Grace is simply an enabling power.

It is the secret ingredient that enables progress.

Through the Atonement, or that which transpired in both the garden and on the cross, Christ was endowed with the power necessary to be able to reach down and to pull us up (this encompasses everything from healing our hearts and making us whole, to helping us get unstuck so that we can continue growing and progressing, to coming to feel genuinely confident and eternally treasured).

In short, Christ is able to accomplish this through His (1) merits, His (2) mercy, and His (3) grace.

Indeed the Atonement did not end on the cross. It is ongoing. Since Christ is still in the act of showing us grace and lifting us up.

With that said, before we can proceed to talk about the might and the majesty of the Atonement, we must first take a moment to explore the basics – or the mechanics – of what grace truly is and how it actually works.

If eternal progress were likened to a ladder, we of our own wisdom and strength could not pull ourselves to a higher rung all by ourselves.

Progress involves someone of a higher station (like our Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ) reaching down and pulling us up. Pulling us up is something that they desperately want to do more than anything else.

In short, Heavenly Father has clearly stated that it is His work and His glory to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man and women.

Glory = Intelligence = Light and Truth.

Light and Truth = one’s capacity to “give life,” or one’s capacity to show grace and to actually lift another.

(It could also be said that the measure of one’s true “intelligence” is quantified by one’s capacity to show grace, or one’s capacity to serve and to life up and to give even greater life to another human being.)

The doctrine of progression is clear. We go from –

(1) Grace to Grace
(2) Grace for Grace

In other words, the way we progress from one rung on the ladder to the next higher rung on the ladder (or as we go from “one level of grace to another level of grace” … or from one level of progression to the next higher level of progression) is by showing grace to someone else (or “grace for grace” … or as we show grace to someone else, we become recipients of grace ourselves).

As we reach down and lift someone else up, the Heavens reach down and lift us up.

As we reach down and pull someone else up a rung on the ladder, the Heavens are then enabled to reach down and to pull us up a rung on the ladder (figuratively speaking).

As we show grace to others, we become recipients of Heavenly Grace. We always receive more than we ever give.

It really is as simple as genuine service, genuine kindness, and genuine godlike love.

Step by step, not only do we become more like our Heavenly Father, but we are healed of our heartaches and our hurts, and in time, we are made whole (not all of which will occur in this life).

In Hebrew, the root word for “love” is “to give.”

Consider the three instances of the word “give” or “gave” in the following statement:

Christ gave us life by giving his life, and in doing so He was given even greater life by one mightier than Himself – our Heavenly Father.

(It should be noted that the events that occurred in the garden and on the cross constitutes the ultimate grace for grace act every transpired on earth. When Christ said “it is finished” … He did not mean the Atonement as a whole was finished. Rather, He meant that the act required of Him to complete the act of grace necessary to enable Him to receive the grace necessary to be our Savior and Redeemer was finished. He was subsequently endowed with even greater grace from the Father – he was resurrected – and it is this additional grace that enables Jesus Christ to continue the Atonement to this day … or to enable Him to continue drying our tears, healing our hearts, and making us whole. We will discuss this in greater detail in a later section.)

There really is power that comes into our lives from holding up the hands that hang down, and strengthening the feeble kneed.

When we render service, we always receive more than we give.

Sometimes when we feel like the Heaven’s are as brass, it might be a function of our lack of looking beyond ourselves and rendering service to others.

It has been said that when we are feeling down the best way to turn things around is to serve.

This totally makes sense.

The doctrine is we receive grace as we give grace.

When we serve we unlock the powers of Heaven to reach down and to bless our lives.

When we are feeling down, that is the precise moment we need the Heavens to comfort our souls and to give us direction and hope.

NOTES:

(1) Christ is able to lift us up and to heal our hearts through His merits, mercy, and grace.

(2) Christ’s “merits” can be equated to His standing, His position, or the level to which He has advanced and achieved from the perspective of the Heavens. In every day life, we often use the term “merit” to connote that a person has achieved a goal, passed a test, graduated from an educational program, advanced in rank, been promoted to a position of authority, etc.

(3) Through the greatest act of grace ever known on planet earth, Jesus Christ gave us life by giving His life through the Atonement (not only in the garden and on the cross, but even right now). As a result of His reaching down and pulling us up, the Heavens reached down and pulled him up to where He is now at. In short, His act of grace on our behalf enabled Him to be pulled up by the Heavens to a higher level of grace. In essence, He merited the title, the power, and the authority of becoming “the Christ.”

(4) Christ’s “mercy” for us was developed in full through the Atonement (or by what transpired in the garden and on the cross). In short, by feeling our individual pains, heartaches, hurts, challenges, regrets, sorrows, etc … He developed “divine compassion” for each and every one of us. Said differently, because He has felt what we now feel, not only does He have a deep yearning for each of us, but He has an overflowing desire to succor us and to heal us and to lift us up.

(5) Christ’s “grace” is simply His power to lift us up to where He is at in conjunction with His his incredible desire to do so if we are willing to abide by the law of grace, which is to say that as we willingly serve others and show others grace, we are then enabled to become recipients of Heavenly grace through our Savior Jesus Christ, who has the power, the authority, and the motivation to assist us personally and individually.







(XX) “damnation” is simply cutting ourselves off from the grace those higher up on the ladder are eager to offer. Without accepting a helping hand, eternal progress comes to a screeching halt. (To “deny”)