What is the difference between blessings and grace?

I listened to a podcast that changed the way I now think about blessings. (Podcast can be found here: Podcast #15: Let's Talk About Blessings July 16, 2019)

Susan Hinckley speaks about a lesson she taught in Sunday School based on Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk, "Abound with Blessings," given in April 2019.

***It is important to first of all recognize the definition of what it means to be "blessed." To be blessed is to be "made holy; consecrated."***

This definition is much different than our cultural definition of being blessed! We typically think of physical blessings, or things that are easy to see from the outside. But a blessing is not an event. It is independent of circumstance - it is an internal state, not an external one. We hear so much about "blessings" and tie those with circumstances or events--but God's blessings come when we learn to surrender control and feel an internal change through God's grace. We are made holy.

When we do specific actions to follow God's will, we often expect that He will bless us with safety. But life is so unpredictable and trials will happen that don't make sense and that leave us feeling confused and unsure and unstable--we sense that God has abandoned us!

To truly understand blessings, we realize we have to let go of the control aspect of receiving our blessings. We realize we really are not in control, and we don't have to do everything perfectly to receive blessings. We simply have to allow room for vulnerability and growth and unsurety.

In Elder Renlund's talk, he gave two lines that Sis. Hinckley really struggled to understand as she prepared for her lesson:

"Restored truth reveals that blessings are never earned, but faith-inspired actions on our part, both initial and ongoing, are essential."

"God has revealed that “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” That being said, you do not earn a blessing—that notion is false—but you do have to qualify for it."

So what is the difference between "earning" and "qualifying"?
We initially think we must do everything exactly right to get blessings from God. But to live for God's blessings doesn't mean to be perfect, it means to live with constant hope. Trusting, moving forward, allowing His grace to work in our lives, despite our imperfections. We let go of control and we open ourselves up to His grace. We seek more and ask more, instead of living such a pre-made structured life. We let go of all the ways we set up our lives to be and we allow room for growth and change and development.

Asking is for us, not for God. We ask so we are constantly seeking, so we are never comfortable.

So why are blessings usually synonymous with a "good/righteous life"?
So often we tie things that happen in our lives to "because I said my morning prayers" or "because I read my scriptures." This is a faulty expectation of how blessings really come. This is not to say doing those things does lead to good consequences, but we cannot tie all our actions to specific results, because we don't always know what God intends to bless us with.

It is easy to look at people who have a lot physically as "very blessed." Typically, though, those physical blessings that are so easy to look at are "as the world giveth." To really understand real blessings, we have to see past blessings "as the world giveth," but see them "as God giveth." As we accept the trials and imperfections of our lives, we see how God is sanctifying us and making us holy through that process. Blessings are not what we see, they go much deeper.

We have to be careful how we talk about blessings because they are intensely personal. A "blessing" that one person might receive is one that another person will not! We have to stop talking about them as external events and bring them internal!

There will always be things in our lives that we just don't know what to do with. Was God there, was He not there, where was He, why did He help this person find their car keys and then let my husband die from cancer, when were blessings tied to my actions and when did He simply give me grace despite my actions? This is where the question of grace comes in.

Probably one of the best ways I’ve heard grace described was this: “We do not earn grace... Its fruits are expressed in our righteousness.” (From The Temple by Ed J. Pinegar p. 57). 

Ed J. Pinegar's book The Temple explains grace as a power that comes from God to enable us to do good works. Acts 10:38 explains "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." Bro. Pinegar explains that “these scriptures surely demonstrate that our works follow our faith and conversion to Christ and that the good we do comes from God and the power He puts into us.” (p. 57) He continues, “Instead of being a checkoff list of things to do, the commandments become a joyful expression of the love of God, the empowerment of the atonement, and the grace of God in our lives. ... We not only obtain a hope in Christ, but Christ empowers us, perfects us, and becomes our strength, too, ‘for in his strength [we] can do all things’ (Alma 26:12).” (p. 58)

Sometimes we need a little extra push to even have a desire to do good. Philippians 2:13 says that “it is God which worketh in you both TO WILL and TO DO his good pleasure.” He works in us to give us even a desire to do good works--that is his grace! But we cannot recognize or be open to that grace if we never act in faith to draw ourselves closer to Him.

Bro. Pinegar discusses in his book how worshipping God endows us with His power to do good (see p. 55). We are enabled and empowered when we worship! Sometimes we need that power outside ourselves, even just to go out and serve. God's grace helps us WANT to do good.

Finally, an important reminder in the scriptures: "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." (Jacob 4:7)


As I've studied, this is how I have come to understand Grace versus Blessings:

• Grace is unconditional and applicable to existence and the world a whole. Blessings are typically much more personal and specific.
• When we're really struggling, we feel a need for more control and we feel like we need to "do" our way out of the situation. But the real answer is that we need to simply "OFFER IT UP." Sit still, be open, receive whatever it is we're supposed to be receiving, GIVE AWAY CONTROL, and allow grace. That is when the real blessings come.
• Things falling apart are really a form of testing and even healing. We think we are supposed to get through it and have more control, but we need to allow room for grief, misery, healing, joy, growth. That is the essence of blessings. ***That is when you are really living for your blessings--not doing more, but allowing more.***
• Allowing grace is not about DOING, it is about BEING. 

I often connect blessings with actions and think that I will only receive good things from God if I "do" all the right things. Dallin H. Oaks spoke in 2009 about "love versus law," and I think this quote beautifully captures the essence of the relationship between actions and obedience: "The love of God is so universal that His perfect plan bestows many gifts on all of His children, even those who disobey His laws. Mortality is one such gift, bestowed on all who qualified in the War in Heaven. Another unconditional gift is the universal resurrection: 'For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Corinthians 15:22). Many other mortal gifts are not tied to our personal obedience to law. As Jesus taught, our Heavenly Father 'maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust' (Matthew 5:45).

"If only we will listen, we can know of God’s love and feel it, even when we are disobedient. A woman recently returned to Church activity gave this description in a sacrament meeting talk: 'He has always been there for me, even when I rejected Him. He has always guided me and comforted me with His tender mercies all around me, but I [was] too angry to see and accept incidents and feelings as such.'"

He continues to clarify:

"God’s choicest blessings are clearly contingent upon obedience to God’s laws and commandments. The key teaching is from modern revelation:

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20–21).

"This great principle helps us understand the why of many things, like justice and mercy balanced by the Atonement. It also explains why God will not forestall the exercise of agency by His children. Agency—our power to choose—is fundamental to the gospel plan that brings us to earth. God does not intervene to forestall the consequences of some persons’ choices in order to protect the well-being of other persons—even when they kill, injure, or oppress one another—for this would destroy His plan for our eternal progress. He will bless us to endure the consequences of others’ choices, but He will not prevent those choices."


I am sometimes internally guilted into doing good things because I feel like I will be "punished" otherwise, but my good works should simply be a reflection of my gratitude for God. He is really in charge, and without His grace we could do or be nothing. As I start focusing on ALLOWING more rather than DOING more I will naturally surrender my will to God's and recognize His hand more in my life. What a beautiful lesson!