Recently in a church meeting one of the speakers quoted a scripture from the Book of Mormon, reminding us that "it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do." He then encouraged each of us to work as if it all depended on us, and then trust in the Lord.I worry when I hear this type of statement.
As Latter Day Saints we have a tendency to come down hard on the work side of that equation. We often interpret Nephi's words to mean that grace comes to us literally after all we can do. A recent Enrichment Night speaker in our ward spoke of this. He said that we believe that we must run the race of life on our own, and it is not until after all we can do--after we have stumbled and fallen short of the end of the race and are literally clawing and crawling towards the end that the Savior steps in with his grace.
This morning while I was out walking (nice rose picture, yes?) I was again listening to Kenneth Cope. I love his new CD, called "All About You." Each song is a reminder of the love that Christ has for us, and of the fact that we can't do any of this without him. These are the words that have been in my mind and heart since that meeting:
After all I can do, it's still You, it's still You
But you don't wait till it's all I can do.
From the start till we're through it is You, Lord
It's still you.
Yes, we are saved by grace after all we can do. And during all we can do, and even before all we can do.
Rant over.
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I have actually thought about this a little bit. I think that it isn't that we must work as hard as we can to get to heaven--there is nothing we ourselves can do to merit eternal life. But if we truly take Christ's name upon us, we will want to do all of those good works just because.
ReplyDeleteso nice to be reminded!
ReplyDeleteCindy, this is exactly what I was referring to in reference to Carolyn Rasmus's talk at TOFW. She explained that we are not EXPECTED to do it alone in this life. We need the ENABLING power of the atonement. In the bible dictionary under GRACE it reads
ReplyDelete"It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, recieve strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows ment and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts." I think the key here is the fact that we recieve His grace throughout our faithful lives, in order to put forth our best efforts. We do not have to endure alone, are not supposed to try. We are supposed to try to learn to lean on Heavenly Fathers and Jesus's grace in order to accomplish amazing things. If we try to do everything, hoping to make it there ONCE grace finally fills the cracks we will be just that....cracked, mentally, physically, emotionally. That is not the point to this life. We are supossed to come out a polished stone, polished continually by the Saviors hand with his grace, not a cracked piece of rubble.
Laila--I like that analogy. Because there sure are days where I'm headed in the direction of becoming a cracked piece of rubble, and those are the days where I'm doing it all myself...
ReplyDeleteYay! This is why every person, everywhere, especially women, should read more Cheiko Okazaki. He doesn't want us at the end, when we're done. He wants us now, while we're doing.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that speaker. He made me rethink how I feel about grace.
ReplyDeleteI love your picture. It is pretty.
Amy--I thought he was excellent. And I thought he explained it just like Jason did here--that when we receive that grace we are filled with love and then want to do the other things...
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