Saturday, September 14, 2024

B. J. Allen on "After all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23)

  

“All We Can Do”

 

Part of our responsibility to qualify for the Savior’s atoning power is taught in 2 Nephi 25:23: “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”

 

When I first read this scripture, I construed its meaning to be we must do everything correctly that we are capable of doing before Christ will apply His saving power. My interpretation led me to infer that we must save ourselves as far as we can, and then Christ saves us the rest. However, I grew to appreciate that there is no part of salvation we can do on our own. Christ is the only one who holds saving power. Further, with my original interpretation, how would I know when I have done enough? Because I inferred that I had to reach some arbitrary level of righteousness to earn the Savior’s power, I never felt qualified. For example, does a parent who occasionally loses their temper with their child qualify for Christ’s parenting help? IF we take “all we can do” to mean we must do everything correctly that we are capable of doing, then the answer would be no.

 

What, then, does “after all we can do” mean? While the word after often implies sequence, this scripture is not implying that Christ’s saving grace operates only after a finished, qualifying event that we perform. The word after signifies that Christ domes during our journey but only after we invite Him and show our willingness to change. Consider Alma 24:11, which reads, “And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain” (emphasis added). This scripture suggests that at least one interpretation of the phrase “all we can do” means to repent since all we can do is repent. In other words, we invite Christ into our life by showing our willingness to change. Thus, one way to interpret 2 Nephi 25:23 is that we are saved by grace after we show a desire to change. There is nothing we must accomplish before Christ applies His compensating power. HE is continually part of our lives. HE even said himself, “Behold, I have graven thee upon the psalms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:16).

 

Because all we can do entails changing, we must willingly accept Christ’s change agents, even if we do not like them at first. Christ’s goal is to help us become like Him, and this process will entail being stretched and being uncomfortable. Living a life with God does not mean living a life of ease. We must remember that the history of Christianity is a history of being made uncomfortable. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Moses was exiled. Paul was shipwrecked and hungry, Lehi wandered the desert, and the pioneers crossed the plains in wagons and handcarts. Doing all we can encompasses accepting God’s will, which is sometimes unpleasant. However, the trade-off is always worth it because Christ’s compensating power can make us more than we can make ourselves. For example, when I was finishing graduate school, it felt as if God was continually asking me to do more and more. I transferred schools halfway through my PhD program, so I was already a bit behind the regular time line. Then I was called to be a temple ordinance worker. This would require me to work a half-day shift every week. I thought it sounded crazy to try to do this long with finishing my dissertation and managing my family of five at the time. However, after receiving encouragement from my wife, I decided to move forward. Roughly six months later I was called as the elder’s quorum president of my ward. Although I questioned how I could do everything the Lord was asking me to do, I tried my best to magnify my calling. This experience taught me an important lesson. Christ will compensate your efforts to a greater extent when you put Him first. Even though I felt overwhelmed with all I needed to do, I had more success in my graduate program—in terms of academic writing and publishing and job placement—than I ever thought I would. It far exceeded my own expectations. Coming unto Christ means doing what He asks, and in return, His compensatory power makes us more than we could be without Him. When we are willing to accept God’s will, we are truly doing all we can do. (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], 141-45)

 

 

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