Because of Your Meekness

When Mormon addressed the saints of his day, he made this interesting comment about how he knew they had faith: “But behold, my beloved brethren, I judge better things of you, for I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness.” He perceived that they had faith in the Savior because they were humble, and he connected humility and faith further in these words: “And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ” (Moroni 7:39,43-44). There is no true faith in Jesus Christ if we don’t recognize our own weakness before Him; we cannot believe He has all power to help us if we don’t understand that we don’t have all power; we cannot rely on His merits if we don’t stop relying on our own. Humility is the foundation of faith, and perhaps we should all ask ourselves this question: would Mormon observe our actions and see enough meekness to judge that we too have faith in Christ?

                Other scriptures similarly emphasize the connection between faith and humility, and  perhaps the most famous is the passage Moroni recorded of the Savior when he was feeling humble from his own weakness in writing. The Savior said to him, “And 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; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27). We read this scripture often in the church, and rightfully so, but I don’t know how often we really ponder the surprising message here: the Lord gives us weakness in order to help us be humble. So important is humility, an absolute prerequisite to faith in Him and all the blessings He has to give us, that He helps us be humble by giving us weakness! We might feel that’s not quite fair, but His ways are higher than ours, and He has a grander vision for us than we do for ourselves. He needs us to be humble if He is going to be able to help us, through His grace, to ultimately perfect us and make us strong. His “grace is sufficient for the meek”—if we want His power and help to overcome the challenges of mortality, then we must be meek.

            Recently my three-year-old boy started preschool, and his five-year-old sister talked to him beforehand about the experience to prepare him. She asked him about whether he was scared or not to go, and then she told him that even though his parents wouldn’t be with him, “Jesus will be with you.” I don’t know if that’s what made the difference for him, but so far he has been just fine at preschool and hasn’t seemed to miss us at all despite our initial concerns that he would have a hard time (he often falls apart whenever we leave a babysitter with the kids). I love my daughter’s simple, humble faith in the Savior. Her reasoning to her brother wasn’t “you’ll be fine because you are brave” or “you don’t need to fear preschool because you are a big boy” or anything else related to his experience or abilities. Rather, it was in essence this: you’ll be fine because Jesus has all power and will be with you despite your own weakness and fear. That is the kind of faith we need to have: we trust that all things will indeed work together for our good because Jesus is good and will guide our paths. We can “do all things” not because we have any special abilities but because Christ who has all ability “strengtheneth” us (Philippians 4:13). Recently I have been more keenly aware than normal of my own failings and shortcomings, my weakness and inabilities in many areas of my life, and I hope I can follow the lead of my daughter to let these feelings lead me to the Savior who “knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted” (Doctrine and Covenants 62:1).