Weaknesses

Today, in Gospel Doctrine, we talked about the statement, found in Ether 12, that if when we come unto Christ he will show unto us "our weakness".

We have a quick tendency to read this verse as "our weaknesses"; meaning, that when we submit to God, he shows us our flaws and faults and then empowers us to overcome them. This is certainly true. The healing process results in being cleansed of our addictive weaknesses by the power of the Atonement. Weak things and bad habits can become surely become strengths.

In Moroni's case, the specific weakness he worried about was his inability to write well enough to overcome the mocking scrutiny of the future gentiles who would read his writings. The Lord responsed by telling him that His "grace" will be sufficient to make up for any and all writing shortcomings Moroni had.

There is, however, another, more fundamental meaning to the verse. It does not read "weaknesses" (plural); rather, it was translated as "weakness", singular. ONE large weakness. Before we can fully submit and seek out relief from the Lord's Atonement we must first admit, often grudgingly, that we need Him in the first place. We have finally realize that we do not, nor will we ever, possess the capacity and capability to heal our ourselves from the earthstains we're soiled with.

Our one glaring weakness from which we need rescuing? Our fallen state. We've fallen and we can't get up! We are in desparate need for that Balm of Giliad only He can provide. When we come to Christ and learn of His Atonement, we come to more fully understand the enormous weakness for which we will never have enough willpower to overcome. Our human condition is our major weakness; it is our potential downfall. It is also our greatess blessing, however, as it prepares us for the eternities.

How does our weakness prepare us? When we realize just how much we do not know, we quit relying on our own strengths and begin to turn to that Celestial University from which we can graduate with honors. We have a heavenly benefactor who will tudor and inspire us to keep trying until our inherant weakness has become our strength.

One day, when we stand humbly in heavenly courts, our weakness, now overcome, will be for us a badge of honor. Like our Master, we will have tread the path and, with his intervention, we overcame. At that point, our former weakness will have become a proof of our successful struggle and of the Lord's great mercy.

Maybe we should be more grateful for our weakness(es)...

Powerless

I've come to believe there is only one true sin in the universe--pride. Any sin we commit becomes an "act of independence" (Elder Hafen's phrase); that is, we willing choose to act in a way contrary to the laws of Heaven. In that moment, we choose our will over His; our desires over His desire for us. Also, in that moment, we have chosen to believe we know better than the God of the Universe.

It is for this reason that we cannot begin to effectively deal with our addictions until we completely accept the fact that the Lord is smarter and more intelligent than us; that He has the capacity and desire to love us to a greater extent than we can; that His ways, His path for us, is greater and more glorious than anything we could ever do on our own.

If we are to then accept His will, we also must accept that if we flail away, stubbornly trying to prove that we know better, we will find our addiction continues to hold us in a unrelenting vice of pain and destruction.

And if we are to recover, we must then accept we are powerless. Powerless! In this politically correct world, the idea of being 'powerless' is to admit we are incapable of changing our life on our own. We are a failure and can't do anything about it! Worse yet, we connect being powerless with being hurt or vunerable and undefended. It is for this reason that most theraputic strategies are focused on helping one become "empowered" and back in control.

Powerless?

Why would we admit that?

Why would You do that?

And why do we have to admit it in order to move on to other steps?