4 Nephi 1:15-17 -- On Progressing Towards Happiness and Perfection

"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.
There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God."
4 Nephi 1:15-17


I love the idea here of zero contention, zero envy, zero strife, zero lying. It is sad after this to read about evil slowly working its way back into their society, and I wonder why it did... why they couldn't also be like the city of Enoch, and continue in that perfect righteousness. And then, on the other side... how do we get there? I think God's plan is designed to get us there, so every effort that we make in that direction will be multiplied. For the world overall, it's a long term project leading us to a Millenium of peace, and God will have to make several changes himself, but on the smaller scale of we as individuals becoming people who could live in this kind of ideal/Zion/utopian society every little thing that we do to make the world better also makes us better, and brings us closer to God (Matthew 25:40, D&C 42:38).

There are many challenges as we strive to get to the level of zero contention/zero any other kind of evil, but we don't have to tackle everything at once. Today, let's do what we can to make the world and ourselves better and grow closer to God, little by little. God will assist us as we strive towards that perfection, and eventually, with his help, we'll get to that "perfect day" (D&C 50:24).