What Mormons
Believe about Grace
In her new book, Amazed
by Grace,
Sheri Dew talks about the enabling power of grace and how we have constant
access to it. She writes:
"When the Apostle Paul said, 'I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,' he was describing
grace." She goes on later to say that "the flow of divine help is
continuous, everywhere present, waiting for us to seek help."
Illustrating this point with an
analogy, she explains, "We shouldn’t treat or think about the Lord as we
sometimes do about our visiting or home teachers when we’re ill and could use
some help—we have to let them in to help us until we can solve our problems or
clean the house first. If we think we have to conquer a bad habit or an
addiction by ourselves, before we seek help, we most likely don’t understand
grace."
However, when we do understand grace
and are working daily to change ourselves and become better, Sister Dew assures
us that "Jesus Christ endured and completed His eternal, infinite
Atonement so that you and I could change. So that we wouldn’t be tripped up by
our sins or nagging weaknesses and doomed eternally. So that we wouldn’t have
to pay for our sins forever, the price of which none of us has the capacity to
pay. So that we could keep learning and practicing being Saints—realizing that
practice always involves mistakes. The Lord has made it clear that no unclean
thing can dwell with Him, but it is equally clear that no unclean person,
meaning no unchanged person, will even want to.”
But,
Sister Dew reminds us, Christ's grace is not a one-time deal.
"Nonetheless, the Lord is not saving up His grace or power for one
dramatic display at the Final Judgment, nor is grace something that kicks in at
the end of an ordeal. It is there from the moment we exercise even a
'particle of faith' and ask for His help."
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