These Sunday thoughts are brought to you yet again by Time Out for Women, this time from speaker Brad Wilcox. (He was amazing, by the way.)
Changing weaknesses into strengths
2 Ne. 25:23 It is by grace we are saved, after (in spite of, apart from) all we can do.
Grace doesn’t kick in when our energy is gone, it’s a constant source of energy and light that helps us through. We may experience his grace before, during, and after our own efforts.
Because God loves us, he accepts any offering, even when we know it is not our best.
He is much more concerned with the offerer than the offering.
What Mormon woman has mediocrity as her goal? Name one! (If we were talking to the Priesthood brethren, it would be a little different.)
*After all, what can we do?
We need to focus on the Savior’s sacrifice instead of our own offering to God. All of our doing has an end – to become.
Instead of asking if we have been saved by grace, we ought to ask if we have been changed by grace.
The miracle of the atonement is not just its power to return us home, it’s the power to transform us. We need to be cleansed so that we can stay in God’s presence, but we need to be changed so that we will want to stay. We will all go back to God’s presence. The question is: how long will we stay there? How comfortable will we be there? Heaven will not be heaven to those who have not chosen to become heavenly.
We are not earning our way to heaven, we are preparing ourselves to live there.
*After all we can do – me and the Savior, together.
D&C 123:17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.
We do not reach heaven by supplementing. We reach heaven by covenanting. It is a relationship that is greater than the sum of its parts.
If we see the Savior’s requirements as too much to ask, it’s only because we do not see things through the Savior’s eyes. The purpose of his requirements is change.
When we feel discouraged, we need to remember that we have Emmanuel – God with us. We have a good shepherd who seeks after us again and again, as long as it takes.
I find this all to be hugely reassuring. I have so many, many weaknesses. I know that I need that grace to help me to accomplish everything I do, and I love the idea of having constant access to energy and light. I love the thought that God is more concerned with the offerer than the offering, that is so hopeful! I so want to be transformed by the Savior's atonement. And I love knowing that even with all of my mistakes and weaknesses and foolishness, I can still be in the process of becoming one who is changed, and that the Savior will not give up on me. I find I need to be reminded of this again and again.
4 comments:
Wow, another great week of notes from you!
I love all of these, but especially like the insights about preparing ourselves to live in heaven by transforming ourselves here now. That is so much better than thinking we're earning our way into heaven. I want to be comfortable there, I want to feel like I'm finally home!
I love Sundays and feel like that light as both a ray of light and a lightening of my load each week as my heart swells with the Spirit and I recommit myself to doing better...again!
I agree with Jill, that is my favorite thought--transforming ourselves now to be comfortable and at home in heaven.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
xo
This really resonated with me. I love that even if our offering isn't all we can give, God will accept it. Even if I may feel inclined to give up on me, They never will. That is so powerful.
I have to tell you that after each one of these posts I felt enlightened and guided by the Spirit, so thank you for recapping these talks.
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