Last week my Stake President spoke about grace.

This is what unrolled in my mind.

The boy knew his dad liked cars.  So he decided to give him a car.

He had worked and saved a little money, so he went to Wal-Mart and bought a toy car.  It was sleek and black and chrome.

He gave it to his dad.  The dad looked at it and handled it.  He said, “the name of this car is the Doctrine of Dead Works.  It is not the sort of gift a boy gives his father.  It is not acceptable to me.”

The the dad cut out a toy car from wood and added wheels and asked his boy to decorate it for him.

The boy was puzzled.  He couldn’t make the car look as nice as the one he bought now matter how hard he tried.  An older sibling put his  mind at ease.  “Dad doesn’t care what it looks like, he just wants it to be from you.  Just do whatever.”

Easy enough.  The boy grabbed some crayons and scribbled on the car a little.

He gave it to his dad.  The dad looked at it and handled it.  He said, “the  name of this car is the Doctrine of Cheap Grace.  It is not the sort of gift a boy gives his father.  It is not acceptable to me.”

Then the dad cut out a new toy car from wood and added wheels and asked his boy to decorate it for him.

The boy went to town this time.  He used his crayons to draw out plans, he painted the car with multiple colors and coats, including some interestingly brownish-purplish shades he mixed himself.  He painted a blobby thing on the front representing, he said, his father’s favorite kind of fruit.  He used glue and toothpicks, inexpertly, to add styling elements.

Then he gave it to his dad.  The car was no better looking than the crayon-scribbled car.  Only the eyes of a boy and a dad could see the difference.  The dad looked at it and handled it.  He was delighted.  He put it on his mantle in pride of place.  “This car has many names,” he said.  “Grace, Faith and Works, or the Doctrine of Salvation.  But I call it the Doctrine of Father and Child.  It is the sort of gift a boy gives his father.  It is acceptable to me.”

The doctrine of dead works is the idea that it is the results that matter.

The doctrine of cheap grace is the idea that since the results don’t matter, we don’t need to care about them.  It is the doctrine that our efforts to achieve the results don’t matter either.

When I die, I will give my life to my father–smudged, awkward, splintered, and colored only to a mortal’s taste.  Because I love Him, because He loves me, He will say, “well done.  This is the sort of life a boy gives his father.  It is acceptable to me.”

Asking why you should obey if you don’t have to for salvation is the attitude of a mercenary.  I am a son.  I obey because He commands.  He loves everyone, but He delights in us who love and serve him.

The Holy Ghost’s testimony to me of the truth of the gospel was important.  I have tried to live accordingly.  But what really transforms is whe He said, “well done I am well pleased.”  At the end of my mission, when He called me His shield-brother.  I’m not bragging that I own any part in whatever precious few victories were won there, or later.I’m bragging t hat I fought by His side.

“God’s will! my liege, would you and I alone, Without more help, could fight this royal battle!”

That concludes what I wrote last weekend.  And then this weekend, Brother Vinson said the following:

Giving our all doesn’t mean that we will be continually enveloped in blessings or always have success. But it does mean that we will have joy. Joy is not fleeting pleasure or even temporary happiness. Joy is enduring and is founded on our efforts being accepted by the Lord.

It felt meaningful to me, and like my insight the week before had been meant in preparation.