All I Can Do, Part I

I once read a book called All You Can Do Is All You Can Do, But All You Can Do Is Enough. It was one of those motivational books intended to inspire you to go out and be the greatest salesman slash woman in the world.

It didn't work.

All I could do wasn't enough. After all, I never got rich!!
And it still isn't enough, when I try to get through a week or a day or sometimes even an hour without making some mistake that's anti-who I really mean to be.

If you have ever felt like all you can do is not enough in this life, now is the moment that you get to set that worry aside.

We make the mistake of thinking all I can do means we must do everything, and do it all right. After all, if we haven't done everything, did we really do ALL we could? But if this way of thinking was Truth, why would we need grace at all? We'd have already done everything we need to do to pass successfully from this life into a life of eternal glory with our Father in Heaven, all on our own.

The scriptures teach us the exact opposite: "...it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). This is a scripture of Relief! We are not expected to save, or perfect, ourselves. We are off the hook, we are not on the cross. Jesus Christ did that for us.

All you can do really is enough. Rejoice in that!

For more on this subject, I recommend the book Believing Christ, by Stephen E. Robinson.


P.S. If you're not familiar with the scripture I referenced above , it is from the Book of Mormon , another testament of Jesus Christ and companion scripture to the Bible.


Gonna Need Grace