Grace…
What is grace?
Do Mormons believe in grace?
Is grace a word that gets overlooked in Mormon culture because we hear other Christians talk about grace and feel it’s just a way for them to say they’re saved without doing anything?
What do I believe about grace?
How can I use grace in my recovery?
One thing I know is true – without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I would not be resurrected and would not live again. This, I believe, is what Christians are talking about when they say they are saved through Christ. Yes, we are all saved through Christ from the temporal death. He atoned for that death through His suffering on the cross, death, and then resurrection.
There is a spiritual death too – a separation from God and man due to the fall, due to sin and transgression. For “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God.” I can’t return and feel comfortable in God’s presence if I’m not clean and pure in both body and mind. I have to surrender my natural man to Him and let myself be swallowed up in Christ’s arms.
Is this grace?
What do grace and surrender have to do with one another?
To me, there is a correlation.
The first talk that comes to mind when I think about grace is titled “The Gift of Grace” by President Uchtdorf.
He says,
[On Easter Sunday] the Savior of mankind, who had taken upon Himself the chains of sin and death that held us captive, burst those chains and set us free.
He burst the chains of sin and death and set us free. We are saved!
Because of the sacrifice of our beloved Redeemer, death has no sting, the grave has no victory,1 Satan has no lasting power, and we are “begotten … again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”2
I like what he says about Satan having “no lasting power.” He does have power, but if and when I surrender it to God, it cannot stay.
I really like this comment:
The Savior’s Atonement cannot become commonplace in our teaching, in our conversation, or in our hearts.
Does it get to commonplace in our teachings?
Do we focus on it enough?
Do we really understand it?
Do I really understand it?
(One thing I am really focusing on is talking in the I instead of the we. This is due to two things: 1. In the Whitebook it talks about this very thing:
Unfortunately I can’t find what it says exactly right now but will come back to this.
This is how the scriptures define grace of God—the divine assistance and endowment of strength by which we grow from the flawed and limited beings we are now into exalted beings of “truth and light, until [we are] glorified in truth and [know] all things.”8
Assistance.
Endowment of strength.
Aren’t these synonymous with surrender?
As I surrender, I’m given assistance and an endowment of strength to move past the natural man and become as a child through the Atonement of Christ. This is grace in action.
It’s interesting what President Uchtdorf says about grace:
It is a most wondrous thing, this grace of God. Yet it is often misunderstood.9
In D&C 78:17 it says:
17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;
It’s true, I don’t understand grace that well or how great the blessings the Father has in his own hands prepared for me.
This quote really sticks out:
We cannot earn our way into heaven; the demands of justice stand as a barrier, which we are powerless to overcome on our own.
I feel this is a common misconception in Mormon culture – “earning our way into heaven.” If I do this and this and this, I’m going to be perfect and therefore, saved in the Celestial kingdom. Usually this list includes:
- going on a mission
- getting married in the temple
- graduating from semenary
- going to church
- reading my scriptures
- saying my prayers
- doing my hometeaching
- paying my tithing
The interesting thing is, I have done all those things WHILE I’ve been in the heart of my addiction, or at least gone through the motions of doing those things.
But my “heart was far from Him.” Doing the checklist of things won’t cut it if I want to live with God. I want to become like Him. And personally, I don’t think God or Jesus are really “checklist” people. When Christ was on the earth, He went about doing good. That’s it. I don’t know that He had a strong agenda or schedule; He was in tune with God’s will for Him, He talked to God often, and He followed the promptings of the Spirit in all His doings. He LISTENED!
I have to admit that I can’t do it on my own. THIS IS SURRENDER!
When I admit this and believe it and live it, “his grace is sufficient for me.”
The grace of God is our great and everlasting hope.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the plan of mercy appeases the demands of justice13 “and [brings] about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.”14
Really, all I have to actually do in this life is have faith and REPENT! I have to turn my life and my will over to Him and trust that He will direct me for good.
But the grace of God does not merely restore us to our previous innocent state.
What does that mean?
If salvation means only erasing our mistakes and sins, then salvation—as wonderful as it is—does not fulfill the Father’s aspirations for us. His aim is much higher: He wants His sons and daughters to become like Him.
To become like Him is more than just erasing my sins and mistakes. If I continue to do the same sins and mistakes over and over again, I’m not becoming like Him.
It is by God’s amazing grace that His children can overcome the undercurrents and quicksands of the deceiver, rise above sin, and “be perfect[ed] in Christ.”22
Not only can grace help me become free from my sins and mistakes as I turn them over to Him, but through grace, I can overcome these natural-man-tendencies, rise above sin, and be perfected in Christ.
Indeed it is by the grace of God that, if we humble ourselves and have faith, weak things can become strong.23
This is SURRENDER!
To surrender is synonymous with the grace of God.
I could replace the above quote like this:
Indeed it is [through surrender to God] that, if we humble ourselves and have faith, weak things can become strong.
And this confirms that idea too:
His grace refines us. His grace helps us become our best selves.
Or:
[Surrendering to God] refines us. [Surrendering to God] helps us become our best selves.
President Uchtdorf talks about the Simon the Pharisee and the woman who was a sinner. Simon was doing all the checklist things, and the woman was a known sinner in the community.
Christ perceived Simon’s thoughts and asked him this:
“Seest thou this woman? … Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”24
President Uchtdorf asks a few profound questions that hit home for me:
Are we perhaps a little impatient with those who are not living up to our standards?
Yes, I have been this way with others (Mandy) even though, if I would have looked in the mirror, I would have seen the huge beam in my own eye.
Are we on autopilot, going through the motions, attending our meetings, yawning through Gospel Doctrine class, and perhaps checking our cell phones during sacrament service?
Yes, I have been this way and must be careful not to fall back into these ways.
Surrendering to God one day, one moment, at a time is the opposite of going through the motions.
Do we understand our indebtedness to Heavenly Father and plead with all our souls for the grace of God?
I really like this too:
When we kneel to pray, is it to replay the greatest hits of our own righteousness, or is it to confess our faults, plead for God’s mercy, and shed tears of gratitude for the amazing plan of redemption?25
Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience; it is purchased by the blood of the Son of God.26
I would like to study more about this topic.
I feel this talk hits the nail on the head.
I’m grateful for my study today, but I know this study will not SAVE me or does not mean that now I can go and do whatever I want. This study is one way I can surrender my will to Him.
And it’s only after I surrender my will that I can truly be saved and become like Him: if I do my own will I will fall back into the “carnal Nate,” or natural man, tendencies that will lead me away carefully down to hell.
I’m grateful for how I feel.
I love my wife and my family.
Today I choose to surrender my will to Him one day at a time!
Hasta luego!
Nate
Recent Comments