My Grace Is Sufficient

When the apostle Paul besought the Lord regarding “a thorn in the flesh,” the Savior said this to him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul continued, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Moroni, also in a time of difficulty, prayed to the Lord about his weakness in writing the record that he was required to write, fearing that others would mock his work. The Savior said to him, “Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; 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 12:26-27). The Savior taught that His grace was sufficient to help Moroni and that with faith Moroni could be made strong. Like Paul, Moroni had the power of Christ to rest upon him because he sought the grace of Christ in his weaknesses. Moroni chose to finish the Book of Mormon with his witness of this principle: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God” (Moroni 10:32). If we come unto Him, seeking to deny ourselves of ungodliness and love God, His grace will be sufficient for us to not just help us but ultimately make us perfect.  

            In our dispensation the Savior reaffirmed that His grace is indeed sufficient for us. He said to the three witnesses, “And if you do these last commandments of mine, which I have given you, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; for my grace is sufficient for you, and you shall be lifted up at the last day” (Doctrine and Covenants 17:8). He did not say, “My grace is sufficient so sit back and relax—you don’t need to do anything.” Rather, He encouraged them to keep His commandments and promised His grace as they did. In the next revelation he repeated this to the Twelve who would later be called, “And now I speak unto you, the Twelve—Behold, my grace is sufficient for you; you must walk uprightly before me and sin not” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:31). Both of these statements in the Doctrine and Covenants affirm that Christ’s grace is sufficient and that we still need to strive to keep His commandments. His grace—His power to help us and forgive us and refine us—will not run out.

            Towards the end of His first day among the Nephites, the Savior said this to them as He tried to depart, “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy. For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you” (3 Nephi 17:7-8). He had the power to heal all of their afflictions, whatever they were, because His grace was sufficient. And the reason He healed them was because their faith was sufficient. To receive His grace we do not need perfect faith, but we do need sufficient faith, implying there is some minimum level of faith that we need to show in coming unto Him. The father whose son had a dumb spirit seemed to understand this, for when the Savior said to him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth,” he “cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:23-24). And Jesus did indeed heal his son. We too can seek to come unto Him with perhaps shaky faith, asking for help with our own unbelief. And maybe the best way to show Him that we do want to believe, despite our doubts, is to try to keep His commandments. And as we do surely we will find that in fact our faith, and His grace, are sufficient.