Saved by Grace

I truly appreciate Brad Wilcox's perspective on the Atonement, as delivered in a number of his talks and in his book, The Continuous Atonement.  The insights he shares resonate with my heart and mind, and I am excited as I embrace an improved view on the power of God's grace.

By complying [with God's commandments], we are not paying the demands of justice--not even the smallest part.  Instead, we are showing appreciation for what Jesus Christ did by using it to live a life like His. 

He points out that we are not "earning our way to heaven, but learning our way to heaven."

My two cents here.  The gospel is not a a laundry list of things to do, but rather a description of the type of person we are to become if we are to live with God.  It is about becoming, not doing.  I admit that I struggle with this.  I frequently obey commandments because I believe it to be the right thing to do, and not because I sincerely want to be a different type of person.  I struggle with desires of the natural man, and I am painfully aware that there are parts of me that must die, so that I can become cleansed.  This reminds me of one of my favorite songs, The Hurt and the Healer, by MercyMe:

So here I am what's left of me
Where Glory meets my suffering
I'm alive, even thought a part of me has died
You take my heart and breathe it back to life
I've fallen in your arms open wide
Where the hurt and the healer collide.

I am reminded of one of my favorite passages in the scriptures, found in Doctrine and Covenants 45: 3-5

3 Listen to him who is the ^aadvocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
 4 Saying: Father, behold the ^asufferings and ^bdeath of him who did no ^csin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be ^dglorified;
 5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my ^abrethren that ^bbelieve on my name, that they may come unto me and have ^ceverlasting life.

We will be saved based "wholly upon the merits"(2 Nephi 31:19) of Jesus Christ.   Our actions are not saving us; they are simply preparing us to live in a holy place, and helping us to transform ourselves into a more holy person. 

I hope to write more about this topic later.