In Similitude; Becoming Full of Grace and Truth

by Autumn Dickson

Before we jump straight into the Old Testament and the Creation story, we have an opportunity to read in Moses and Abraham. There are many truths that were restored through these works, and there are many truths we already know that are echoed. In Moses this week, we read about a vision that Moses was given on the top of a high mountain where Heavenly Father was speaking to him. Here is a verse from that vision.

Moses 1:6 And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth; but there is no God beside me, and all things are present with me, for I know them all.

There are a couple of phrases in here that are powerful, especially when put together. Let’s start with this one: “…and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth…” The Savior holds grace and truth within Him; He is full of it. Let’s talk about both individually.

Under Topics and Questions on the church website, we read this: “Grace is a gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ. The word grace, as used in the scriptures, refers primarily to enabling power and spiritual healing offered through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ.”

Christ is full of the enabling power and spiritual healing, and He offers it in mercy and love. There are a couple of other truths that we learn in that same topic page. Overcoming physical and spiritual death are part of the grace that He offers. He helps us do things we would not be able to do on our own. He strengthens us. He helps us return to live with God. He helps us every day.

The Savior is also full of truth. He knows things as they are. There are two different perspectives with which we can look at this idea of Christ being full of truth. One, we know that He is currently full of truth. He knows all things. He is omnipotent. When He tells us to do something, He knows what He is talking about. However, there is also another perspective. Christ may have all knowledge now, but it didn’t start out that way when He started His mortal journey on earth. On earth, He came as a baby and forgot everything. He had to learn truth through the power of the Spirit as He grew. He did not know everything on earth. Otherwise, He could not have remained on earth (Moses 1:5). So we know that Christ didn’t know everything while He was here, but He knew all of the most important truths and lived perfectly according to those truths.

There is another phrase in the first verse that we read that I want to utilize to add another layer here. “…Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten…” To be in the similitude of someone is to resemble them, not so much in looks, but in how one chooses to live one’s life. Moses was like Christ, even if he was not perfectly like Christ. Moses was likewise full of grace and truth.

When we are baptized, we promise to take the Savior’s name upon and become like Him. Essentially, we promised to be in a similitude of the Only Begotten. When people look at us, they should see something that roughly resembles the Savior. We can also be full of grace and truth. We may be full of grace and truth in a different way than Christ, but we can be full of it too.

Let’s go back through our paragraphs about how Christ is full of grace and how He is full of truth, and let’s look at the parallels in our own lives.

1. We can be full of grace.

We can offer the enabling power and spiritual healing with mercy and love. No, we cannot offer it in the same way that Christ can, but we can help with it. When you sin and harm your spirit, another person can’t go in and fix it. However, another person can take you to the doctor.

As I was growing up, I had a shame problem. I took guilt beyond its helpful, proper boundaries and tried to beat myself into submission in the gospel. Not a great way to approach the gospel.

I remember being on my mission, and my companion and I came in later than we were supposed to. We didn’t set out to be disobedient, but we did make that mistake and it could have been prevented with a bit more effort on our part. I remember telling my companion that I didn’t feel guilty and that I felt bad about not feeling guilty. With no hesitation she simply responded, “Maybe Heavenly Father knows you don’t need to feel guilty in order to do better.” And she was definitely right. Coming in late happened once on my mission. Making me feel guilty wasn’t going to change that. It wouldn’t have served me. It was such a simple, nonchalant thing for her to say, but it changed my life.

I had experienced a lot of self-inflicted spiritual damage in the name of trying to force myself to do better. Attacking myself and berating myself over mistakes didn’t draw me closer to Christ or help me be better. Ironically, it did the opposite. My companion did not spiritually heal me. She is not the one who could take away those feelings or pay the price for them. Rather, she took me to the doctor. The grace she offered me was not her own, but she was still full of it.

Overcoming physical death is a little different. We’re not sure how resurrection looks or how that comes to pass. Do we get to help with that process through the power of Jesus Christ in the same way that we help with ordinances like baptism? Even if we don’t, we can still point others towards Christ and hope for the resurrection. Overcoming spiritual death is similar to offering healing; it is a part of healing. It’s not our power, but we can take people to the doctor. His power can be offered through us.

We can help others do things they would not be able to do on their own. We can strengthen others. We can help others return to live with God. We can help others every day.

2. We can be full of truth.

Eventually, we are going to progress to the extent that we know all things. That will take a long time. Until then, we can know all of the most important truths. We can be so full of truth that we live our lives differently than we would otherwise. My dad used to frequently echo the truth taught by Boyd K. Packer that doctrine changes behavior faster than a study of behavior changes behavior.

When we see and know things as they are, we change accordingly and we feel differently. “As they are” is a really key phrase here. I’ve learned to see things as they are a lot more clearly since I became a mother. Let me give some examples.

My third child, KJ, is obsessed with our youngest baby. She is constantly running over to Vivian and rolling her over so she can hold her down and cuddle her. Vivian is less than impressed now that she can walk. I swear I sound like a broken record all day, “KJ, let her go. KJ, let her go.” There was one time that KJ did it where Vivian got hurt. Vivian’s leg got stuck at a bad angle while KJ was trying to roll her over, and Vivian started crying pretty hard.

KJ felt so bad she could hardly stand it. She ran and hid on the stairs. After making sure Vivian was okay, I called KJ over to me. KJ couldn’t even look at me. She was trying to swallow back tears, and her chin kept trembling. It was rather cute on her four year old face. I remember feeling that way before when I accidentally hurt my dog when I was younger. I could hardly bear to even look at my dog the whole day because it hurt so bad.

As I sat and thought about how that felt, the Spirit taught me something, and I was able to teach it to KJ. I told KJ, “The bad feeling is actually a good sign. It means you’re a good person because you would never want to hurt Vivian. If you weren’t feeling bad, then that would be a bad sign. Feeling bad just means you love her so much.” I guess the Spirit testified of that truth to her, and she brightened immediately and ran after Vivian again.

Being full of truth is more than being able to recite that God judges us by our hearts. It’s understanding how God’s judgment works and being able to thwart Satan when he tries to mix us up. It is understanding the knowledge. It is applying the knowledge to any given situation and acting accordingly.

If we want to be full of the truth like the Savior, it’s more than just reciting what the Savior said. It’s understanding what He said and seeing things as they really are.

I testify that the Savior is full of grace and truth, and I testify that one of His purposes is to help us become so as well. This is done line upon line, with each practice taking us closer and closer. It’s about taking our hearts with us into those actions, rather than going through the motions of the gospel. I likewise testify that the Savior is trying to fill us with grace and truth because He loves us and knows it will make us happier.

 

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