Sabbath Devotional :: Grace

Growing up LDS in the mid-seventies and eighties, I don’t remember hearing much about grace at church. One of my first memories of learning about grace was when, as a sophomore in high school, I attended a Baptist service with a friend. The band (a band!), complete with bass guitar and drums, sang of grace like the rockstar doctrine it is. At the time, the spiritual concept of grace sounded about as foreign to me as the “ch-chch-ch, chch-ch, chch-ch — ting” of sticks against cymbals in church.

It stands to reason that, for a time, the Church neglected grace. The concept of unconditional love and forgiveness seemed almost too good to be true in a church where “after all that we can do,” (2 Nephi 25:23) seemed the more emphasized part of the doctrine. With this in mind, grace looks like the proverbial “free lunch” of the Gospel. A more accurate analogy might be that grace is akin to “marrying up.” Although in our marriage to the bridegroom, we will never measure up, he makes up for everything we lack. And he wants to.

Not only does God want to extend grace, but He also does it without qualification of our personal worthiness. In fact, grace is designed specifically for the weak. Quoting Jesus, Paul writes, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). LDS Topics describes grace as “. . . an enabling power. . .” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/search?lang=eng&query=grace&page=1&facet=all). When we plead for our “weak things to be made strong,” we pray for grace (Ether 12:27).

I wondered if I was correct in noticing an increase in mentions of “grace” at the general Church level, so I checked. In fact, in the past three years, grace occurs as the key topic of five General Conference talks, which significantly exceeds the total of five talks spanning more than twenty years before that.

I want to keep talking about grace, as Pres. Uchtdorf said it is “misunderstood.” For me at least, God’s love feels a bit more accessible than His grace. As a parent, I comprehend unconditional and abiding love, but grace is on another level. Not only do our Heavenly Parents love us — they, through the Savior, offer grace as a bonus. Through grace, we are accepted, forgiven, and understood before we sin or sorrow and because we sin and sorrow.

As oxygen in the air, grace is limitless and always available. And, like oxygen, we tend to take grace for granted. You know when you take in a deep breath, and it feels so right that you find yourself asking, How have I forgotten to just breathe? Grace works like that, too. When suddenly remembering grace, I question, How have I forgotten to let go, and let God? In short, all you and I require to access grace is awareness of the gift. Once we feel its restorative power, we accept and receive it.

The messiness of politics can pollute our spiritual spaces, making it difficult for us to breathe in the relief grace promises. Though, as we seek to hold our government to high ethical standards, we can choose to practice grace in our advocacy. When we “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5), our actions reflect the grace offered by God. We can also expect and encourage graciousness from our elected leaders. Extending graciousness to those with whom we disagree helps foster more productive discourse. Like grace, our graciousness embodies love and forgiveness as we strive to make it unconditional.

In addition to love and forgiveness, “Another element of God’s grace is the opening of the windows of heaven, through which God pours out blessings of power and strength, enabling us to achieve things that otherwise would be far beyond our reach” (Pres. Uchtdorf, April 2015 General Conference). Indeed, the work we set out to accomplish at MWEG extends “far beyond our reach,” and yet, through grace, we’ve got this!

Cue the drums, friends, grace is something to sing and dance about!