Progression

I think it is human nature to want to become better at things.  Whether it is our understanding of a subject, like sports or chemistry, but also in our ability to physically develop a talent.  As I am working towards earning a college degree I find I am constantly trying to understand the subject matter which I am studying in that course for the semester.  Also, as my interest grows in an area, such as painting, I am constantly trying to improve my techniques so that what I am painting looks more like what I am picturing in my mind.  Another one of my passions is photography.  Below is one I took while at Niagara Falls a few years ago.

In this week's lesson from my Old Testament class we talked about the Law of Moses.  I don't know if you are familiar with it, but it seemed so restrictive in what you were able to do.  An example is you could only take so many steps on the Sabbath day.  It also seemed like for so many of the laws which you broke the punishment was death.  To me, that seemed a bit extreme.  I also thought the children of Israel received this law as a punishment for worshiping a golden idol while Moses was up in the mountain talking to God the first time around.  What I learned is that the law received, as a result of proving they weren't ready for the higher law Christ instituted during His ministry, was that it was still a step forward towards becoming like Heavenly Father. Also, the punishment of death, which seemed to be given to so many of the laws broken, was trying to teach them that spiritual death (being cut off from the presence of God) is the worst punishment we could receive.  

I know this post seems a bit more religious than some of the others ones I have written, but I think it is important to realize that God doesn't hinder our progression towards becoming more like Him, we do.  When we sin, we are the ones making ourselves unworthy of His presence.  We need to remember that as a mortal man, we do like to progress.  We like having a more perfect golf game.  We love having our garden flourish and producing scrumptious food.  We love our cooking to actually taste good and not make our family want to order takeout.  We just have to keep in mind that the thing at the top of our list to progress towards is becoming perfect like God and Jesus Christ.  While I will not become perfect in this life, I hope that I will continually progress to not only become a better photographer, but most importantly, a disciple of Christ.