Boy, we put an awful lot of emphasis in the Church on "being faithful," don't we? Faithful this, faithful that, faithful the other thing. Faithful wives. Faithful husbands. Faithful servants. Faithful priesthood holders. Faithful tithe-payers. Faithful, faithful, faithful.
It's gotten to the point, however, where I think some Definitional Drift has occurred, and some clarification might be in order. You see, from what I've observed recently, "faithfulness" has drifted from the original meaning of "a condition of being full of faith," to being synonymous in some people's minds with "perfection." Or even "Perfect Obedience."
At the risk of offending some, may I suggest that that simply isn't the case.
I think to an astonishing degree, we've forgotten what "faithfulness" really means... and it is taking a terrible toll on our own spiritual self-worth. I think we do violence to ourselves and, ironically, our faith in Christ, when we constantly see ourselves as being "unfaithful" simply because we struggle in our weakness with various aspects of the gospel, or with addiction, sin, etc. I think we are sometimes guilty of bearing false witness against... ourselves.
How can this be if we are all under the bondage of sin? If "perfect obedience" isn't what it means, what DOES it really mean to be "faithful"?
Very simple.
For one to be "faithful," one must be "full of faith in the saving power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." Not "full of perfection." Not "full of obedience" even. But "full of faith." None of us of are perfect... especially the ones who think they are pretty darned close. Try as we may, none of us are 100% obedient. And I believe that that's by Divine Design. But does that mean then that we are not "faithful"? I would argue a resounding "No."
But what then, IS being "full of faith"? Alma describes it as follows, but with a small substitution: "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of [the Atonement of Christ]; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for [the healing power of the Atonement of Christ] which [is] not seen, which [is] true." (Alma 32:21) Paul, of course, describes it in similar terms when he taught the Jews.
In neither of these descriptions do we find the definition of faith to be "Perfect obedience to divine law." And yet that is the standard that we sometimes impose on ourselves (and just as tragically, to others), to the point of violent emotional self-flagellation when we do not live up to the erroneous definition we have embraced. Perhaps we would be better served by looking at these passages in the way I suggested. Perhaps the "things not seen" constitutes nothing less than the atonement and our own salvation. The true meaning of "faithfulness" becomes a lot more clear when we read those passages with this in mind.
We, imperfect creatures that we are, in our hour of deepest desperation and heartache, look forward with an eye of faith to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His infinite perfection to save us from our sins. We love him. Our hearts are full in humility before Him. He truly is our Savior and Redeemer. We know all too well how unworthy we are without Him. And so Every. Single. Time. we fall, every time we stumble, every time we succumb to temptation, even though our hearts ache with pain, regret, and godly remorse for whatever part we played in His suffering for our sins, we silently condemn ourselves... again... for being "unfaithful servants." Unworthy of salvation. Unworthy of His blessings. Unworthy of Him, period. After all, "God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance," right?
And yet, the irony is that in the very act of doing this, we ARE being unfaithful. We're not holding out faith that He will cover our sins. We aren't trusting Him to be our Savior and Redeemer. In a very real way, when we beat ourselves bloody for the mistakes that we make and refuse to forgive ourselves, we actually make a mockery of His atonement in the process, and convince ourselves that we are surely beyond even His reach. In doing this, we stop having faith in Him, and in His atonement. We then become deeply mired in the quicksand of legalism.
The only way we could possibly be justified in this feeling of unworthiness is if we somehow "earn" our way to heaven by our works. But we know that that is false doctrine. It is a Satanic doctrine. It is a doctrine of defeat, of damnation, of "never-enoughness." It is a doctrine of discouragement and despair. It is not a doctrine of God. Of course, all of us would rightly rebel against the idea that we work our way to heaven, but somehow would not bat an eye when refusing to allow that the Savior died for OUR sins... and instead content ourselves with beating ourselves bloody whenever we stumble and fall... and that, my friends, is true faithLESSness.
And let me be clear... it's not the sin itself that makes us faithless. It's the failure to realize that our Spirits are perfect, and nothing we can do will ever change that. One important Eternal Truth is that God, in His infinite goodness and perfection, cannot create imperfection. If He did, He would cease to be God. That's why, as one General Authority put it, our Heavenly Father created a Plan of Salvation for each of us, and not a Plan of Damnation.
In stubborn and unrelenting self-condemnation, we are not trusting He who designed this great Plan of Salvation that we embrace. If we do not trust Him, we do not believe Him, and we are thus not exercising faith. We are not being "faithful" servants. It is ONLY at that point that we fall under condemnation.
Now. That being said, obedience definitely plays a crucial part in our faithfulness. Remember the Gospel of James? "Faith without works is dead, being alone." "But... wait a minute... doesn't that mean that we DO need to be perfect in order to have faith? I'm confused."
No.
What being "full of faith" means is to approach the throne of the Savior with humility... on our knees... with a broken heart and a contrite spirit... and to look to Him and the infinite perfection He has as our Savior and Redeemer in abject faith; to plead with Him to apply His infinite perfection and eternal atonement on our behalf... to lift us up, help us get back on our feet, and to have the courage to keep putting one step in front of the other on our personal journey to where He is. To heal us. To sanctify us or make us perfect. To put a heavenly stamp of approval on our efforts. To keep trying.
That's what He expects of us, really. To just keep trying. Because when we arrive at the point where we give up, where we stop looking to Him, stop believing that He can heal us, and stop TRYING to do what He commanded... when we stop BELIEVING that He is our redeemer... we have then... and ONLY then... become "unfaithful."
When we look to Him through the white-hot tears of remorse with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, no matter how many times we have fallen down, we ARE being "faithful." We are trying. And that's all He asks of us. One foot in front of the other. Fall down? Get up. Bloody yourself? Learn from it, and apply the Healing Balm of Gilead to those spiritual wounds. Dust off the dirt and the filth, and don't look back. Never look back. Only forward, with an eye single to His glory, in faith, to Him.
We are so wrapped up in beating ourselves up for falling down again and again and again and endlessly scraping our knees, that we fail to see the beauty of the Father's plan for us... which is, as I mentioned before, a Plan of Salvation, not a Plan of Damnation. He doesn't merely want us to return to Him. If that were all we were here for, we would have never left the pre-existence.
He wants us to learn to become LIKE Him, and has provided a way to accomplish that... but we stop trying many times and just give up because we unrighteously judge ourselves. We convince ourselves that we're just "too far gone," and that we're simply "not worthy." That we are failures. That we are unfaithful. The truth is that it's through falling down and scraping our spiritual knees that we BECOME like Him. Think about that for a moment. That is the moment where we realize just how deeply and how desperately we need Him. That's the very moment when we cling to His promises... when we reach out to him in sackcloth and ashes. When we are the very closest to Him and His love.
Take faith and be of good cheer. The price for sin HAS been paid in full. An infinite amount of perfection is waiting to be applied to you. You were given the reward of a place at the Father's table when you entered the waters of baptism. That place was sealed upon you when you entered the New and Everlasting Covenant. The only thing that can ever deprive you of that, no matter how badly you stumble, or how often, is faithLESSness... when you stop trying, stop believing in the atoning sacrifice of the Savior, and just up and give in to Satan.
Never stop caring. Never stop trying. Never stop believing. Never stop putting one foot in front of the other and always keep one hand on the iron rod. Eventually, we'll reach our destination.
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