments make the entire thing more approachable. He says that the beatitudes are the "foundation of true Christian conduct . . . the finishing school, because no mortal has ever plumbed its full depths."

I am mortal, and I freely admit that I am not perfect. However, I have hope that through following Christ's path, I will eventually become "finished" or completed—another definition of perfection.

Following Christ is a process; we don't arrive all at once. As Elder Royden G. Derrick said, "Jesus showed us the way. Its simplicity is encompassed in His Beatitudes, which have echoed down through the centuries of time and will yet echo through the millenniums of time" (The Way to Perfection).

 

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5)

• Those that are poor in spirit (humility—a Christlike attribute)
• Those that mourn (all the prophets have mourned over the wickedness and sorrow of the world, and they have been comforted)
• The meek (meekness is "absolute power with absolute control"—David O. McKay).
• Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness 
• The merciful
• The pure in heart
• The peacemakers
• Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake