Saved, after all we can do

[Anonymous]

This past Sunday during Sunday school I scribbled something in the margins of my scriptures and quickly forgot about it. I just found the note again and decided to rewrite it here so I could better remember the note.

The SS lesson was about the miracle of the loaves. While the teacher was discussing the two miracles something Uchtdorf had said during GC came back to my mind.

In his talk Uchtdorf mentioned that he wondered if we misinterpret “by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” as “by grace that we are saved, because all we can do.” I’ll rephrase the scripture even further to make an interpretation that I was living under for a long time even more clear. “We won’t be saved by grace unless we are doing all that we can do.” Things only got worse when I determined that I could always be doing more despite any and all effort on my part. I had placed grace forever out of my reach.

To save some looking Uchtdorf clarified:

Quote:

We are not saved “because” of all that we can do. Have any of us done all that we can do? Does God wait until we’ve expended every effort before He will intervene in our lives with His saving grace?

Many people feel discouraged because they constantly fall short. They know firsthand that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” They raise their voices with Nephi in proclaiming, “My soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.”

I am certain Nephi knew that the Savior’s grace allows and enables us to overcome sin. This is why Nephi labored so diligently to persuade his children and brethren “to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God.”

After all, that is what we can do! And that is our task in mortality!

These words came back to me while listening to the story of the miracle of the loaves.

1) The disciples were concerned because the group was in the middle of nowhere. They asked Jesus to tell the people to go back into town so they would have better access to food.

2) Jesus told his disciples to give the multitude something to eat. The disciples asked if they should go make a grocery run and bring back food for everyone.

3) Jesus asked (paraphrasing here, just like they do in the scriptures ) “How much food do you already have?” Five loaves and two fishes. An amount that obviously wasn’t enough. Jesus blessed and broke the bread, all were filled.

To me it was a great example of being saved by grace after all we can do.

1) Having the multitude return to the village certainly fell into the realm of something that the multitude was capable of doing. Could the people have done more to save themselves from hunger? Sure, they could have gone back to town. It may have not been an easy thing to do but they could have fended for themselves.

2) I love this one. This is where perhaps I got caught up in the feeling that I never qualified for grace in the past. There’s not enough food to go round. The solution? Run myself ragged to shore up the numbers. There’s all kinds of room here to say “I could have done more.”

I think this is where I’ve gotten caught up in the “because” all we can do. I think a focus on works puts us in the position where we are scrambling to bake as many loaves as we possibly can in a misguided attempt to make Jesus’ miracle a little easier to perform. That attitude becomes a little funny when it’s spelled out like that.

Of course the people in the story didn’t know that Jesus was going to perform the miracle so they were caught up in the moment letting Jesus do his thing. Sometimes I think that the expectation that Jesus is going to perform a great miracle in our near future puts us in that awkward position where we worry that we won’t merit the miracle. That or we try everything we can to make Jesus’ job a little easier to carry out.

3) The people in the story were able to experience being saved after all they could do. It turns out that all they could do was gather five loaves and two fish. They didn’t have time to fret over baking more loaves in order to prepare for the miracle, they didn’t have time to feel guilt over the meager offering that they had brought to the table and wish that it was more. After all they could do represented that snapshot in time and at that snapshot in time the people had what they had… but Jesus was able to take that and use it to perform a miracle. All were filled.

So saved, after all we can do. Perhaps the word “after” was only meant to denote the passage of time, nothing more. Death is a snapshot in everyone’s timeline, “all we can do” is determined at death, then we are saved. There’s no need to worry about whether we brought enough to the table. If we bring seven loaves, five, or even less I’m sure it will be sufficient for Jesus to save.

[Anonymous]

As I shared in my talk on Sunday, I read that verse to say the following:

Quote:

(Even) after all we can do, we (still) are saved by grace.

Switching the order of the phrases is a totally legitimate linguistic construct, and I think that wording is much more consistent with the rest of our scriptural canon. I also think it teaches what Pres. Uchtdorf taught.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, and thanks Nibbler for the great analysis. I think Pres. Uchtdorf is right and I think so many of us misinterpret or misunderstand what Nephi was trying to say – and I have been guilty of this for years myself. I really liked that part of Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk, especially when he asked if any of us are really doing all we can do – and I think he meant to include himself and the rest of the apostles in that statement. We need to let go of that guilt if we are to progress.

Last night I was working on my talk for Sunday and I was reading the story of Mary anointing Jesus with the expensive oil while some of the disciples protested. Part of Jesus’s reply, found only in Mark I think, was:

Quote:

She hath done what she could….

What she did wasn’t really much – but she had done what she could.

I also really like your rephrasing, Ray, thanks.

I read, and sometimes participate in, some other boards, some of them more orthodox than this one. Alas, most of them still don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks nibbler!

I think I would like to use that if ever asked to talk in SM again.

[Anonymous]

Coming from a Catholic background into Mormonism, I missed the born again movement and had a hard time relating to those who talked about being saved. I understood saved as a last step after either a lifelong struggle or after doing a bunch of ordinances. My understanding now goes along with a more fluid sense of communion with God. I can claim salvation and none can dispute it, how could they?

I like your analogy and viewpoint on grace as well

[Anonymous]

nibbler wrote:

The people in the story were able to experience being saved after all they could do. It turns out that all they could do was gather five loaves and two fish. They didn’t have time to fret over baking more loaves in order to prepare for the miracle, they didn’t have time to feel guilt over the meager offering that they had brought to the table and wish that it was more. After all they could do represented that snapshot in time and at that snapshot in time the people had what they had… but Jesus was able to take that and use it to perform a miracle. All were filled.

Thanks, nibbler. I loved reading your post.

[Author]

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