Trials alone do not
improve us. To these trails must be added Christlike attributes, such as
patience, love, and openness, which the scriptures teach are gifts from God
(see Doctrine and Covenants 46:1; 1 Corinthians 12). These gifts of God help us
take negative inputs (trials) and create positive outputs (a more Christlike
person). It is certainly possible that people who suffer alone, without our
Savior, can become stronger, but they will not reach their Christlike potential
without turning to Him and partaking of His power. Consider the people of Nephi
after a long war-torn period. The people had drastically different responses to
their difficulties. Some “became hardened, because of the exceedingly great
length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch
that they did humble themselves before God” (Alma 62:41). Our hardships are
just as likely to lead to hardened hearts as they are to lead to useful
learning unless we invite Christ to teach us.
Consider why Christ
knows how to use these experiences to instruct and improve us. Suffering the vicissitudes
of mortality is the same process by which He learned “grace for grace”
(Doctrine and Covenants 93:13). Paul wrote, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9;
emphasis added). Christ’s perfection was learned by suffering through the
lessons of mortality. Paul further taught that Christ’s compensation is greater
than any trial we endure. He wrote that Moses “[chose] rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Hebrews
11:25-26; emphasis added).
Without Christ, we
will not optimize the learning and refining process that could be ours if we
would turn to Him. Often as Christians, we speak of suffering begetting faith,
compassion, and improvement. The difficulties of life may be the school for
instruction, but Christ is the teacher. AL of us will visit this school
periodically; however, unless we invite the teacher to train us, we will not
learn much of anything. Without Christ, the trials and heartache of life would simply
be something to bear—like performing an arduous chore. However, with Christ,
these experiences, although like ashes, can turn into something beautiful. (B.
J. Allen, The Compensating Power of Christ: How Christ’s Atonement Rights
the Wrongs of an Unfair World and Imperfect People [American Fork, Utah: Covenant
Communications, Inc., 2024], 129-30)
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