Grace and Works: Relief from the Burden of Earning Our Way into Heaven

I am leaving my normal format of "What does this or that mean to me" to address another issue that is on my mind today. A high council speaker in our meeting today gave a very thought provoking message based on John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." He had some very good advice about why the commandments are important, and what should motivate us to keep them. I have since been pondering about this, and about the Grace and Works issue.

I am fully aware that some accuse the Latter-day Saints of trying to earn their way into heaven, as if by doing good works we could somehow make ourselves pure and worthy of salvation. While there are those in the LDS church and in other churches who take this approach in the belief that good works in themselves have some saving value, I believe that such people are misguided and do not understand the doctrines of salvation.

The scriptures are full of assurances that we are saved only through the atonement of Christ and his grace. Examples are all over the scriptures here are just a few:

• Ephesians 2:8-9 "For grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

• Book of Mormon, Mosiah 13:32 "...they understood not that there could not any man be saved except it were through the redemption of God."

• Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:7 "...save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. ..."

There are many more. It appears that no effort we make can compare to the infinite atonement. All of my effort plus infinity is still infinity. For that matter, all of my lack of effort plus infinity is still infinity. No effort of ours can contribute in any significant way to our salvation - we can only rely on the merits of Christ. "And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins." (Book of Mormon, Alma 22:14)

So, if we are saved through his grace and by no act of our own, what is the purpose of the Lord's commandments? If any attempt to save ourselves or become pure by our own effort is doomed to failure, is there a reason for such good works as obedience to the commandments, or the making and keeping  of covenants? 

I believe there is.

For one thing, the commandments provide guidelines by which the we can invite the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of the Lord, into our lives. The Lord gave us these commandments to enable us to live in the light of that spirit and in its guidance.

Now we come back to John 14:15. The one thing we must do is love the Lord. There is only one way we can love him, and that is by trying to serve him. Those who claim to love God, but who place no importance on obeying him, are deceiving themselves and/or trying to deceive others.

Those who truly love the Lord will naturally do all they can to obey him. And when we love him and try to obey him, He blesses us with his spirit. The Holy Ghost makes the atonement effective in our lives. The cleansing power of the atonement comes to us through the spirit. In 3 Nephi 27:20, it says "..that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost." Without this spirit we are as the unbelievers who reject the atonement, and the atonement will have no effect on us.

Moroni said, in Moroni 10:32, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

So in summary, it is God's grace that saves us. That grace becomes operative in our lives when we love him. No amount of struggle to earn our way into heaven can take the place of loving him.

The understanding of this principle will free some from a heavy burden. We do not have to do it all. We need to stop burdening ourselves with the struggle to be so good as to earn worthiness, and instead strive to love God with our all. If we truly love him, that is enough. If we truly love him, we are doing more than just going through the motions. We then do good works because, in our love for him, we want to please him. This brings his cleansing spirit into our lives. Thus, love of God overcomes our imperfections, and this is something we could never do on our own. Loving him in this way is the only way to be saved. Salvation cannot be earned, but it can be received by those to whom He grants it. And He grants salvation to all who love him.