The Grace of God

A friend posted on her social media account this morning that she wanted help from her friends to explain what grace means to them.  I figured this was a great opportunity to share my thoughts!

When I think of the word “grace,” I almost immediately think of the word “saved.” As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the subject of being saved has often been one we’re uncomfortable with teaching because it sort of seems like we view it differently than other churches. How often do you hear other faiths say something along the lines of “saved by the grace of God” when our church focuses on the scripture in 2 Nephi “saved by grace after all we can do.”

For years we’ve taught this concept in a way that it feels like we have to EARN grace, when that just isn’t true. 

If you really get down to it, there’s literally nothing we could do to earn God’s grace. 

Even at our very best, we are sinful, imperfect beings. And God knows that. And so…he offered the ultimate gift! He sent us a Savior, who makes up for everything we will never be able to do ourselves. The gift is there! We just have to receive it, and we do that by accepting Christ. Once we’ve done that, we’re truly saved! 

I wish we could add a word to that scripture in 2 Nephi to make it more clear for people in our church. I think it would change everything for us. Can you imagine the wave of relief if you were to read, “we are saved by grace EVEN after all we can do…”? Doesn’t that just make it sound so delicious?! Grace is there…no matter what. Christ has already paid for us! He’s offering us the gift of salvation whether we try to earn it or not. “All we can do” is receive that gift. 

Take it. And everything changes. 

Now, after receiving the gift, then what?  

In the church, we often teach this incorrectly as well.  We would assume that because we were given this gift we need to keep proving to God that we're worthy of it (we'll get into what I think of the word "worthy" another day).  But...let me be very clear about this...the gift cannot be given back.

Grace is a gift that once received cannot be given back!

Does that mean we can skip through life doing whatever we want to?  I mean, I guess so. But that's the point...if we choose to receive grace from God, meaning we've truly accepted Christ as our Savior, wouldn't "whatever we want to do" coincide with what He wanted for us too?  Wouldn't we, if we were true followers of Christ, choose from that moment forward to be good people, simply because that's what He would have us do?

I don't try to earn grace anymore. I already have it. I choose to be a good person, despite my imperfections (which I am growing to love), because I love Jesus and I want to thank him for offering me the thing I will never be able to give myself. I'll never be able to check all the boxes...I'm not even going to try anymore. But it doesn't matter, because Jesus knows me.  He knows my heart. And he knows I'm grateful every day for the gift he has given me.