I am well aware many of you
have a better understanding of the Atonement than I do and I do not fully
understand the Atonement myself. I hope
through the Holy Ghost we can all learn something new that will deepen our
understanding of the Atonement and love for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and will
give us hope and a sense of direction as we look forward to this coming year.
Knowing we would misuse our
agency and we are weak, God provided a way to overcome both of these obstacles.
The way to overcome these obstacles is the healing, redemptive, and enabling
power of the Atonement.
The Healing Power of the Atonement
Through the Atonement we can be healed from the misuse of agency for others and can be forgiven of our own misuse of agency. And through the Atonement we are given the ability to overcome our weaknesses. Isaiah prophecied of Christ. In Isaiah 53 we learn that Christ, “…is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…and surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.
To
the people in Gideon, in Alma 7, Alma explains why Jesus Christ suffered all
that we have and will feel on an individual basis, “…He shall go forth,
suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that
the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the
sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose
the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh,
that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to
their infirmities.”
Christ
knows how you feel and can heal you. He beckons us to come unto Him. In Matthew
11 we read the Savior’s invitation, “Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I do not know how it works, but I have “found
peace unto my soul” as I have let go of the past and turned towards our Savior.
The deep gashes that have pierced my soul are being healed. I know that you can
be healed as well.
The Redemptive Power of the
Atonement
To his son Helaman, Alma the Younger, the wildest
of sinners and later prophet shared his experience of the redemptive power of
the Atonement. In Alma 36, we read,
“But I was racked with eternal torment, for my
soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Yea, I
did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains
of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept
his holy commandments.
“And it came to pass that as I was thus racked
with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I
remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the
coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I
cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in
the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of
death. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more;
yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did
behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yea, I
say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as
were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand,
there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”
When
Enos asked the Lord how his guilt was swept away, the Lord responded, “Because
of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen…wherefore,
go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Let
us put our faith in Christ and do away with that which pulls us away from Him.
The Enabling Power of the Atonement
In his talk, TheAtonement and the Journey of Mortality, Elder David A. Bednar states, “Help
from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mortality – from bad to
good to better and to change our very nature.”
The enabling power of the Atonement strengthens us
to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural
capacity. We are weak and imperfect but Children of God. We have been commanded
to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. Like Nephi, “I know that the Lord
giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way
for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” In his
farewell, King Benjaman tells his people what this prepared way is, “…I say
unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means
whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the
name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” The way is Christ.
As we reflect on this past year and look forward
to this coming year, I invite you to integrate the healing, redemptive, and
enabling power of the Atonement in your goals and daily life more fully. And
don’t despair if you fall short. Every second is a new second, so we can keep
trying.
