Personal Strength Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ
by Apostle Richard G. Scott
WHAT?
It is a fundamental truth that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be cleansed.. . . However, sometimes our poor choices leave us with long-term consequences. One of the vital steps to complete repentance is to bear the short- and long-term consequences of our past sins. . . . past choices [can]expose [us] to a carnal appetite that could again become a point of vulnerability that Satan would attempt to exploit.
Satan will try to use our memory of any previous guilt to lure us back into his influence. We must be ever vigilant to avoid his enticements. . . . Even after . . . years of faithful living, it was imperative . . . to protect [ourselves] spiritually from any attraction to the memory of past sins.
The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of the consequences of past poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment,1 when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy.2
1. See 1 Samuel 12:15; Isaiah 1:20; 1 Nephi 2:23; Mosiah 15:26; Alma 9:24; Doctrine and Covenants 76:25; Moses 4:3.
2. See Proverbs 28:13; 1 Corinthians 2:3; 15:43; 2 Corinthians 13:4; James 3:17; 2 Nephi 3:13; Jacob 4:7; Alma 34:17; 3 Nephi 22:8; Ether 12:26–28; Doctrine and Covenants 24:11; 35:17; 38:14; 62:1.
SO WHAT?
I think we sometimes labor under the illusion that once we are "saved" we will have no consequences for our sins. I don't believe that to be true. Years ago, a homosexual man who lived near my parents' home became a devout Christian, abstaining from any sexual relationships which he now considered to be immoral. Yet he died of AIDS. He hadn't known he had been infected at the time, but the virus was still in his body even after his conversion and, ultimately, it took his life. Does that mean God hadn't forgiven his sins? Of course not. As Elder Scott noted, "sometimes our poor choices leave us with long-term consequences."
In the story of the prodigal son, the father welcomes his rebellious and now penitent son home with joy. The son was given a ring and a robe and the fatted calf to eat. But there is more to the story that we sometimes miss. The father told his other son, he who was righteous all along, "everything I have is thine." (Luke 15: 31) The prodigal, though now forgiven, was not given another inheritance. The righteous son was not "robbed" of his inheritance. There were long-term consequences of poor choices for the penitent prodigal.
NOW WHAT?
I am comforted to know that I have been forgiven of my past, repented-of sins. I am grateful to note the difference between open rebellion and human weakness. I seek always to avoid the first, but bear the trials of the second. I must remind myself that, although there are consequences to be born, that I am forgiven when I repent.
I won't let Satan lie to me that because I have succumbed to weakness in the past that I cannot be forgiven nor uplifted in weakness today to avoid similar sins. If Satan can convince me that my sins are not forgiven - and he has tried - then I will likely sin again. That is the lie to avoid! Each time I disbelieve the lie; each time I remember my Savior; each time I stand strong against old temptations, I am strengthened by Jesus Christ and His supernal gift of grace. Then I can withstand Satan's attempts to "exploit" my human "vulnerability." After all that I can do, I am saved by Christ's grace minute by minute every day.
May it ever be so.
Text copyright October 2013, Gebara Education
Picture from www.lds.org
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