Grace

The Lord promised us through the prophet Moroni: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

I am intrigued by several things about this scripture. The first is that the Lord gives us weaknesses. It isn't sin, He gives us weaknesses. This is so we will be humble. Humility is something I know I need to work on, it's not one of my strong points. Just think, if we were perfect in every respect, it would be hard to be humble. Even when we excel in specific things, it is hard to be humble with respect to those things. I have seen this in my life. I've allowed certain successes in my life make me feel like I was the king of the world. Maybe we all do sometimes. Still, if everything was perfect, it would be hard to be humble. So, we're given weaknesses to help us overcome this tendency we have to be proud.

But, then there's the promise. If we are willing to humble ourselves, then, the Lord's “grace is sufficient.” In the Bible Dictionary, grace is defined as an “enabling power” (697). Isn't that an incredible promise?

It is interesting how frequently we hear the word addiction used to describe destructive behavior There's often talk about being addicted to alcohol, to drugs, to pornography. All insidious and powerful evils, they are examples of the Lord's warning to His disciples that “whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). Similarly, Alma warned us about the “chains of hell” (Alma 12:11).

Sin weakens, bind, and brings us down to slavery. It's a great blessing that the grace of God and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the resolution, the solution, the answer. I am grateful that by humbling myself, by turning to the Lord God and His Son, Their grace, Their enabling power, will help me throw off the chains of that slavery. But not just throw off these chains, Their grace will help me to become stronger than my weaknesses.

It is a great blessing to partake of the Lord's grace, to have the comforting power of the atonement. I am grateful for the Lord's love and guidance in my life.