Grace, Faith, and Works
I have heard discussion about the conflict between faith and works several times in my life. I have also wrestled a little bit with it, and I want to share my personal perspective. My views are my own and do not officially represent the church.
A hot-button scripture about this is 2 Nephi 25:23, which says,
“...for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
People that take issue with this think that we, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe too much that our salvation is dependent on our works, and not enough on a belief in the Grace of Jesus Christ.
Now is this true? I think it really depends on the individual members. Let me ask you members of the church. Have you ever felt like you needed to work out your own salvation by being
more obedient,
more faithful,
more patient,
doing more service,
more repentant?
On the flip side, have you ever felt like you don’t have hope of forgiveness or salvation because you do not have
enough faith
enough humility
enough righteousness
enough works?
I grew up a member of the Church in Utah Valley, Utah, a place sometimes called “Happy Valley.” I think that name came from the idea that virtually everyone in the valley was a member of the church and there was kind of this utopian sameness. There were also norms and expectations that I grew up with because I heard them so much in church.
I heard things often like
“Be worthy to officiate in the ordinance of the Sacrament.”
“Worthily partake of the Sacrament.”
“Be worthy to enter the temple.”
“Keep the commandments.”
“Repent if you have sinned.”
I grew up with some confusion about worthiness, thinking that it did depend on my own actions and faithfulness. I also had personal struggles that I kept falling back on, shortcomings that made me doubt my own worthiness. I do think that I fell into the trap of thinking that my own works had to save me, and because of my shortcomings, I lost hope.
But I don’t blame the church for this.
I also had my share of childhood traumas that rocked my world. I also had to learn to understand my own emotions. I was a very determined kid, and I thought that if I could be good enough, I could fix all the problems that were, to be frank, out of my control.
Thankfully, I got help from a bishop. My bishop once asked me directly while speaking one on one with him, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ paid for your sins?” I paused for a moment, and then I said, “Yes.”
That moment changed my life. I realized that this was not the church of prophets, apostles, bishops, etcetera. This was The Church of Jesus Christ. He was the Head of the church. All the teachings and leaders were at best instruments to bring me directly to Jesus Christ.
I learned about Grace that day. I learned that Jesus Christ knew me personally and that He did pay for my sins. He even paid for many more future sins that I would commit. His Grace was so much greater than any works that I could ever think about doing. I surrendered my life to Him and realized that He could carry me so much farther than I could ever imagine.
I found some great scriptures to broaden our perspective on this topic. This is from Jacob 4. Jacob was Nephi’s little brother, so think of this as a continuation of the subject of faith, grace, and works:
See Jacob 4:6-11
I hope you can all personally develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. Allow some Grace towards yourself if you have believed things in the past that harmed you. Learn how great Jesus Christ is and how much He loves you.
