Not That We Deserve It

An hour or so ago, I set down a dish with tasty dinner scraps for our unhelpful and often-in-the-way dog, thinking to myself "not that you deserve it." This unrighteous thought made me think about how undeserving we humans are of the blessings we receive.

We, too, are often less-then-helpful, and sometimes our actions get in the way of God's plans for us and for the rest of His children. Yet, God blesses us. God gave us this beautiful earth and these amazing bodies and the moral agency which we frequently misuse, not because we deserved any of them, but because He wants us to be happy and to have the opportunity to gain all the blessings He has.

Those celestial blessings, we do have to earn, but even if we "earn" them, we can't truly say that we deserve them. To qualify for such blessings, we have to be sinless, and we're not. To help us become sinless, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to provide an Atonement for us, at great personal cost to Himself. Through His Atonement, Jesus Christ offers us mercy in place of justice, so God can offer us blessings in the place of the penalties we actually deserve.

I am grateful that God is more generous than I often feel like being, and that He cares far more about mercy than He cares about justice. I'm grateful that He doesn't ask Himself whether or not someone deserves something as often as I do. I am not much like my Heavenly Father, which provides further reasons why I don't deserve the blessings He gives me. I am grateful that He still blesses me, as He blesses His other children, whether we deserve it or not.