Testimony of 3 Witnesses

"...the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Testimony of Three Witnesses)

This phrase is repeated twice in the relatively short testimony expressed by these three men, so it stood out to me.  I think to me, this phrase means that Heavenly Father and Jesus have given us so much, even though we didn't really earn it.  Through no merit of our own, we can overcome sin and death.  Not because we have done anything special, but because of God's plan, and because of Christ's willingness to go through a perfect life and make an atonement for us.

Whenever I hear the word 'grace' in a gospel context, it reminds me of a scripture that I used often in my mission.  A lot of Christian religions out there believe that somehow, grace absolves us of worldly problems, and once we are "saved", the grace of Christ just clears the path for us to make it to heaven.  The scripture that we would share is 2 Nephi 25:23:

"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

While it's true that I can't save myself by my works, meaning no matter how hard people try, they will always make at least one mistake in their lives, which means they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.  At the same time, grace doesn't save us unless we do all that we can.  That's why Christ came, to make up the difference between what we can do and what the laws of God require of us.

What the quotation from the testimony of 3 witnesses points out, though, is that grace is so much more than just filling the gap between us and God.  It manifests itself in smaller things as well.  Any time God blesses us, especially when we haven't done anything special to earn those blessings, that's grace.

It's humbling to me that even though I will never measure up to the standard that I need to meet to earn my way into heaven, God has a plan and has prepared a way for me to be able to make it anyway.  Even though I mess up on a regular basis, I still receive so many blessings, big and small, from God.