Through the grace of Jesus Christ, you can begin the process of change and have the strength to endure to the end.
How often have you felt that you just weren’t righteous enough or that your best wasn’t good enough? When you look around at ward members, friends, or family and see all the good things they are doing, it is easy to feel like you need to do better. Brad Wilcox teaches that doing your best is all that God asks because of the grace that Jesus Christ offers.
No matter how far you may have strayed, you have the opportunity to change because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Even though change can seem daunting, you should never quit.
Brother Wilcox explains how Christ’s grace works in your life by using the example of learning how to play the piano. When you learn how to play the piano, your parents pay the piano teacher. Because of that payment, your parents can expect you to practice playing the piano. When you practice, you are not repaying your parents; you are showing your parents appreciation for paying for the piano lessons. Christ’s grace is similar to this idea. He has already paid the demands of justice, and so now he can ask us to keep his commandments. As we do so, we are showing him our love and appreciation.
Brother Wilcox also compares the process of changing our lives to the process of learning how to play the piano: “When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying.” A lot of practice and a lot of time are required to learn how to play the piano. No one can sit down and learn to play at one single lesson. Similarly, learning how to become like God takes time.
Since change is a process, God doesn’t expect you to change all at once. You can rely on the enabling power of Christ’s grace to give you strength step-by-step as you pray for guidance and make righteous decisions.
When Christ suffered in Gethsemane and was crucified, he paid the demands of justice for every single one of us—including you. That means your debts are already paid for because he suffered the consequences of those sins.
Brother Wilcox explains that there is no requirement for how perfect you must be at any one moment in time. What is required is that you are trying to show Christ your appreciation for all that he has done by being obedient and doing your personal best. His grace gives you strength as you continually try to follow his commandments more perfectly.
Read Brad Wilcox’s article “His Grace Is Sufficient.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Shelisa Baldwin, Mormon Insights
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Too often in my life have I felt that I simply cannot do more. I am hard on myself for not being able to achieve or try as much as others. When I compare myself to those around me I am easily discouraged. However, I appreciate and believe Brother Wilcox’s statement that God doesn’t have a bar of perfection that we are meant to reach at any one time. He knows that we experience ups and downs in life, but as long as we are trying as hard as we can then we are showing our love for him and for his son. I think that is why the principle of justice and mercy is so beautiful. God has given us room to breathe, but not to make excuses.