Tag Archives: Grace

After All We Can Do??

28 Friday Nov 2025

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Ah, the old argument between grace vs. works.

2 Nephi 25:23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

Over the years, I have watched people attack this passage and argue about faith versus works, thinking that Nephi meant we are saved by grace only after and upon the condition that we have tried everything else. What they don’t realize – and I should have written this years ago – is that this statement, “after all we can do,” is a literary and rhetorical device that means “despite all we can do” or “in spite of all we can do” or even “regardless of all we can do.” Let’s rephrase that passage:

After all we can do, it is by grace that we are saved.

Let me put it another way by using a modern world example: After all I have done to fix my car, it was fixed by my mechanic. OR, my car was fixed by my mechanic after all I could do. This begins to make more sense in our modern English vernacular. You see, it doesn’t matter what you do or try to do or how many times you try to do it to be saved. It is only by God’s grace that you are saved. In other words, you can’t save yourself. That’s God’s job. That’s why He sent His son Jesus Christ. I have written two blogs about grace:

What Is Grace?

Grace to Grace

Having established that “after all we can do” is another way of saying “despite all we can do,” I want to talk a little about what we are supposed to do, and that is to keep God’s commandments. We are supposed to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. Likewise, we should love our fellow man equally. This is what it means to be godly – to be like Jesus Christ. We cannot be saved by grace without actually doing what God said to do.

1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Also:

Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

You see, their “works” are worthless. They do not honor God with their works because they don’t love God, and so their works have no true value or worth. Jesus explicitly declared that such people will be cast out in Matthew chapter 25. Contrast the following two scenarios:

Matthew 25:31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal

I encourage you to read all three parables in Matthew chapter 25. These three parables are interconnected and should be read in one. This chapter is your cheat sheet in life’s open book test! The first is about receiving the Holy Ghost and staying filled with the Holy Ghost. The second, is about increasing God’s kingdom with the talents that He has given you. The third, which I just quoted, is about being received into His kingdom for loving Him and our fellow man – becoming like Him by our love and obedience and our self sacrificing, or being cast out because you never really wanted to love Him or your fellow man as He loved you and everyone else. You are like a lofty branch that took the strength and nourishment from the roots and never produced any good fruit. Your only value was to be pruned away and discarded/burned.

Grace To Grace

16 Saturday Oct 2021

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I didn’t expect to write this entry today, but I kept feeling nudged to do so while my previous entry “What Is Grace” is still fresh in the minds of those who have read it. More and more Christians are abandoning institutional religion while seeking and embracing Jesus Christ with real intent. While it is imperative to seek the Lord, it is equally important to fellowship with other worshippers. One cannot become a disciple of Jesus without loving and serving as He did. That does not happen as individuals on tops of individual mountains. Zion will be a nation of disciples dwelling together who have learned by grace to get along with each other. We must learn to be refined together in the same way that river rocks are rounded and smoothed together in the same running waters. You have to endure being bumped into each other, rubbed off of each other, and smoothed together by the uncomfortable flow of the rolling waters around you. Similarly does steel sharpen steel.

We must learn to receive “grace from grace” and continue from “grace to grace” as I wrote in my previous entry. When Jesus taught those around him to love God and also to love their neighbors as themselves, He was questioned by undiscerning disciples. “Who is my neighbor” and “how many times shall I forgive my neighbor?” Where they lacked in dos, they well made up for in don’ts. Jesus had to break down the concept of the kind of love He expected them to learn. They already knew it was wrong to steal and to lie and to covet. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus expounded on the concept of the higher law of love or in other words, the law of Christ. For example, he unequivocally declared, “Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:30-31).

I still get asked by fellow LDS what about this? Or what about that? Should I just let so and so do this or that? They have not taken the time to study the personal teachings of Jesus Christ. But to answer their particular questions, the Lord covered those questions in fine detail which He declared in its entirety in D&C 98. In short, Jesus Christ declared:

13 And whoso layeth down his life in my cause, for my name’s sake, shall find it again, even life eternal.
14 Therefore, be not afraid of your enemies, for I have decreed in my heart, saith the Lord, that I will prove you in all things, whether you will abide in my covenant, even unto death, that you may be found worthy.
15 For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me.

But I’m getting off subject there. People tend to want every scenario spelled out for them because they do not believe ALL the things Jesus Christ has already instructed us to do. Thus we have His sermon on the mount as a model for living and for loving. I love what Peter wrote to the blossoming Christians in his second epistle who had obtained that kind of faith. He gave them actionable further light and knowledge so that they might receive even more grace.

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

In verses one through four, Peter greets those believers who had grown in faith and thus in grace. In verses five through eight, Peter then teaches them how they can grow from grace to grace. This is what disciples DO. They do these works to BECOME like Jesus Christ and all other heavenly beings who dwell with God. We are doing these things not necessarily in order to be saved, but we are doing them to become like saved beings. We cannot waltz into Zion or into heaven and expect Jesus to sprinkle magical fairy dust or magical grace dust and transform us into brotherly people. It doesn’t work that way. We develop brotherly kindness right now so that by abandoning our undesirable qualities (repentance), His grace covers us. This is why Peter says in verse nine that those religious and dutiful people who call themselves Christians do not do these things, it is as if they chose not to be baptized in the first place to be forgiven of their sins. They continue their journey ignorantly or hypocritically. And so Peter encouraged those Christians to give diligence to make their calling and election sure so that they never fall. They who forgive will be forgiven. They who love will be loved. They who elevate the downtrodden will themselves in the end be elevated. They will be saved in God’s kingdom as one who has received as much grace as he has been given the opportunity to receive while in this mortal life. Thus are we saved by grace. It’s an open book test and we have all the advantages and opportunities in the world to grow right now.

What Is Grace?

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

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“The only time I had turned to God in the past was to ask for forgiveness, but now I also asked for grace—His ‘enabling power’ [Bible Dictionary, “Grace”]. I had never done that before. These days I spend a lot less time hating myself for what I have done and a lot more time loving Jesus for what He has done.”–Bradley R. Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, October 2021 General Conference.

The LDS Bible Dictionary has a clunky explanation of what grace is and does. It is by Jesus Christ’s grace that we are saved. We are saved because of who He is and not because of who we are or what we can do. But the Greek word χάρις (Charis), or grace, is more than just favor or goodwill, though indeed it is by Jesus’ favor and goodwill that we are saved. Like Nephi in the Book of Mormon, I glory in plainness. I spend years pondering a subject so that I can simplify it in the most fundamental terms so that a child might understand it. After you finish reading this entry, you might understand grace better in your mind, but you must still learn to understand it in your heart and this only happens through a process.

So what exactly is grace if not favor and goodwill? There is more to it than that. Grace is also the condition of possessing light and truth. In the simplest term, it is the condition of being godly.

D&C 93:6 And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.
7 And he bore record, saying: I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was;
8 Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation—
9 The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men.
10 The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him.
11 And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us.
12 And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace;
13 And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness;
14 And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.

Before Jesus Christ resurrected clothed in glory and power like the Father, he was a mortal man clothed in a tabernacle of clay, subject to all the weaknesses and infirmities of the flesh and subject to mortal death. And before He was born into this mortal world, He was clothed only in spirit and not yet a tabernacle of clay like the rest of us today. But Alma gives us a little clue about our existence before Satan was cast down to the Earth as we read in Isaiah.

Alma 13:1 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.

It was the Father’s foreknowledge of their individual capacities for good that men were called after the Holy Order of the Son of God. Before we were born to this Earth, some of us had already demonstrated our capacity for good and were called after the order of His Son who had already been ordained as our Great High Priest and Savior because of His great and infinite capacity for good and because of His great and infinite capacity for love and because of His great and infinite capacity to suffer more than all of us put together when that distant future hour would arrive and He would carry His cross and all our sins. Our Father had the foreknowledge of Jesus Christ’s capacity to love the world by being the instrument of our salvation with the capacity of tungsten steel to do what clay never could.

Joseph Smith once said, “Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.”–Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp.346-347.

So what does it mean to grow from grace to grace? When we grow from grace to grace, we grow in light and truth by degrees, line upon line and precept upon precept, possessing greater light and truth and that comes from our diligence in obedience to God in this life. This can be likened to making iron into steel through a certain process. We are willing to suffer the trials by fire that our Father sees fit to inflict upon us so that by growing from such trials, we develop the qualities produced by the intense heat and flames. Such qualities are patience, longsuffering, charity, etc. It is a process of growth wherein we change from being less god-like to being more godly. This typically happens through our suffering on behalf of others because of our love for them. The less willing you are to suffer to be a light to your neighbor, the less godly you are or will become (and perhaps the less faithful you were before the foundation of the world). You may possess a much greater capacity to love than you realize if you are willing to experiment and grow. God gives to us family members, neighbors, and various people in our life’s paths to challenge us and to provide us opportunities to express our love in different ways. Too many Christians are willing to do little more than their religious duties or perform rote tasks, but such performances do not make them more godly. It just makes them dutiful and task oriented. Machines and robots can be task oriented. Slaves can be very task oriented. God does not want slaves. He wants a family.

This, then, is grace and to be saved by grace: it is the condition of godliness and also God’s favor and goodwill because of His godliness that we are saved. Growing from grace to grace is a process whereby we change from being less godlike to being more godly. The heed and diligence we give to God’s instructions allows us to accomplish that growth. Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice makes possible the sins that we commit along the way to be forgiven so that we are able to grow without being damned by the errors that we wish to abandon through repentance. And becoming more and more godly also means our capacity to love others increases accordingly. The more godly we become, the more we are willing to suffer to elevate those who cannot elevate themselves, such as the poor and infirm. Jesus Christ, who is more godly than us all, has the greatest love and thus the greatest capacity to suffer all things for all of us with His condescension (1 Nephi 11:16), Latin “con” meaning with, which means the same in Spanish and “descend” which Christ did and does for us, below us, and WITH us all, He being full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Peace, Believer.

31 Tuesday Mar 2020

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“I am a God who gives and gives and gives. When I died for you on the cross I held back nothing. I poured out My life like a drink offering. Because giving is inherent in My nature, I search for people who are able to receive in full measure. To increase your intimacy with Me, the two traits you need the most are receptivity and attentiveness. Receptivity is opening up your innermost being to be filled with My abundant riches. Attentiveness is directing your gaze to Me, searching for Me in all your moments. It is possible to stay your mind on Me as the prophet Isaiah wrote: ‘You will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You’ (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV). Through such attentiveness you receive a glorious gift: My perfect peace.”–Sarah Young; Jesus Calling for Easter. 2019. Pg. 92-93

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“The Lord said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

What is it? It is having total peace in total chaos because you trust God. Normal reactions are to lose your mind when a piece of your order is revealed to be wrong, because it brings the whole into question.

God’s love does not hide us from reality. It exposes us to reality. The truth is progressive. The more you know of it, the more you will see the things inside of you that are not ideal. If you embrace the opportunity to part with what doesn’t work, you will find more and better. Everything that is replaced brings you closer to your ideal self: more secure in God; in possession of greater peace; more resilient to the unavoidable difficulties of reality.

When you are consumed by love, you stand in the fire in peace. You can sleep on a boat in the midst of a terrible storm, as Jesus did. You can feel consummate joy while being stoned to death, as Stephen did. You can preach the gospel while being burned to death, as Abinadi did.

Embrace truth. Run towards it. Get excited about it. A warrior runs toward the sound of battle, because he knows that is where he is meant to be. Why are you running away from the battle? The battle is why you were born. It is why you are here. The battle calls you. Run to the sound of it.

Don’t try to escape from reality. Like the pressures of deep water to the pearl diver, it is a sign you are in the right place, doing what you are meant to do.

Don’t try to avoid pain. If you are reconciled to God, pain is the revelation of what you lack.

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die. Everyone wants to be a beast until it’s time to do what beasts do. Embrace the vision of who you really are when it matters the most, when you are neck-deep in pressure and the only way out is through. True happiness is found only in facing and embracing all the undesirable things in this world! You do not receive happiness in the world to come in the same way people try to find it here. It isn’t that the undesirable things are taken away, it is that you have transcended them.”–The Glory of God Is Intelligence, p. 281.

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“Stop your incessant worry-planning! Draw your mind back from the future to the present moment, where My Presence lovingly awaits you. Seek My Face with a smile in your heart, knowing that I take delight in you. Talk with Me about all that concerns you and the tasks that are weighing on you. Call out to Me for help as you set priorities according to My will. Then keep returning your focus to Me and to the work at hand. Inviting Me into your activities increases your Joy and helps you to be more effective. When you need to take a break, remember that I am your resting place. My everlasting arms are always available to support you and hold you close. When you relax in My company-waiting with Me for a time-this demonstrates genuine trust in Me. As you prepare to return to your tasks, make the effort to include Me in your plans. This protects you from worrying; it also helps you stay close to Me, enjoying My Presence.” Luke 12:25-26; Psalm 62:5-6; Deuteronomy 33:27.–Young, Sarah; Jesus Always: Embracing Joy in His Presence. Pg. 83, 2016

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“Real grace—scriptural grace—is conditional. It comes from God and is a result of his goodness and glory, but always includes the heart, mind, and might of the individual. Without grace, man could not be saved from his sins, because without Jesus there would be no way of obtaining forgiveness from those sins. Yet, even with grace, man cannot be saved without actually doing what God says.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his
commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of
God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to
walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2)

Although professed believers are probably truthfully expressing that they believe in something, they cannot actually believe in God without doing his works. If you believe in God, you will accept God’s grace and perform good works. When most professed believers say belief, what they actually mean is wishing. They look at God as a genie who will do what they say, rather than a deity to whom we must submit. They wish that God would save them without them having to believe him by doing what he says. If what they actually meant was belief as defined by the scriptures, belief in Christ would indeed be sufficient to save. Professed believers in God who don’t actually obey God are not new. Paul wrote of them in his day: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16) If you believe in God, you will actually keep his commandments.”–Seek Ye This Jesus, p. 26

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“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”–the Apostle Paul, (2 Timothy 1:7-8 KJV)

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“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”–Jesus Christ, (John 16:33 KJV)