“AFTER ALL WE CAN DO”
In 2 Nephi 25,
written by Nephi’s brother Jacob, Nephi is preaching to the people of Nephi.
They see him as “a king or a protector,” and he tells them that he is laboring
diligently to write the prophecies of others and of himself for this reason: “To
persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be
reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all
we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Let’s take a closer
look at the phrase “after all we can do.” I confess that it has in the past
raised my perfectionistic anxiety and sometimes still does . . . How can we
possibly ever say we’ve done “all” we can? Anytime I think about my behavior
yesterday or today, I can see something more I could have done to be right
before God. There’s always room for improvement. If I had done all I could on any particular day,
wouldn’t that mean I had behaved perfectly? My perfectionistic brain sometimes
leads me to understand “all we can do” as “already perfect.” Perfectionists,
after all, believe in the possibility of perfection, so if true all-out effort
is expended, surely that would equal perfect.
That’s poor
reasoning, of course, and an example of how perfectionism can distort our
thinking. It’s comforting to me to remember President Spencer W. Kimball’s
words that “each of us has more opportunities to do good and to be good than we
ever use” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Jesus: The Perfect Leader,” Ensign, August 1979). His subtext seems
to be that it is not possible to do
our “all” all of the time.
Even phrases like “do
your best” or “give your best effort,” which might work well for
non-perfectionists, can raise anxiety and desperate feelings to measure up.
When perfectionists hear that all the Lord expects of us is “our best,” we
hear: “Give your maximum effort 100 percent of the time.” We know that’s not
possible, but some of us aim for it anyway. It’s part of the perfectionism con
that after a performance, no matter how good, we believe we could have done
better. Personally, when I hear “best” phrases, I adjust them in my mind so
that the message is manageable. For example, if someone in a church setting
says that what’s expected of me is not perfection but only my best, I’ll say to
myself, “What’s expected of me is diligence.”
Some of the anxiety
about the phrase “all we can do” comes from a misunderstanding about timing.
Nephi is speaking of the final judgment when our mortal lives are over. If we
don’t keep that in mind, we might believe we’re a candidate for Christ’s grace
only after we’ve done all we can. Elder Bruce C. Hafen corrects this idea in
his book The Broken Heart. “The Savior’s
gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can
do. We may receive his grace before, during, and after the time when we expend
our own efforts” (Bruce C. Hafen, The
Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences [Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1989], 155).
In my study for this
book I found a phrase that brought me peace when I read it, rather than
feelings of discouragement. The words were written by Elder D. Todd Christofferson
in an Ensign article. Here is what he
said:
Personal persistence
in the path of disobedience is something different than achieving perfection in
mortality. Perfection is not, as some suppose, a prerequisite for justification
and sanctification. It is just the opposite: justification (being pardoned) and
sanctification (being purified) are the prerequisites for perfection. We only
become perfect “in Christ” (see Moroni 10:32), not independently of Him. Thus,
what is required of us in order to obtain mercy in the day of judgment is simple diligence” (emphasis added) (D.
Todd Christofferson, “Justification and Sanctification,” Ensign, June 2001).
Similarly, Elder
Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in October 2010 general conference: “Diligently doing the thing that matter
most will lead us to the Savior of the world.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Of Things
that Matter Most,” Ensign, November
2011, 21).
He didn’t say “frantically”
or “speedily” or “hastily” doing the things that matter most. Just “diligently.”
Since I noticed that
word, I have heard it and read it from our leaders often. Very often.
“Simple diligence” is
now my mantra whenever I think I am not doing enough or being good enough. It
is a gentle reminder to slowly and surely, with “small, steady, incremental”
(David A. Bednar, “Clean Hands and a Pure Heart,” Ensign, November 2007) steps, become the person I hope my Savior
will greet someday with open arms. (M. Sue Bergin, Am I a Saint Yet? Healing the Pain of Perfectionism [Springville,
Utah: CFI, 2012], 104-6)
Further Reading
Less one thinks that Christofferson's article supports justification
being merely declarative (the Protestant understanding), see: