What is Grace? March Come Follow Me

 

What is Grace?

I LOVE this lesson.  I have to admit that “grace” is a topic I couldn’t fully wrap my mind around for a long time.  Then I found Elder David A. Bednar’s talk, In the Strength of the Lord .   He has given this talk in General Conference and it has appeared in church magazines, but I REALLY like the BYU devotional version because he had a lot longer to speak and was able to give several stories and illustrations that are really incredible.  He opened up my mind about what grace is, why I need the Atonement every single day, and the difference between the “redeeming power” of the Atonement and the “enabling power” (grace) of the Atonement.

He said this:

“If I were to emphasize one overarching point this morning, it would be this: I suspect that you and I are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us. That is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us. I think most of us know that when we do things wrong, when we need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has paid the price and made it possible for us to be made clean through His redeeming power. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints—for good men and women who are obedient and worthy and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully. I frankly do not think many of us “get it” concerning this enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.”

You can print a PDF of this talk here:

 In the Strength of the Lord BYU DEVOTIONAL VERSION Bednar

In this package we gave you some illustrations to use as you teach those stories as well as an illustrated note page to study the talk with.  There are questions with a picture and then you would search the talk to find the answer to that question.  Make sure you use the BYU devotional version of Elder Bender’s talk (linked to above) when using these illustrations.

I have no other teaching suggestions for “grace” other than that talk by Elder Bednar.  It is all you need.  All scriptures you look up after that will make much more sense once you have studied that talk.  Also, the Bible Dictionary definition for “Grace” will make a lot more sense.

If you are interested in the teaching package on grace, you can find it HERE

Or you can find a combo pack of seven March lessons HERE.