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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Moroni 10:32-33 - How do we become perfect in Christ through the Atonement? How does grace fit in?

Moroni says, "If ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ. . . . And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

It almost sounds like we have to become perfect before we can receive God's grace and remission of sins through the power of the atonement. But that is fortunately not the case. God doesn't wait for us to become perfect before He blesses us, because that would be impossible. Instead of waiting at the top of the hill of life, Christ is walking right beside us. We are not alone. The atonement isn't just about making it to the end, it's a process of human development.

In 2 Nephi 25:23, Nephi says "that it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do." Again, it seems that we cannot be saved until after we have done everything that we can. But the word after is referring to a form of separation rather than a form of time. God's grace is sufficient for us despite all we can do. We receive grace before, during, and after we do all that we can.
It is quite exhausting to think of all that we need to do to qualify for God's grace. We go, go, go because we love God and we know that nothing we can do is sufficient to pay Him back for the atonement. That's where we're wrong. God accepts any sacrifice we can give, even when we both know it's not our all. We love God, but He loves us too. We need to accept His sacrifice, not try to impress Him with all the sacrifices we're trying to make. When we find ourselves only halfway there, rather than getting discouraged we just need to turn to God. Every step of ours is noticed and appreciated by God. (See Brad Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement.)

It looks like it isn't God's grace that is insufficient, it is our own actions. God's grace is always there. But it is not sufficient for us until we become "perfect in Christ," which means we are always striving to follow His example. It is up to us to be worthy enough to receive of God's grace. A great example from the scriptures that illustrates this point is found in Mosiah 18 where Alma organizes the Church of Christ and ordains priests. Verse 26 says, "And the priests were not to depend on the people for their support; but for their labor they were to receive the grace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit, having the knowledge of God, that they might teach with power and authority from God." We are not to depend on other people but our own labor in order to receive the grace of God. That is how we will gain spiritual knowledge and grace.

Verse 33 says the Father is under covenant to remit our sins when we become perfect in Christ. It is part of a spiritual and everlasting covenant for God to forgive us of our sins when we truly repent and come unto Christ. That means we have the power to become perfect through Christ! D&C 82:10 reads, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." He is bound by covenant to bless us when we follow His commandments. I don't think we realize how powerful our agency actually is. When we choose the right, we are guaranteed to receive of God's blessings. How cool!!

Something else interesting I found comes from Alma 32. In this chapter, Alma compares God's word to a seed that cannot grow unless it is planted and nourished. Verses 38-39 read, "If ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out. Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof." So we have a choice whether or not we will nourish the seed. God's word is always good, but it is up to us to plant it in our hearts and nourish it. God's grace is always present, but we must do our part in order for it to take effect in our lives.