No.

Now may I speak, not to the slackers in the Kingdom, but to those who carry their own load and more; not to those lulled into false security, but to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short.

Earlier disciples who heard Jesus preach some exacting doctrines were also anxious and said, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26.)

The first thing to be said of this feeling of inadequacy is that it is normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance.

-thus Elder Maxwell.

But his suggested remedy is not despair.  Despair is just another hill on the journey.  It is to see the goal and delight in it.

when conscience calls to us from the next ridge, it is not solely to scold but also to beckon

It is to see the journey and delight in it.

Self-contempt is of Satan; there is none of it in heaven. We should, of course, learn from our mistakes, but without forever studying the instant replays as if these were the game of life itself.

It is to know our guide for this journey and delight in Him.

Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us.

It’s wry that the same people who chew us out for having too many expectations also blame us for not believing in grace enough.

Other Posts from the Friday Morning session of the October 1976 General Conference

To accept them on Satan’s terms


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