In yesterday’s post, I wrote, “We don’t earn promises.” I wanted to emphasize that God’s promises come first, and then He helps us learn to receive the blessings He promised long before we were ready to receive them.
One of my readers responded with a simple request: “Perhaps a future article could focus on the difference between ‘earning’ versus ‘qualifying’ for a reward/ a blessing/ etc.”
This is that article.
The apostle Paul couldn’t be clearer in teaching that we cannot save ourselves. “No man is justified by the law in the sight of God” (Galatians 3:11; see also Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:20). Lehi taught the same principle to his son Jacob. (See 2 Nephi 2:5.)
How then can we be justified? By faith in Jesus Christ. (See Galatians 3:24-26.) Redemption comes “only through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8).
But as James pointed out, faith doesn’t mean passive acceptance. It means active discipleship. (See James 2:20-26.) Our faith is manifest in action, in following the Savior, doing the things which He asks us to do. (See 2 Nephi 32:6.) So while the promises may predate the law, they don’t negate it. We still receive instructions from God, and as we follow them, we grow closer to Him and more capable of receiving the extraordinary blessings He promised us from the beginning.
The word “qualify” doesn’t appear in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Pearl of Great Price. It does appear four times in the Doctrine and Covenants. Here are two of those references:
- “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:5).
- “These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and all other principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:34).
(See also Doctrine and Covenants 124:134, Doctrine and Covenants 128:3.)
In sounds to me like the word “qualify” in these passages means to make ready. In the context of the Final Judgment, “qualified” means fully prepared to receive every blessing which God makes available to His children.
As the last passage makes clear, there are things we must do to qualify ourselves. But as Elder Dale G. Renlund has taught, there is a big difference between “earning” something and “qualifying” for it:
The principle of activating blessings that flow from God is eternal. Like [the] ancient Israelites, we too must act on our faith in Jesus Christ to be blessed…. That being said, you do not earn a blessing—that notion is false—but you do have to qualify for it. Our salvation comes only through the merits and grace of Jesus Christ. The immensity of His atoning sacrifice means that the woodpile is infinite; our puny actions approach zero in comparison. But they are not zero, and they are not insignificant; in the dark, a match that is lit can be seen for miles. In fact, it can be seen in heaven because small acts of faith are required to ignite God’s promises.
“Abound with Blessings,” General Conference, April 2019
So we receive promises from God through faith, and then we qualify for the promised blessings by acting on that faith. Our obedience to God’s instructions does not earn us a reward. We will always be “unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10, Mosiah 2:20-24). But obedience can unlock blessings which God is willing to give us, but which we must do something to receive.
Today, I will be grateful for a God who has promised me blessings I don’t deserve and can’t earn, and who teaches me what I must do to qualify to receive those blessings.
Thank you for this thoughtful post! I love all the scriptures and quotes you brought together. I feel inspired to qualify for the blessings God has for me.
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad to hear this post was inspiring to you. Have a great day!
You can neither earn nor qualify. These are mind games we play to satisfy a religious agenda. It reminds me of Paul to the Athenians, ‘Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.’
You have to qualify for grace? You have to qualify for a free gift? Obedience unlocks blessings? No, because ‘God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.’ ‘For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.’ Romans 5:6, 8 ‘Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ.’ Ephesians 2:5
In presenting a diluted version of grace, we frustrate the grace of God. We all want to hope that we can do something. But we can’t. We have to come to Christ empty. That is the hardest thing to do. To empty self and admit there is absolutely nothing we can do or offer. We are absolutely and totally reliant on him. You have to die to self first before you can be raised to Christ. Die to sin’s self, to selfish self, to self righteous self. That’s what it means to deny self.
Our pathetic so called covenants to him are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6 It is ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.’ Titus 3:5
You can’t act on faith when you are dead. It is not something you can accomplish, but something God accomplishes in you. When that spark of God, (the regeneration, the anointing, or the baptism with Holy Ghost by Jesus) is placed in us after we have died to self; it is by this regeneration we are made alive in Christ and ‘if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; all things are become new.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17. He which establisheth us in Christ, and anointed us, is God.’ 2 Corinthians 1:21 And ‘the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and that same anointing teacheth you all things.’ 1 John 2:27
God doesn’t hold back a free gift from us. We qualify–become ready to receive the gift–by doing the work you describe: Emptying ourselves. Admitting that we cannot save ourselves. Recognizing our total reliance on Him. As King Benjamin said, being “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19).
I am grateful for your heartfelt belief in Jesus Christ, and your willingness to share it boldly. I’m always happy to hear your thoughts and experiences on your journey of discipleship. However, if your intent is to criticize other people’s beliefs, this blog may not be the right venue for you.
Thanks,
Paul
My intent is to promote biblical integrity and scholarship and help people to seek the person of Jesus instead of a system to save and to understand the necessity of not a temple ordinance, but a rebirth and to seek the rebirth. I want to educate people on how to do that. We are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God and as Peter said, this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you- meaning the Bible. I feel there is a tendency among LDS to deprioritize ho hum the Bible (that comes from the top down) and I want people to wake up to that resource. Where people have a hold in the media and are in a position to influence thinking- I wish they would truly declare the KJ Bible to be the inerrant word of God and quit looking for ways to discredit or refute it as if the Bible were not the standard of measuring truth. And if they don’t think it is- except the challenge to use it to measure truth. If you don’t think my comments are conducive to your blog of course I respect that. I know there is a fine line between what appears to be criticism and what is truth.
Thank you for respecting my concerns about your comments. I truly appreciate your enthusiasm and think there must be other venues for your message. Have you considered writing your own scriptural blog? I have found the process of studying the scriptures and sharing what I have learned to be very rewarding. May God bless you in your efforts to share His light!
Paul