Thursday, December 4, 2008

His Grace is Sufficient

I love Velska's comment on my last post: "I often wonder if I am 'valiant' in my testimony, but I have no illusion about saving myself - I know I have to rely on Christ."

I think this is more true of the majority of members of the Church. We have no doubt in Christ's ability; we doubt our ability. This humble recognition therefore fuels our faith in Christ as Savior, and our need to trust Him, as well as to rely more fully on "the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah" (2nd Nephi 2:8).

Then AFTER being secure in that saving covenant--the "arms of safety" (Alma 34:16)--being faithful to Him becomes our greatest desire. We don't desire this in order to merit salvation (because we can't) but rather to show our commitment and desire to STAY in the saving covenant. And we wish we could be more profitable servants.

I think it's helpful to delineate between accepting/having faith in Christ as Savior and making Christ our Lord by turing our lives over to Him and serving Him and none else. This is where I so often fall short. Mercifully he has provided repentance, and I rejoice in that that, because all too often my behavior doesn't quite match the deepest desires of my heart.

That "natural man" battles with the spiritual born-again man in me. Nevertheless, I trust that Christ knows my heart, and knows that I truly desire righteousness and that I "hunger and thirst" for it. Although I fall short in actually attaining righteousness, He promises that I shall be "filled" for hungering and thirsting for it. (Matthew 5:6)

..."then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ" (Moroni 10:32)

7 comments:

S.Faux said...

Thanks, Clean Cut.

I am a great believer in God's gifts (grace), and I need all the help I can get. I need the sacrament, scriptures, prayer, temple, priesthood, marriage, and all the other many gifts. They relieve my burden as I am carried forward. Slowly and surely, I can feel myself improving, maybe not as fast as others would want, but I know God loves me. There is no question in my mind that it is Jesus who is behind these gifts, and that they are made effective through his saving atonement.

Am I saved through Grace? Heavens yes, and I need every speck I can get.

I don't believe in the version of grace that says, "Sin Boldly!" I have no reason to think Jesus ever taught anything like that. Instead, I believe in true grace, the grace that transforms, the grace that improves the soul, the grace that is built upon good not sin.

Clean Cut said...

Amen. Great comment S. Faux.

NM said...

When in the whole scheme of things was Moroni written? Are we able to give an approximate date for when the book was written?

NM

Clean Cut said...

About AD 421

Papa D said...

Technically, sometime 385-421 AD. Moroni had a lot of time alone to finish off the record, so it could have been at any point in that window.

Excellent, concise post, CC. I've written a bunch of post on grace on my own blog. If you are interested, go to the "Labels" at the bottom and search through the ones under "Grace".

Ray

Seth Adam Smith said...

This is an excellent blog. I like seeing original, thoughtful, personal blogs. Keep up the good work! I'll be checking back and forth for updates! God bless!

NM said...

Hi Spencer,

Here's another excellent uploaded youtube clip with two regular guys expressing each others' faiths as a LDS and an Evangelical Christian =)

It's 45 minutes long, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! =D