I never try my best. Never.

[Guest]

Perhaps it is not just that we see things a little differently - perhaps we are quite different.  When I die and meet my L-rd I already know better than to try the - I did my best routine.  I am like Vort - everything I have done I realize I could have done better.   I am sure if I try the I did my best that Jesus is likely to remind me that had I relied on him more or sooner or exercised more faith that I could have done better with what has been expected of me.  I could have been kinder to my wife in disagreements - I could have gotten points across better on this forum - I could have caught things in my work before they created loses.  I could have raised my children better.  And the one cycling race that I came in third - if I had trained better - maybe prayed more or given G-d more credit - I may have been second -- or maybe I would have stopped and helped a fellow cyclists that had fallen and not worried so much about doing what I thought was my best.

 

When I die, I don't have to worry about it.  I'm already dead.  Mortal existence over.  Jesus will know what is in my heart and he can judge accordingly.  There's no point in justifying myself to him that knows everything.  At the same time, there's no sense beating myself up for things I put my best into.  The ones I didn't - of course, that's what repentance is all about.  I don't get someone who always spend their days thinking they could have done better.  If you could have done better, you would have.  If you could have and you didn't, then why didn't you?  If I could have and I didn't, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.  Everyday.

[theSQUIDSTER]

Vort,

When you say "I never try my best.  Never."  How much do you really mean that?  It sounds like a pretty harsh self-judgement to me.  But how sure are you that you're really not giving your best more often than you give yourself credit for?  

 

What kind of race are we running in this life?  A sprint, or more of a marathon?

 

It sounds to me like you're expecting yourself to SPRINT the entire marathon rather than to pace yourself. (So I've sort of answered what type of race *I* think it is... )  

 

I guess the reason I'm pointing this out is because most of the people that berate themselves for not doing their best often enough seem to me to have the expectation of SPRINTING the entire distance... and only that would be good enough to merit exaltation.  But who the heck can do that?     (Besides Jesus maybe... Though even he needed to rest at times...)

 

So what really IS our best?  Do any of us really have a clue?  I personally doubt it.  I think we talk about it as though we have some precise means of measuring what we're capable of ... but I doubt we really know our capabilities any more than a baby girl knows what kind of woman she's going to grow up to be.  She may listen to her parents and believe them when they tell her what they believe she's capable of becoming...  But how does she know on a day-to-day basis if she's going to make it?  What if she grows tired one day and gives up?  Does that disqualify her?  Of course not!  Her parents help her up and try and convince her to keep going.

 

Let me put it a little differently ... back to the marathon metaphor.  If I were your coach and trying to help you gear up for the day when you plan to run the marathon ... what kind of coach would I be if I told you to do less than your best?  If I said, "Today you can do as many or as few jumping jacks and stretching exercises as you want and maybe we'll run around the block once or twice.  Tomorrow, same thing.  Ditto that the next day for the next ten weeks.  Then, the week of the marathon I want you to start running those 26 miles each day so you'll be ready by the following week for the actual race."  What do you think the likelihood would be that you'd ever complete the training and actually enter the race?

 

So... it matters what kind of COACH we have and how much we listen to him or take his advice.  He and his servants are telling us constantly to do our very best.  That in itself is still quite ambiguous and difficult to quantify from moment to moment, day to day, year to year... it varies... there are so many variables... how do we know if we're even making progress... much less progressing at a rate pleasing to our COACH?  

 

Who are we trying to convince that we're trying hard enough?  Or doing enough?  Ourselves, or Him?  ... Or is it even about that?  Is there even an actual race we're training for?  Is its date and time known?  Is the race even the real goal or is the goal something BEYOND the race... ?  Maybe the coach is just using us?  Leading us on?  Making us do meaningless tasks He doesn't want to do himself?  Is it about HIM or us?  Why do we even NEED him at all?  Couldn't we just train ourselves to be a world-class runner?  All we have to do is want it enough, right?

 

Consider  this... --------->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg21M2zwG9Q

 

 

(Apologies for the curse words at the beginning of the scene ... I wish we had clearplay for this scene...     But the message is good! )

 

Sometimes the kind of training and the day-to-day grind may only be a small part of the goal... only a shadow of what's really happening... As we "train" we're actually learning to become something and somebody... maybe only the COACH knows what...  The lesson may not start to jell until LONG after we've been involved in the process... Then whether we gave it 100% one day and 40 % another day or whatever, may not really be the deciding factor so much as that we continued on with the lessons, trusting that there would be a point to them all and that we were growing in ways that we didn't understand we were growing ...

Edited September 2, 2015 by theSQUIDSTER

[Traveler]

When I die, I don't have to worry about it.  I'm already dead.  Mortal existence over.  Jesus will know what is in my heart and he can judge accordingly.  There's no point in justifying myself to him that knows everything.  At the same time, there's no sense beating myself up for things I put my best into.  The ones I didn't - of course, that's what repentance is all about.  I don't get someone who always spend their days thinking they could have done better.  If you could have done better, you would have.  If you could have and you didn't, then why didn't you?  If I could have and I didn't, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.  Everyday.

 

Maybe this is something I inherited from my father the artist.  He hated to sell a painting because then it would belong to someone else and he could not fix something he felt still needed tweaking.  As an engineer I have never been able to finish a project - I always found something of it that I could improve and make better.  As a independent consulting engineer 100% of my business is improving on designs I created 30 years ago working for the leading corporate entity in the industry.   Some thing that I have done are so bad I am embarrassed to admit I created it - and the worse part of this is that some things are still in use that I did a life time ago just out of college when I really did not know anything and it is so bad no one has been able to figure out how to replace it.

[f1lbr]

With regards "trying my best", sometimes I wonder if what we think is our best and what the Lord thinks is our best might be a little different.

 

On this subject, Nephi states (1 Nephi 3:7), "...for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them".  Sometimes I get the sense from people that instead of "the Lord requires me to do X therefore I can" they think something along the lines of "I can't do X therefore the Lord doesn't require it of me".  Because I almost never (anymore) hear the former but hear the latter all the time.

[SpiritDragon]

With regards "trying my best", sometimes I wonder if what we think is our best and what the Lord thinks is our best might be a little different.

 

On this subject, Nephi states (1 Nephi 3:7), "...for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them".  Sometimes I get the sense from people that instead of "the Lord requires me to do X therefore I can" they think something along the lines of "I can't do X therefore the Lord doesn't require it of me".  Because I almost never (anymore) hear the former but hear the latter all the time.

 

With regards "trying my best", sometimes I wonder if what we think is our best and what the Lord thinks is our best might be a little different.

 

On this subject, Nephi states (1 Nephi 3:7), "...for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them".  Sometimes I get the sense from people that instead of "the Lord requires me to do X therefore I can" they think something along the lines of "I can't do X therefore the Lord doesn't require it of me".  Because I almost never (anymore) hear the former but hear the latter all the time.

 

Amusing. I've only ever heard the former.

[Guest]

I appreciate the answers. ...And I confess I am vastly more deaf and blind and otherwise insensate to things of the Spirit than I should be.

 

I like this, and I liked reading this thread--it reminded me of the fable about the blind men encountering an elephant for the first time and  trying to describe it. It seems apparent that words like "better", "best", "perfection" have such varying meanings to people, and life experiences are a big part of those meanings. I liked the answers in this thread. It appears that every post contained a valid kernel of truth.  

[priesthoodpower]

In that case, what do people (including our leaders) mean when they say that we must "do our best"? I believe they mean something and are not just spewing words, and I believe (or at least hope) they don't literally mean that we must always do our best. So what do they really mean?

my 2 cents:

 

It means what ever you want it to mean, all it is is a reminder to keep following Jesus and not Satan. The spirit is what speaks to your heart and tells you how you are doing, and I can guarantee that if you feel the spirit you ARE doing the best that you can.

 

There are days in church when I hear the speaker say "do your best" and it means

- "Dont give up, dont tell your wife you want a divorce!"

 

and to the person sitting next to me it could mean

- "I think my neighbor is ready for me to invite them to hear the missionarys"

 

and another person it could mean

- "I think im ready to leave my boyfriend who is hindering my progress in the gospel"

 

and to another it could mean

- "Yes, I will accept the calling to be relief society president"

Edited September 3, 2015 by priesthoodpower

[Finrock]

Vort,

 

We've been asked to be perfect. We are incapable of doing what is required of us. Our efforts in mortality will never equal "the best". Being perfect requires loving your neighbor and your enemy.

 

Can't you see the futility of this for someone wicked and carnal?

 

God told me to love my neighbor. I prayed to God and told Him, I'm having trouble loving my neighbor. God then said, well, then love your enemy!

 

Part of the solution is recognizing the futility of the situation for us worthless and unprofitable servants.

 

-Finrock

[Vort]

Vort,

 

We've been asked to be perfect. We are incapable of doing what is required of us. Our efforts in mortality will never equal "the best". Being perfect requires loving your neighbor and your enemy.

 

Can't you see the futility of this for someone wicked and carnal?

 

God told me to love my neighbor. I prayed to God and told Him, I'm having trouble loving my neighbor. God then said, well, then love your enemy!

 

Part of the solution is recognizing the futility of the situation for us worthless and unprofitable servants.

 

-Finrock

 

I agree. But several people seem to be missing the underlying  dilemma I am facing:

• I am commanded to be perfect.
• I can't be perfect.
• But that's okay. All I need to do is my best, and the Atonement will make up for my lack.
• But in a span of more than a few hours at a time, I don't do my best. Ever. I doubt that I even can do my best on an ongoing basis.

Therefore, saying that I need only "do my best" is functionally equivalent to saying I must "be perfect". I can't, or at least I won't, "do my best". The difference between "always doing my best" and "being perfect" is purely academic, but the outcome of failure is (apparently) identical.

[Finrock]

Vort,

 

I've done some evil things. Probably a lot worse than you have ever done. I don't know, but I'm guessing that I have.

 

I've been here on the forum long enough that you know my history. I don't bring this up as some sort of trump card, badge, etc. I bring it up to demonstrate that I have had an impossibly hard time truly loving anybody, friend or foe! I didn't love myself. I lived in the world but felt quite apart from it and those around me.

 

Me not caring what other people think is not love.

 

It takes Jesus Christ, Vort. It takes His grace! Only He could save me. There is no other way. We must surrender ourselves, submit ourselves, to God and recognize our own nothingness, our unworthingness, and our futility before Him, and BEG Him to change our hearts! Take away my stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh! Only God can do this. He takes our carnal, natural, wicked state, and He replaces with a heart that is holy, with dispositions to love God and others, and no more dispositions to do evil.

 

Jesus has worked a mighty miracle in my life. He is the only solution I know to the dilemma of perfection.

 

 

“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

²⁶ A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them.

²⁸ And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.

²⁹ “‘I will also save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

³⁰ And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

³¹ Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

 

 

-Finrock

 

EDIT: Added quote from Ezekiel 36 because it teaches what I am saying.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Finrock

[Finrock]

Came across this tonight and thought it pertinent to this thread and wanted to share it:

 

 

-Finrock​

​

[jerome1232]

I really see it like this.

What did God say? "Be ye perfect"

I must strive to do that knowing I will fall short. So long as I know I'm trying for that goal of perfect I'm just not going to worry about my place on the leader boards. I'm just going to rely on the Savior to make the difference between perfect and where I am at. I'm not fretting about whether I am making the best effort every minute of my life, that's incorporated into my imperfection I think. What is that saying? "His grace is sufficient". That's what I am hoping for. 

Edited September 8, 2015 by jerome1232

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

You know, Vort, rereading Elder Uctdorf's talk on Grace, I ran across this line--which brought to mind this discussion--
 

We are not saved “because” of all that we can do. Have any of us done all that we can do?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-gift-of-grace?lang=eng

 

[Traveler]

In my quiet moments I have often pondered the meaning and purpose of life. Obviously I have not figured out much – but it does not appear to me that success in this mortal life is really all that important. Regardless of what I do – this life will end the same as if I do nothing and it will end the same as it does for everyone else – I will die just like everybody else. I can be a wonderful, loving and loyal son, brother, husband and father or I can be a hateful, despiteful, horrible son, brother, husband and father and regardless I will still die. I can eat healthy, work out regularly and take care of myself at every level and opportunity or I can eat for pleasure, goof off and neglect myself and the end result is still the same – I will eventually die.

When life fails – we die. Therefore there is no successful life that does not end in failure of life which is death. Even if we think we succeed in extending life – the end is still complete and utter failure to live and the only end is that we die. We can brag all we want to about how religious we have become and all the religious stuff we believe – and we still die. We can think ourselves intelligent and acquire massive learning – and we still will die. If there is any measure of success in life – it has an end and we die.

When I die – how long before there is no sign of me? How long before I am forgotten? A generation, two generations? And I am only talking about my neighborhood of kith and kin. Hardly anyone will know that I die – let alone miss me. A few but soon they will learn to go on without me. Most of the world will not know that I ever existed. And that is for this world, if there is any intelligence in our galaxy it is very likely it will never know of any of us – let alone me. In short I have a very hard time believing that my life makes any real difference. My only destiny for this life is failure.

Like Vort – I cannot say I have ever done my best. But even worse – I cannot say I have ever done anything that could make a real and actual difference. I would like to brag about how righteous I am and how my goodness has made such a profound difference. That I have made covenants and kept them – but the sad reality is that even though I have kept the faith (mostly) I have no proof that anything I have done actually matters.

I have not really messed up either. I have always done my “duty”. I have always been active, paid my tithing, gone on a mission and accepted every calling. There has never been a time of inactivity. There has never been a time that I could have had a temple recommend that I did not. I have never even faltered from the word of wisdom. I have been through every trial – or at least it seems so – and I have remained what many would call – true to the faith. I was even there to comfort my parents at their last moments of life. I am old enough to realize that I will die – and perhaps that death is not really that far off. I once thought I had accomplished a lot in life – but the reality is that I have accomplished nothing – I will die and am not really better or more successful than anybody else.

Maybe failure is the purpose and success of this life. Maybe the “successful” lesson is failure and with no way of knowing otherwise – to hope of Christ. To believe G-d saves us all. I have thought that G-d will only save the worthy – or those that do something to deserve being saved. But in all honesty I cannot say I have done anything of sufficient value any more than anyone else to earn or deserve that G-d should or must single me out and save me and not someone else that would appear less worthy.

If anyone must admit that they have failed in this life – no doubt I must be one of them! And if I can say there is any success in my life – then everyone is truly a success. After all my meditation and thinking on the subject – I am inclined and hope to believe that my experience of mortality is a resounding, incredible, wonderful and eternal success but not any more than anyone else.

[Rhoades]

In a follow up post, you stated your dilemma was:

• I am commanded to be perfect.
• I can't be perfect.
• But that's okay. All I need to do is my best, and the Atonement will make up for my lack.
• But in a span of more than a few hours at a time, I don't do my best. Ever. I doubt that I even can do my best on an ongoing basis.

Perhaps the problem is you are accepting the statement "all I need to do is my best, and the Atonement will make up for my lack" and interpreting that to mean "only if I do my best will the atonement work and allow me to be saved" .

 

You must recognize that this is false.   Some good posts have already been shared about grace.  Grace is a topic worth repeatedly studying, including verses in the New Testament.  You must accept and rejoice in the fact that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).  If we feel humbled for not being perfect (i.e. doing our best), that's good.  After all, "none but the truly penitent are saved." (Alma 42:24)

 

I think when people say "just do your best" we should take that as "don't be discouraged because you are not perfect.  Hang in there and keep trying."

 

I hesitate to bring it up, but there are also passages of scripture that could compound the confusion.  Such as Moroni saying "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ". (Moroni 10:32)  At first glance you could interpret the use of "all" and "then" to mean that you need to be perfect as a qualification to receive grace.  But that is not true in any way.  I think Moroni is encouraging us to try to totally dedicate ourselves to God; to not consciously hold anything back.  Our aim is to be a devoted disciple.  We need to be willing to give away all of our sins (Alma 22:18). 

 

As we become converted to Christ we "have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2).  But, there's a difference between our well-rested and well-fed, no-crisis-is-happening-now disposition and when we are placed in extreme situations.  Although we can totally desire to do what's right, when we get placed in a difficult situation it's not as easy to walk the walk.  We saw what happened to Peter after proclaiming "I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." (Matt 26:35)  Conversion is a process and takes time.  First we need to be able to behave ourselves in regular every-day situations.  Our hope is that eventually we handle harder situations, like Job.  I think what matters is being on the path and faced in the right direction.  I'm not the Judge, but I think if Peter had died the moment he uttered that statement he would have been saved and exalted.  We know that he lived, he slipped, and then he got back on the path and went on to do great things eventually dying for Christ.

 

When we do fall short, if we love God our sins will really bother us.  We can learn from how Nephi felt and how he responded in 2 Nephi 4.  Like Nephi, when we slip we must try to see the good that Christ has done for us and rejoice in His goodness and turn from feeling like a "wretched man" to asking for forgiveness and rejoicing in the goodness and mercy of Christ.  We don't stay stuck in the "O wretched man" phase, because we rejoice in Christ's goodness and we get His help.

 

One last point -- Satan tries to confuse some people concerning what it means to do your best.  He does this to discourage and to distract.  As someone else pointed out, being a CEO, a talented musician, or a marathon runner doesn't make you your "best".  In fact, if you are doing those things to the detriment of more important things then they would be bad.  There are lots of seemingly good things you could be doing, and you have to use "wisdom and order" (Mosiah 4:27) and counsel with the Lord in all your doings (Alma 37:37) as you try to know what's best for you.  Choosing some good things will mean not choosing other good things.  Also, God recognizes that "it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength" (Mosiah 4:27).

[Jamie123]

I realize I have probably harped on this topic before. So I apologize in advance if some of you dislike it. I invite you to ignore the thread.

 

A commonly heard preaching is that we don't have to worry about being perfect. All we have to do is do our best, and that's good enough.

 

NEWS FLASH: I never do my best. Never. Not once in my life. I could always have done better.

 

Oh, sure, there may be an isolated instance here or there where I did the best I could, like taking a test or playing a game or listening closely.

 

But there has never been a full day of my life (at least, not since my very young childhood) where I have consistently done everything I did to the best of my ability. Not a day. I would go further: I bet there is not a single HOUR of my life where I have truly "done my best" during that time. Honestly, I do quite well to pass ten minutes doing my absolute best at whatever task I'm engaged in.

 

It seems to me that saying "All you have to do to be saved is your best" is exactly the same as saying "You cannot be saved". Anyone care to explain to me, in terms I can understand, why I'm wrong?

 

This makes me think of "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald. It is (***SPOILER ALERT**) a story of a boy called Diamond who is dying. He meets a goddess-like woman who is a personification of the North Wind; sometimes she is a huge giantess and sometimes she is tiny (just as the wind varies in size) and she takes him away on a magical adventure.

 

There is one point in the story where Diamond has to walk on a high precipice; he is afraid but says he will try to be brave. The North Wind replies (I've paraphrased it slightly): "To try to be brave is to be brave - a coward who tries to be brave is braver than the brave man who never had to try".

 

Maybe to try to do our best is to do our best.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Jamie123

[puf_the_majic_dragon]

These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus.

 

I'm as guilty as the next man. I suppose the question really is "How much slacking does the Atonement make up for?" Which, I think for obvious reasons, is a really bad question to ask.

 

For my part, I have learned that what I think is my best, and what actually is my best given the circumstances are not always the same. I tend to overestimate what I'm capable of, then under-perform when put to the test. Reasons why there's a difference?

• I don't adequately compensate for my ADHD, so I assume I'm going to be able to focus when I plan my day at work, then I'm completely unable to focus when I get there.
• I'm not very good at estimating how long a task will take.
• I tend to ignore reminders in order to complete a task I'm currently working on (then forget about the reminder task - see ADHD above)
• Task priorities change, causing me to switch gears mid-task and leave many tasks half-finished.

So the real trick, perhaps, is learning how to accurately judge what our "Best" really is.

[Vort]

This makes me think of "At the Back of the North Wind" by George MacDonald. It is (***SPOILER ALERT**) a story of a boy called Diamond who is dying. He meets a goddess-like woman who is a personification of the North Wind; sometimes she is a huge giantess and sometimes she is tiny (just as the wind varies in size) and she takes him away on a magical adventure.

 

There is one point in the story where Diamond has to walk on a high precipice; he is afraid but says he will try to be brave. The North Wind replies (I've paraphrased it slightly): "To try to be brave is to be brave - a coward who tries to be brave is braver than the brave man who never had to try".

 

Maybe to try to do our best is to do our best.

 

Very meta philosophy. Nice story, too.

[Guest]

...I am talking about doing my best. I do not do my best almost ever. I slog through work, through my callings, and through my most important roles of husband, father, son, and brother at partial throttle...

Maybe partial throttle IS your best  :).

 

No, I do think you're nit picking.  And at the same time I agree with you.  Some of the statements we hear are not entirely accurate.  They're made to encourage us to keep making an effort.

 

What is "trying"?  It is really not doing anything.

 

What is "our best"?  That is one for a semester long phlosophy course.

 

What is "perfect"?  I believe we had a post on that one.

 

In the end, the Lord will be our judge.  That is the final and only real rule.  All the others are details, aids, and for our benefit and learning line upon line.

[Traveler]

Maybe partial throttle IS your best  :).

 

No, I do think you're nit picking.  And at the same time I agree with you.  Some of the statements we hear are not entirely accurate.  They're made to encourage us to keep making an effort.

 

What is "trying"?  It is really not doing anything.

 

What is "our best"?  That is one for a semester long phlosophy course.

 

What is "perfect"?  I believe we had a post on that one.

 

In the end, the Lord will be our judge.  That is the final and only real rule.  All the others are details, aids, and for our benefit and learning line upon line.

 

I disagree with you last statement that I believe to be the ultimate excuse for failure.  I believe when we come to understand the truth and the true nature of G-d that we will realize that in the end we are our own judge.  That we are given the great gift from G-d to judge and determine our own fate and destiny.

 

I also believe that those that think they are even close to doing their best - have no idea who they really are nor what they are really capable of.

[Guest]

I disagree with you last statement that I believe to be the ultimate excuse for failure.  I believe when we come to understand the truth and the true nature of G-d that we will realize that in the end we are our own judge.  That we are given the great gift from G-d to judge and determine our own fate and destiny.

 

I also believe that those that think they are even close to doing their best - have no idea who they really are nor what they are really capable of.

First comment: Pretty harsh.

 

Last comment: I agree.  And I think that may be part of what Vort was saying.

 

"Ultimate excuse for failure"???  Not my message.  There is a balance point in this line of thinking when comparing our faith to other faiths.  Not all grace. Not all works.  But grace wins out.

 

If we fall into a deep pit and injure ourselves, we cannot climb out.  There is NOTHING we can do to get out.  There is no way to save ourselves.  But then the Lord sees us and sends down a rope.  He goes out of view so he can get to firm ground and holds onto his end of the rope.  Then he says two things -- tie the rope around yourself.  Climb up the rope.

 

The fact is that we NEED to tie it around ourselves.  And we NEED to climb up.

 

Does the tying or climbing save us?  From a perspective, yes.  But who on earth would spend any time patting ourselves on the back for tying the rope or climbing up the rope?  Instead we would to to the Lord and thank Him and be indebted to him for all our days.

 

Evangelicals don't tie the rope.  They don't climb the rope.  At least it is not part of their theology that they need to.  And that is their weakness.

 

The Saints do tie the rope and "do our best" to climb up the rope.  We try.  But sometimes (like when I hear statements such as "this is the ultimate excuse for failure") I feel like we place too much emphasis on the tying and the climbing and fail to give sufficient credit to the Lord who gave us the rope and is holding onto the rope with a sure strength and footing.

 

I've argued that we put so much emphasis on the tying and climbing because that is what we can do and where we need improvement.  The Lord needs no improvement on his end.

 

Yet, I've seen so much that people get overwhelmed and feel inadequate.  Or the opposite -- they get so arrogant in thinking they are doing so well spiritually that they are very prideful and self-righteous.

 

So I really advocate as much of a balanced position as I can.  But I ask these two questions:

 

1) If the Lord were not there, is there anything we could do to save ourselves?  Obviously NO.

2) If we fail royally, and the Lord judged us to be deserving anyway, could he decide to save us?  Here is where we really have to split hairs on doctrine.  Here is where a lot of people start getting either touchy-feely or very dogmatic.

 

Because of this I have to say that as much as we try or do our best or whatever, we cannot judge others in this matter.  And we cannot judge ourselves.  But the Lord alone is the final judge.  And I believe many will go away wanting.