Divine Indebtedness

Volume Three—Chapter Five DIVINE INDEBTEDNESS

#Introduction

About 124 years before the birth of Christ, in the land of Zarahemla in the western hemisphere, the king of the Nephite/Mulekite people, Benjamin, delivered an address. It has become notable in many ways (Mosiah 2-5). One of the more profound lessons in this speech is often missed by the casual reader. He taught the doctrine of “divine indebtedness” (Mosiah 2:19-24). This universal principle is vital for each of us and every bit as applicable today as then. Let us review this passage:

And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King! I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

This passage is far richer than simply containing Benjamin’s counsel to all of us to be grateful to the Lord. He is not merely suggesting to his people that they express their gratitude to God. Rather, he is relaying to them a commandment of God to do so (D&C 59:7, 21; 78:19). He is describing a vital spiritual gift for which each of us must strive. This gift is essential for our exaltation. This is the gift of divine indebtedness.

#What Is Divine Indebtedness?

An individual guilty of even one sin is unworthy to enter God’s presence or, indeed, any kingdom of glory. Our Savior did not create this perplexing dilemma, but he has solved it. He did so at nearly overwhelming personal cost, motivated only by his incomprehensible love for each of us. He can do something for us that we can never do for ourselves. By virtue of his atoning sacrifice, he has qualified himself to absolve each of us of our sins. He stands ready and eager to do so.

Divine indebtedness is simply viewing our relationship with our Savior in its true and proper perspective. And what is that perspective? Without the Savior’s help, we are each doomed forever to outer darkness (2 Nephi 9:8-9). The situation is hopeless without him. Yet, based on our own virtues, none of us merits the help we so desperately need. He stands willing to extend this help even though we do not deserve it. For this reason, we are deeply in debt to him.

How grateful we should be! He has provided for us a way out of our desperate situation. Speaking practically, each and every day we each ought to feel and be motivated by our debt to him. When we do, we possess the attribute of “divine indebtedness.”

Each time we obey him, he blesses us more than we actually merit. This, of course, only increases our indebtedness. We can never clear our debt to him (Mosiah 2:24). We can never accomplish anything of which we are justified in boasting (Ibid.).

#The Motivating Power of Divine Indebtedness

Cicero said: “A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.” Why is this so? If a man can successfully obtain from the Holy Spirit a sense of complete and utter dependence upon and indebtedness to God for all he is, for all he has, and for all he can become, then he will continuously perceive the desperate need he has for the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. He will then be blessed to know that only through the atonement of Jesus Christ can he be saved and exalted. He will become so profoundly grateful to the Savior that he will submit to the Lord’s every whim. This gratitude—this divine indebtedness—is a powerful and essential motivator for righteous obedience. It is this motivation that each of us needs to impel us to the level of obedience that can qualify us for exaltation. Without this motivation we will not persist in our obedience. We will not qualify for exaltation.

Divine indebtedness may be called by other names, for example gratitude or humility. It is also called “a broken heart and contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18; 2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20; 12:9; Ether 4:15; Moroni 6:2; D&C 59:8). Our heart is “broken” as we contemplate his excruciating suffering—what he had to suffer to rescue us. Our “broken heart” subdues our natural self and leads us to willingly, contritely, and enthusiastically submit to him. A broken heart and contrite spirit becomes the essence of our motivation to persist in obedience to the Lord’s commands. It is a self-perpetuating cycle. When we obey, we are blessed to possess even more of a broken heart and contrite spirit. Hence, we are increasingly inclined to obey him. Without a broken heart and contrite spirit—without divine indebtedness—we will not sustain and improve upon our efforts to obey the Lord’s commands.

#A Gift of the Spirit

The acquisition of true gratitude to God is not merely a mental exercise. It is a spiritual process. Only the Spirit of the Lord can impart the eternal perspective necessary for us to truly feel and be motivated by this indebtedness. This gratitude is a spiritual gift that can only be received by revelation after our sufficient offering of deliberate obedience. What must we do to qualify for this supernal gift? How do we manifest our “deliberate divine indebtedness”? Upon which law or laws is this blessing predicated (D&C 130:20-21)? Surely we must read of the Savior, learn of him, and ponder and pray about him and his selfless life and atonement. We must contemplate our fate without his influence in our lives. We must deliberately acknowledge our debt to him and covenant to love and obey him. Then, over time, we must strive diligently to obey him. Thus, we manifest our “deliberate divine indebtedness.” As we succeed in this, we will begin to receive the spiritual gift of “revealed divine indebtedness.”

As an aside, we know that the spiritual gifts we receive, in return for our efforts to obey, are really increments of the attributes of God. The gift of divine indebtedness is a gift of meekness, submissiveness, deference, and contrition. Are these really characteristics of God? Does Jesus Christ, the very Creator of the universe, have these attributes? Elder Neal A. Maxwell often commented on the mutual poignant meekness and deference we see evidenced in the relationship between the Father and the Son. He compared the meekness of King Benjamin with that divine meekness:

Benjamin’s impressive meekness actually mirrors the majestic and mutual meekness of the Father and the Son, on which I have reflected lately. So I share these brief thoughts with you. Consider these illustrations: Deferential Jesus said: “There is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17). “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16). “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19). The Father said: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). “And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful” (2 Nephi 31:15). The Father’s very voice, as we all know, was “small” but penetrating, not “harsh” or “loud” (3 Nephi 11:3). There is a majestic mutual meekness about the Father and the Son, and we should learn from it (King Benjamin’s Speech Made Simple, 18-19).

#The Earth Is the Lord’s

Our material possessions are not ours. They are his (D&C 104:12-14; Psalm 24:1). Consider, for a moment, what a different place the world would be if we all truly accepted the truth that material possessions are of no eternal significance. Instead, we observe desperate struggling to acquire possessions, possessiveness by those who “earned” their material goods, and the denial of those goods to those who don’t “deserve” them. We see crimes of theft and deception committed by the “have nots” and sins of hoarding and over protectiveness committed by the “haves.” We see blood shed and wars fought by nations in an effort to “own” more land.

Pride—the excessive and competitive seeking after things of the world—has been called the “universal sin.” Divine indebtedness is the very antithesis of pride. It is an attribute, a spiritual gift, essential in the spiritual lives of each of us.