What seems like an eternity ago, I wrote a series of blogposts on the topic of “the strait and narrow path.” If you haven’t read those, I suggest you do. I won’t re-visit them here. This blog will just share some follow-up thoughts.
First, the Lord wasn’t kidding or mistaken when he used the word “strait,” and not “straight.” It’s like driving around the Ozarks. Sometimes, a road is cut straight through one of the hills. Other times, the best road is built up over the hills, down in the valleys, or around a body of water. There are so many constraints, in both us and the world around us, and God knows how to navigate them perfectly. Not only does he facilitate safe passage through this world we live in, he also knows where the best overlooks and vantage points are—where everything around you is exactly what you need in that moment to teach you more about him, if you will let it.
Which brings me to my second point. I want to just briefly state how stupid the whole concept of “saved by grace” is. Is grace a thing in the gospel? Absolutely! Not going to say it’s not. Without grace, what a wretched state we would all be in! But this notion that works are not as necessary as grace is just inane! God doesn’t drag you along the path while you shout praises to him! He calls you to walk the path, and he makes you capable of doing just that because he has done it and has shown us the way. Those who have truly partaken of God’s grace perform works that are commanded by him. They don’t have reason to boast because they know that, without his guidance, direction, and example, they would still be floundering in this world instead of improving and becoming like him, which is the whole point of this life. God is good not only because of who he is, but also because of what he does (which is, actually, an extension of who he is, but I think it’s nice to tease those apart to make it more easily recognizable). He improves things, and his greatest miracle is to take us, who start as individuals unlike him, and to change our perspectives about reality such that they become like his and we become like him in all things. If you have ever tried to permanently improve the perspectives of another human being in a fundamental way, you know how difficult and painful that endeavor is, you know how great a miracle it is when you are successful, and you know how good God is for all that he does and for how long he does it. People are saved through a combination of grace and works, both of which we could neither experience nor comprehend were He not the source of both.
And that’s probably a good segue into the last part of this post. In the past, I have been accused of boasting of myself, and anyone who truly knows me knows that this is something I could never do with the understanding I have about God and my relationship to him. In fact, God showed me in a dream once how, without him, I was just a worm (an interesting topic for study, btw). Of all the things he has taught me, that was one of the easiest things for me to believe, and so I will end with a few of Ammon’s words from the book of Alma:
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. (Alma 26:12)