Here is Benjamin’s attempt to explain the problem between grace and works. Without specifically alluding to the theological question, yet Benjamin works on the answer. Benjamin teaches that when we do as God commands, God immediately blesses us. Thus we are never in God’s debt, for we have the original debt of our very lives, and anything we do as his servant yields yet another blessing. We are unable “catch up” to the blessings we receive of God. While some blessings might seem to be “earned” the overall set of blessings can never be earned.
The principle Benjamin is teaching was more clearly stated in the Doctrine and Covenants: "
D&C 130:20
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." While a true principle, it deals only with one aspect of the relationship between we as servants and our eternal Master.
These verses describe what Benjamin does – that when we do something we are immediately blessed (Benjamin’s “immediately” is a rhetorical device indicating that the blessing is assigned to us – we understand that sometimes there are circumstances in life where the blessing certainly does not appear to be “immediate”). Benjamin is combining this principle of action with the overarching grace of God, and therefore is much closer to Nephi’s definition: “(2 Ne. 25:23 …it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do”).