Grace

for my Religion class we had to write a paper on grace for a test, this is what i came up with. there are a lot of mistakes with grammar and spelling, im sorry but try to read it for what it is worth.

Grace

By Our Works

Sometimes in our lives we feel like we are inadequate. We are called to do great things for God, leave our families to serve a mission, hand over 10% of our pay checks, and fasting at least once a month. Some religions believe that they are saved if they only believe in God, and no matter what they do in this life they will be save at judgment day.

Through the grace of God we are saved from our sins, right? So what else would we need to do? In Acts 16 Peter teaches us that all we need to do is “believe in the Lord, and ye shall be saved”. But does it not also read in James that “without works faith is dead”? Through modern revelation we know that we are saved by the grace of God, but we also need to work.

We work by serving others and by growing and strengthening our personal testimony. As we serve we can feel the love of God. I have a personal testimony that we feel the love that HE has for the people we serve. Sometimes the ones we serve do not appreciate the work we do for them, but we still continue our serve. We are “willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death” (Mosiah 18: 9).

A personal testimony is important because it builds our faith. Men, by nature are foolish and weak. We strengthen our testimony by “the simple seminary answers” go to church, prayer, and read your scriptures. Sharing our testimony and teaching others. Our hearts need to be fully invested in our search and ponderings. As we draw closer to God we become more Christ like and less like the natural man.

Obtaining Grace and Gratitude

In Greek, the word which is translated as grace means “good-will, loving kindness, favor.” Our Heavenly Father is all loving. He sent his only begotten son to redeem the world. It is hard to be bitter, towards the Lord when you heart is full of love. Because of the Lord perfect sacrifice we can be redeemed by his grace. The main idea of the word “grace” is divine it means, help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ. Through the Lords love and good-will we are strengthen and help, to obtain eternal life.

There are many examples found in The Book of Mormon and the Bible of the Lord Grace. Some of my favorite examples are Alma the younger, he was trying to lead the hearts of the people away from God. One day an angel appeared to him, and told him to repent of his sins. He was so overcome by the spirit was became dumb; he could not speak or move. After three days we gained movement, he said

“…The Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God. My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more. I rejected my Redeemer, and denied that which had been spoken of by our fathers…” (Mosiah 27: 28-30).

Alma then accepted the grace of God, repented of his sins and instead of leading the people away he taught them about the God love.

Later Alma’s son Corianton had broke the law of chastity. He teaches his son about the plan of salvation,

“… With the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, everything to its natural frame” (Mosiah 41: 3-4).

Corianton repeats of his sins and becomes a great teacher and a mighty man. Because of the Lord’s grace we are able to be saved and have eternal life. There are countless other stories both in The Book of Mormon and the Bible where men are saved by the grace of God.

No one can keep the Lord’s law perfectly, that is why we need the grace of God and the Plan of Salvation. No matter whom we are or where we come from, we all shall be raised up at the last day, but those who are not repentant and obtain the grace of God, they shall not be saved. If we except God and endure to the end with our good works, we shall be redeemed, and have eternal life.

God command us to watch over his sheep, to bring the lost sheep back into the fold, as missionaries we serve the Lord and those who are seeking the gospel. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt 25: 40). We show God our gratitude by serving him, caring and loving others, and more becoming Christ like.

We should take the time to count our blessings, everyday. The world in a beautiful place, I believe there are holy place everywhere. As we take the time to observe the world around us, we will see the power and love of the world. As we get to know and serve our neighbors we come to see the love and beauty that the Lord sees in them. I am not perfect in these things, but I strive daily in becoming like Christ.

From God

Where does grace come from? “Grace and truth comes from God” (John 1:17). All good things come from God. Grace is something that the devil cannot obtain. It is something that the devil cannot understand, because of his fallen state. He has rejected the grace of God and so did all his followers, knowing that they rejected the only way to attain eternal glory. The devil and his fallen angles can no longer accept the grace of the Lord, so they try to make us miserable. They want us to forget our blessing and to only focus on the negatives of this life. When we see the world in a negative light, we are unable to see the blessings of the Lord. We Forget about His grace, and deny Him.

I know these things to be true. Men are far from perfect, and we are foolish in our wisdom. Through the atonement sacrifice we are saved. It is the grace of God that we have the Plan of Salvations. Through God’s grace we all shall be saved, but to live eternally in his Glory, we need to practice faith, and endure to the end.

In the name of Jesus Chris, Amen.

Extra

Here are some scripture that I really liked as I was studying and reading up for this paper. Eph 2:8, Peter 5:5, Jacob 4:7, Helaman 12:24, Ether 12: 26-27

I took most of my paper from the talk, Salvation: Grace or by Works? By Gerald N Lund

Source: lds.org