Ok This is going to be a bit long BUT before you click the x please just take the time to read it. It won't be my own words but will be words that I whole heartily agree with and believe in. My mom brought it to my attention and I wanted to share it because I believe it is something everyone needs to be reminded of every once in a while.
HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT
By Bradley R. Wilcox (BS ’85)
The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that we can feel at home there.
Several
years ago I received an invitation to speak at Women’s Conference. When
I told my wife, she asked, “What have they asked you to speak on?” I
was so excited that I got my words mixed up and said, “They want me to
speak about changing strengths into weaknesses.”
She thought for a minute and said, “Well, they’ve got the right man for the job!”
She’s correct about that. I could
give a whale of a talk on that subject, but I think today I had better
go back to the original topic and speak about changing weaknesses into
strengths and about how the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient (see
Ether 12:27, D&C 17:8, 2 Cor. 12:9)—sufficient to cover us,
sufficient to transform us, and sufficient to help us as long as that
transformation process takes.
Sufficient to Cover Us
A BYU student once came to me and asked if we could talk. I said, “Of course. How can I help you?”
She said, “I just don’t get grace.”
I responded, “What is it that you don’t understand?”
She said, “I know I need to ‘do my best and then Jesus does the rest,’ but I can’t even do my best.”
She then went on to tell me all the things she should be doing—“because she’s a Mormon”—that she wasn’t doing.
She continued, “I know that I have
to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap
that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that
stands between where I am now and my part?”
She then went on to tell me all the things that she shouldn’t be doing—“because she’s a Mormon”—but that she was doing anyway.
Finally I said, “Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.”
Seeing that she was still confused, I
took a piece of paper and drew two dots—one at the top representing God
and one at the bottom representing us. I then said, “Go ahead. Draw the
line. How much is our part? How much is Christ’s part?”
She went right to the center of the
page and began to draw a line. Then, considering what we had been
speaking about, she went to the bottom of the page and drew a line just
above the bottom dot.
I said, “Wrong.”
“I knew it was higher,” she said. “I should have just drawn it, because I knew it.”
I said, “No. The truth is, there is
no line. Jesus filled the whole space. He paid our debt in full. He
didn’t pay it all except for a few coins. He paid it all. It is
finished.”
She said, “Right—like I don’t have to do anything?”
“Oh no,” I said, “you have plenty to
do, but it is not to fill that gap. We will all be resurrected. We will
all go back to God’s presence. What is left to be determined by our
obedience is what kind of body we plan on being resurrected with and how
comfortable we plan to be in God’s presence and how long we plan to
stay there.”
Christ asks us to show faith in Him,
repent, make and keep covenants, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to
the end. By complying, we are not paying the demands of justice—not even
the smallest part. Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus
Christ did by using it to live a life like His. Justice requires
immediate perfection or a punishment when we fall short. Because Jesus
took that punishment, He can offer us the chance for ultimate perfection
(see Matt. 5:48, 3 Ne. 12:48) and help us reach that goal. He can
forgive what justice never could, and He can turn to us now with His own
set of requirements (see 3 Ne. 28:35).
“So what’s the difference?” the girl asked. “Whether our efforts are required by justice or by Jesus, they are still required.”
“True,” I said, “but they are
required for a different purpose. Fulfilling Christ’s requirements is
like paying a mortgage instead of rent or like making deposits in a
savings account instead of paying off debt. You still have to hand it
over every month, but it is for a totally different reason.”
Sufficient to Transform Us
Christ’s arrangement with us is
similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the
piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her
child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s
practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom
for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows
appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of
the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher
level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift
used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for
practice, practice, practice.
If the child sees Mom’s
requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I
need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just
going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is
because he doesn’t yet see with Mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much
better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.
In the same way, because Jesus has
paid justice, He can now turn to us and say,
“Follow me” (Matt. 4:19), “keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see
His requirements as being way too much to ask (“Gosh! None of the other
Christians have to pay tithing! None of the other Christians have to go
on missions, serve in callings, and do temple work!”), maybe it is
because we do not yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet
comprehended what He is trying to make of us.
Elder Bruce C. Hafen (BA ’66) has written, “The great Mediator asks for our repentance not
because we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to
justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that,
with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], p. 149; emphasis in original).
Elder Dallin H. Oaks (BS ’54) has
said, referring to President Spencer W. Kimball’s explanation, “The
repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a
different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change” (The Lord’s Way
[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991], p. 223; emphasis in original).
Let’s put this in terms of our analogy: The child must practice the
piano, but this practice has a different purpose than punishment or
payment. Its purpose is change.
I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your way to heaven.”
I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.”
They ask me, “Have you been saved by grace?”
I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!”
Then I ask them a question that perhaps they have not fully considered: “Have you been changed
by grace?” They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are
not thinking enough about what comes next. They are so happy the debt is
paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed in the
first place. Latter-day Saints know not only what Jesus has saved us
from but also what He has saved us for. As my friend Brett C. Sanders
(BS ’00) puts it, “A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look
like Christ’s life.” As my friend Omar Canals shared with me, “While
many Christians view Christ’s suffering as only a huge favor He did for us, Latter-day
Saints also recognize it as a huge investment He made in us.” As Moroni
puts it, grace isn’t just about being saved. It is also about becoming
like the Savior (see Moro. 7:48).
The miracle of the Atonement is not
just that we can live after we die but that we can live more abundantly
(see John 10:10). The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can
be cleansed and consoled but that we can be transformed (see Rom. 8).
Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God (see
Alma 40:26), but no unchanged thing will even want to.
I know a young man who just got out
of prison—again. Each time two roads diverge in a yellow wood, he takes
the wrong one—every time. When he was a teenager dealing with every bad
habit a teenage boy can have, I said to his father, “We need to get him
to EFY.” I have worked with Especially for Youth since 1985. I know the
good it can do.
His dad said, “I can’t afford that.”
I said, “I can’t afford it either,
but you put some in, and I’ll put some in, and then we’ll go to my mom,
because she is a real softy.”
We finally got the kid to EFY, but
how long do you think he lasted? Not even a day. By the end of the first
day he called his mother and said, “Get me out of here!”
Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly.
In the past I had a picture in my
mind of what the final judgment would be like, and it went something
like this: Jesus standing there with a clipboard and Brad standing on
the other side of the room nervously looking at Jesus.
Jesus checks His clipboard and says, “Oh, shoot, Brad. You missed it by two points.”
Brad begs Jesus, “Please, check the essay question one more time! There have to be two points you can squeeze out of that essay.” That’s how I always saw it.
But the older I get, and the more I understand this wonderful plan of redemption,
the more I realize that in the final judgment it will not be the
unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, “Let me stay.” No, he will probably be
saying, “Get me out of here!” Knowing Christ’s character, I believe
that if anyone were to beg on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus
begging the unrepentant sinner, “Please, choose to stay. Please, use my
Atonement—not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.”
The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—amazingly—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen
to live without faith and without
repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon
sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon
God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants
and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to
change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to
His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there
would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would
forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and
becoming part of us—part of who we are. To return to our metaphor, if
practice were not required, then we would never become pianists.
Sufficient to Help Us
“But Brother Wilcox, don’t you
realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano.
I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now
wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process? When a young pianist
hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We
don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying.
Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now we can be content with
movement in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see
in the context of learning piano but so hard to see in the context of
learning heaven?
Too many are giving up on the Church
because they are tired of constantly feeling like they are falling
short. They have tried in the past, but they always feel like they are
just not good enough. They don’t understand grace.
There are young women who know they
“are daughters of [a] Heavenly Father who loves [them], and [they] love
Him.” Then they graduate from high school, and the values they memorized
are put to the test. They slip up. They let things go too far, and
suddenly they think it is all over. These young women don’t understand
grace.
There are young men who grow up
their whole lives singing, “I hope they call me on a mission,” and then
they do actually grow a foot or two and flake out completely. They get
their Eagles, graduate from high school, and go away to college. Then
suddenly these young men find out how easy it is to not
be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, or reverent. They mess up. They say,
“I’ll never do it again,” and then they do it. They say, “I’ll never do
it again,” and then they do it. They say, “This is stupid. I will never
do it again,” and then they do it. The guilt is almost unbearable. They
don’t dare talk to a bishop. Instead, they hide. They say, “I can’t do
this Mormon thing. I’ve tried, and the expectations are just way too
high.” So they quit. These young men don’t understand grace.
I know returned missionaries who
come home and slip back into bad habits they thought were over. They
break promises made before God, angels, and witnesses, and they are
convinced there is no hope for them now. They say, “Well, I’ve blown it.
There is no use in even trying anymore.” Seriously? These young people
have spent entire missions teaching people about Jesus Christ and His
Atonement, and now they think there is no hope for them? These returned
missionaries don’t understand grace.
I know young married couples who
find out after the sealing ceremony is over that marriage requires
adjustments. The pressures of life mount, and stress starts taking its
toll financially, spiritually, and even sexually. Mistakes are made.
Walls go up. And pretty soon these husbands and wives are talking with
divorce lawyers rather than talking with each other. These couples don’t
understand grace.
In all of these cases there should
never be just two options: perfection or giving up. When learning the
piano, are the only options performing at Carnegie Hall or quitting? No.
Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we
understand grace, we understand that God is long-suffering, that change
is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives. When we
understand grace, we understand that the blessings of Christ’s Atonement
are continuous and His strength is perfect in our weakness (see 2 Cor.
12:9). When we understand grace, we can, as it says in the Doctrine and
Covenants, “continue in patience until [we] are perfected” (D&C
67:13).
One young man wrote me the following
e-mail: “I know God has all power, and I know He will help me if I’m
worthy, but I’m just never worthy enough to ask for His help. I want
Christ’s grace, but I always find myself stuck in the same
self-defeating and impossible position: no work, no grace.”
I wrote him back and testified with
all my heart that Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have
done “all we can do” (2 Ne. 25:23). He is with us every step of the way.
Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written,
“The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to
‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during, and
after the time when we expend our own efforts” (The Broken Heart
[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], p. 155). So grace is not a
booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather,
it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the
tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not
achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right
now. It is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher’s touch (see Heb.
12:2).
The first company of Saints entered
the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Their journey was difficult and
challenging; still, they sang:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
[“Come, Come, Ye Saints,” Hymns, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2002), no. 30]
“Grace shall be as your day”—what an
interesting phrase. We have all sung it hundreds of times, but have we
stopped to consider what it means? “Grace shall be as your day”: grace
shall be like a day. As dark as night may become, we can always count on
the sun coming up. As dark as our trials, sins, and mistakes may
appear, we can always have confidence in the grace of Jesus Christ. Do
we earn a sunrise? No. Do we have to be worthy of a chance to begin
again? No. We just have to accept these blessings and take advantage of
them. As sure as each brand-new day, grace—the enabling power of Jesus
Christ—is constant. Faithful pioneers knew they were not alone. The task
ahead of them was never as great as the power behind them.
Amazing Grace
The grace of Christ is
sufficient—sufficient to cover our debt, sufficient to transform us, and
sufficient to help us as long as that transformation process takes. The
Book of Mormon teaches us to rely solely on “the merits, and mercy, and
grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Ne. 2:8). As we do, we do not discover—as
some Christians believe—that Christ requires nothing of us. Rather, we
discover the reason He requires so much and the strength to do all He
asks (see Philip. 4:13). Grace is not the absence of God’s high
expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power (see Luke 1:37).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell once said the following:
Now may I speak . . . to
those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in
the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . .
. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal.
There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go
and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . .
. . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. [“Notwithstanding My Weakness,” Ensign, November 1976, pp. 12, 14]
With Elder Maxwell, I testify that
God’s grace is sufficient. Jesus’ grace is sufficient. It is enough. It
is all we need. Oh, young people, don’t quit. Keep trying. Don’t look
for escapes and excuses. Look for the Lord and His perfect strength.
Don’t search for someone to blame. Search for someone to help you. Seek
Christ, and as you do, I promise you will feel the enabling power we
call His amazing grace. I leave this testimony and all of my love—for I
do love you. As God is my witness, I love the youth of this church. I
believe in you. I’m pulling for you. And I’m not the only one. Parents
are pulling for you, leaders are pulling for you, and prophets are
pulling for you. And Jesus is pulling with you. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
