After All We Can Do

The story of the Brother of Jared yields new insights nearly every time I read it. My new favorite part of the story is the prayer that he offers in chapter 3 of Ether:

O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.

And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.

Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men.¹

For all of us who want to be good but have found ourselves to be "less than the dust of the earth,"² this prayer is a model. Look at what he says:

• Lord, I know that I am no good. I see that it is not in my nature to be good.
• But you said to pray anyway, and that you would give based on my desires.
• I've suffered and wandered because of my iniquity, but you have been merciful to me.
• So now don't be angry; look at me with pity for the wreck that I am.
• I know that you can do anything that you want to do for my benefit.
• So I brought some rocks--nice rocks--but rocks nonetheless. Please make them shine.

God granted his desire. He added grace to the brother of Jared's best effort. The brother of Jared had to do something, and he made his best effort. How close did his effort bring him to creating a source of light for his boat? Not close at all! The Lord was totally responsible for making those stones shine. All Jared did was show up with his best effort applied.

Grace or Works?

This is so important. In classes, when I've asked whether we're saved by grace or by works, a few of the sharpest students always say "grace." Then someone chimes in with an abrupt "...AFTER ALL WE CAN DO!"³. I think some of us are worried about sounding like Born Again Christians. Note to us: we are. More important, some of us seem nervous about attributing all of our salvation to Christ because it sounds like we're getting off easy. Note to us: we are.

In those classes I've asked a follow-up question: "What percent of our salvation is based on our effort versus Jesus's atonement?" Again, the folks who have tasted God's goodness, and who have the works to prove it, have replied, "It's 100 percent Jesus." The rest have answered, "50/50," or, "It depends on the person," or something like that. Look again at the brother of Jared. How much of providing light in the ships did he perform? None. God did it. He allowed the brother of Jared to participate, to manifest his faith through his works so that he could receive grace.

At least that's how I have experienced the relationship between grace, faith, and works. My works, wrought through my faith, prepare me to accept the grace that God is offering. I liken this to the Israelites at the Red Sea.

The Israelites were in a jam, so God parted the sea--grace. The Israelites had sufficient trust to obey God and follow His prophet--faith. So they started walking--works. Note that the overwhelming contributing factor to the salvation of the Israelites in that situation was grace. Parting the Red Sea dwarfed every other consideration. Works without grace would have gotten the Israelites drowned, like the Egyptians. On the other hand, if they had not accepted grace by their works they would have been killed by the enemy army. This leads me to what I believe to be an accurate, although proprietary, statement on this matter:

We are saved by grace. We cannot be saved without works wrought with faith.

I believe this neatly unifies the writings of Paul and James that are often quoted in opposition to each other. I'll elaborate some more.

Grace is like a life preserver thrown to someone who has fallen overboard. The person doing the throwing is providing salvation. The person in the sea still has to trust and take hold, but once safely back on board he cannot brag about how well he grabbed the ring.

The brother of Jared acknowledges this. "I'm no good," he says to the Lord, "but you have all power." Then he pulls out a handful of rocks and asks the Lord to turn them into lights.

Mercy and grace

I did a search on "all we can do" in the Book of Mormon. I only found one other instance of it. It was in the Book of Alma. In chapter 24 the king of the converted Lamanites says:

"And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do...to repent of all our sins..."⁴

Now we're talking. Repentance is a work wrought through our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that we are no good, and that He has all power. We ask Him for mercy ("please make me clean") and for grace ("please make me shine"). And He does it. Thus, "[we] are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have [we] to boast?"⁵

So the problem with "after all we can do" is perhaps one of emphasis. Rather than "We are saved by grace after all we can do," we might better say, "We are saved by grace after all we can do." Remember, Christ's atonement is infinite. That means no matter how much effort you expend, His contribution is infinitely more significant. This does not trivialize our works; it only puts them in perspective.

Works by grace?

Let's take it a step further. Consider the works that we are under covenant to produce. Even those works are made possible by grace. Remember, "I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."⁶ Without the light of Christ and the Holy Ghost, we would be incapable of good. There would be nothing to entice us toward truth. So the "after all we can do" clause is, in effect, "after all we can heed."

This brings us to the things that Jesus actually says He requires:

• a broken heart
• a contrite spirit
• a willing mind

A broken heart and a contrite spirit avail us of mercy. We should strive to live in a state of perpetual mercy ("always retain a remission of your sins"⁷). To this end we, like the people of Ammon, place an emphasis on repentance and we stress sacrament observance.

A willing mind puts us within the reach of grace. We, want to be better, but we can't. So like the brother of Jared, we bring Him rocks and ask Him to make them shine. And He does. We move from grace to grace "according to [our] desires." It isn't always quick. Sometimes it requires the furnace of affliction. Sometimes it comes line upon line and precept upon precept. However, it comes and the result is that we change. We become more righteous. God is glorified. We are better prepared to stand before Him with a bright hope for salvation in His kingdom.

After all we can do, we are saved by grace.

1. Ether 3:2-5
2. Mosiah 4:2
3. 2 Nephi 25:23
4. Alma 24:11
5. Mosiah 2:24
6. D&C 93:2
7. Mosiah 4:12