I remember having a deep conversation with a Christian friend in High School about faith and works. He didn't like our emphasis on works and I didn't like their lack of emphasis on it. However, I came out of that conversation a bit more understanding of where he was coming from. Grace and works. They are equally important. One is not better than the other. We can not emphasize one without the other. Even though we work our hardest, we still fall short. On the other hand , we are told to not only be "hearers", but "doers" of the word.
The Mormon.org website describes grace as the following:
The prophet Joseph Smith taught ‘Therefore ye are justified of faith and works, through grace...’ (see JST Romans 4:16). The Book of Mormon teaches ‘For we labor diligently to write to persuade our children, and also our brethren to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace we are saved after all we can do’ (2 Nephi 25:23). The Book of Mormon adds ‘all that we could do [was to] repent of all our sins’ (Alma 24:11). A Book of Mormon prophet named Lehi taught, ‘There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah’ (2 Nephi 2:8).
We need to exercise faith in God's grace. It is through faith in Him that we return to live with him again. However , in our mission to become perfected through him, we have to put in some work. We cannot grow if we sit idly by on the sidelines. We jump in the journey and pedal the best we can. We have to show we have a desire. (Matthew 7:21)
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