Grace: The Power to Become Like God

The purpose of this life is not merely to avoid punishment or prove that we can follow rules. Heavenly Father’s work is to help His children receive “immortality and eternal life” (Moses 1:39). Jesus commanded us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

That command can feel impossible—and by ourselves, it is.

We cannot overcome death, erase our sins, change our fallen nature, or transform ourselves into the likeness of God through determination alone. We need more than instructions. We need divine power.

That power is called grace.

What does grace mean?

The principal Hebrew word translated as grace is ḥēn, meaning favor, acceptance, goodwill, kindness, or something pleasing in another’s sight.

The Old Testament frequently speaks of someone finding “grace in the eyes” of God or another person. Noah, for example, “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). God looked favorably upon Noah and extended revelation, protection, and covenant blessings to him.

The principal Greek word translated as grace is charis. It can mean favor, kindness, generosity, a freely given gift, gratitude, or a benefit provided by someone who has the power to help another.

In the gospel, grace is far more than God having pleasant feelings toward us. His favorable disposition becomes active help. Grace is God reaching toward us and giving us what we cannot produce for ourselves.

The Church’s Bible Dictionary describes grace as divine help or strength given through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ. Grace is the power that allows us to do and become things that would otherwise be beyond our natural ability.

In its fullest sense:

Grace is the power of Jesus Christ to forgive us, strengthen us, change us, resurrect us, sanctify us, and enable us to become like our Heavenly Father.

Why Christ is “full of grace and truth”

John testified:

“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” —John 1:14

To be full of grace means that Christ possesses every divine gift, power, and blessing necessary to save and transform us.

To be full of truth means that He perfectly embodies eternal reality, light, righteousness, and faithfulness. He is completely faithful to the Father, to eternal law, and to every promise He makes.

The Book of Mormon connects these attributes directly with Christ’s power to redeem:

“Redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.” —2 Nephi 2:6

Because Christ is full of truth, He perfectly understands and fulfills eternal law. Because He is full of grace, He willingly shares the blessings of His righteousness, sacrifice, and victory with us.

He does not pretend that sin and death are unreal. He actually overcame them.

Truth recognizes our real condition. Grace provides the power to change it.

Grace does what we cannot do

We cannot resurrect ourselves. Christ gives resurrection to every person through His grace.

We cannot erase our own sins. Christ offers forgiveness and justification through His grace.

We cannot completely cleanse our fallen nature. Christ sanctifies us through His grace and the power of the Holy Ghost.

We cannot become perfect through unaided human effort. Christ gives us strength, light, spiritual gifts, and increasing capacity until we gradually become more like Him.

This is why Lehi declared:

“There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.” —2 Nephi 2:8

We enter God’s presence through Christ’s merits, not our own. But Christ does not intend to leave us unchanged. His grace forgives us and then begins transforming us.

Grace is the power to become

Sometimes we think of grace only as pardon—Christ making up the difference after we have fallen short. Forgiveness is an essential part of grace, but grace does much more.

The Lord told Moroni:

“My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” —Ether 12:27

Grace does not merely conceal weakness. Grace can transform weakness into strength.

It can transform:

• Pride into humility
• Fear into faith
• Anger into patience
• Selfishness into charity
• Temptation into spiritual strength
• Ignorance into light
• Guilt into repentance
• Fallen human beings into Saints

King Benjamin taught that the natural man becomes a Saint “through the atonement of Christ the Lord” by yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and becoming submissive, meek, humble, patient, and full of love (Mosiah 3:19).

That word yielding is essential.

Grace becomes transformative as we stop fighting against God and begin yielding our heart and will to Jesus Christ.

Giving our will to Christ

We often think God primarily wants our outward accomplishments. But what He ultimately wants is us.

He wants our:

• Heart
• Mind
• Strength
• Desires
• Loyalty
• Body
• Spirit
• Will

The sacrifice God asks from us is “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20). A broken heart is not simply a sad heart. It is a heart no longer hardened against God. A contrite spirit is teachable, humble, repentant, and willing to be changed.

Nephi taught:

“Reconcile yourselves to the will of God…and remember that, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.” —2 Nephi 10:24

We do not earn grace by surrendering our will. Rather, surrender opens our heart to receive the grace Christ is already offering.

As we give our will to Him, He begins replacing our fallen desires with His desires. We still exercise agency, make choices, repent, and work—but we do so with power flowing from Christ.

Eventually, our greatest offering to God is not simply what we have done. It is what we have allowed Christ to make of us.

Learning to walk with Christ

Learning to become like God is a little like a toddler learning to walk.

A toddler stands, takes a few uncertain steps, and falls. A loving parent does not respond, “You fell, so you clearly do not want to walk.”

The parent reaches down, lifts the child, steadies the child, and encourages another step.

The falls are real, but so is the progress.

A toddler does not learn to walk by refusing to try until falling becomes impossible. Walking is learned partly through repeatedly standing back up.

Our spiritual growth is often similar.

We exercise faith and then become afraid. We try to be patient and then lose our temper. We resist temptation and later stumble. We promise to follow Christ and then discover another weakness within ourselves.

These falls should not be treated casually, but neither should they convince us that Christ has abandoned us.

When we humbly repent, grace reaches down again.

Christ does not excuse us from learning to walk. He makes learning to walk possible.

His grace:

• Forgives the repentant fall
• Teaches us why we fell
• Strengthens the weakness that contributed to it
• Helps us stand again
• Encourages us to take another step
• Gradually changes the way we walk

Spiritual perfection is not never needing Christ. It is becoming completely united with Christ.

“After all we can do”

Nephi wrote:

“It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” —2 Nephi 25:23

This does not mean that we must achieve flawless performance before Christ will help us. If that were true, none of us could ever receive grace.

Nor does it mean Christ waits at the finish line while we struggle toward Him alone.

Grace is present from the beginning. Grace awakens faith, encourages repentance, strengthens obedience, heals us when we fall, and carries us beyond the limits of our natural ability.

We are not saved because we have done enough. We are saved because Jesus Christ has done what we could never do.

Our responsibility is to keep turning toward Him—to believe, repent, make and keep covenants, follow the Holy Ghost, and offer our whole souls to God.

Our efforts do not purchase grace. They demonstrate that we are willing to receive and be changed by it.

From grace to grace

Jesus Christ has shown us the pattern of eternal progression:

“He received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness.” —Doctrine and Covenants 93:13

The Lord then promises us:

“Ye shall receive grace for grace.” —Doctrine and Covenants 93:20

We do not become like God in a single moment. We receive grace, act upon it, and become capable of receiving more.

We receive:

• Light upon light
• Truth upon truth
• Strength upon strength
• Charity upon charity
• Grace upon grace

The Lord does not ask us to instantly possess His fulness. He asks us to faithfully receive the grace He is giving us today.

One step at a time, one act of repentance at a time, one surrendered desire at a time, Christ changes us.

Perfect in Christ

Moroni’s final invitation summarizes the entire purpose of grace:

“Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.” —Moroni 10:32

Notice that Moroni does not merely say, “Perfect yourself.”

He says, “Be perfected in Him.”

We become perfect as we come to Christ, deny ourselves of ungodliness, love God with our whole soul, and allow His grace to work within us.

Moroni continues:

“Then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.” —Moroni 10:32

Grace is sufficient because Christ is sufficient.

Our hope is not that we will never fall again. Our hope is that every time we fall, we will turn more completely to the One who can lift and transform us.

As we continually humble ourselves, repent, surrender our will, and offer our whole souls to Christ, His grace does more than forgive us.

It teaches us to walk.

It changes our nature.

It fills us with light and truth.

It makes weak things strong.

And ultimately, through Jesus Christ, grace enables fallen sons and daughters of God to become holy, complete, and like their Heavenly Father.

That is the purpose of mortality.

That is the miracle of the Atonement.

That is the transforming power of grace.