False Assumption 2: We Can Trust in Our Own Efforts

A second false assumption might come from misunderstanding 2 Nephi 25:23—"It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." We mistakenly deduce that we must first prove our worth through our obedience and righteousness before the Lord's sacrifice will cover us or His grace enable us.

We may come to believe that we can and should trust in our own efforts rather than humbly acknowledge God. This is self-righteousness. When we look through the lens of our righteousness and take comfort in our good efforts, the idea of depending wholly on Christ (see Moroni 6:4) seems a bit risky.

Unwittingly, when we reason this way, we sound eerily similar to Korihor, the anti-Christ from the Book of Mormon, who taught that "every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and … conquered according to his strength" (Alma 30:17), thereby arguing that his listeners had no need for Christ and His Atonement.

Such thinking easily leads to justifying wrongdoing because we think we are in control; we think we know better than others, and sin is not a problem for us. If we can just get control over our world—our addictions in all their varieties, our eating disorders and obsession with thinness, our insistence that our house always be immaculate, our fascination with outward evidence of education and success—then we can finally be cheerful.

Christ declared, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33; emphasis added).