Inviting Grace into our Lives

This week I was pondering on Ether 12:27 in the Book of Mormon, where Christ is speaking to Moroni. He tells him: “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…” I was thinking about that passage, and compared it to Christ’s commandment in 3 Nephi 12:48 (and Matthew 5:48) in which he commands us to be perfect.

Christ commands us to be perfect yet tells us that his grace is sufficient for us if we are humble. To me this teaches the principle that there is a difference between qualifying for his grace and being perfect. We cannot fulfill his commandment to be perfect on our own. But we can humble ourselves and qualify for His grace.

This principle helped me understand the commandments better. Some commandments seem like they teach what Christ wants us to be – to be filled with charity, to be perfect, to be sanctified. Other commandments have to do with what he wants us to do – pray, read the scriptures, be baptized. I think those “do’s” are what we need to do to invite grace into our lives, and the “be’s” are what He can make of us if we invite his grace into our lives. This helps me because it makes me rely less on myself and think less that I do everything on my own. I can’t make myself perfect, but I can do the things that invite grace into my life. I have a testimony that by praying and reading the scriptures I feel closer to the Savior and feel more enabled by His grace. And I have faith that by inviting his grace into my life that one day I will be filled with charity and be like Him.