What is the atonement about? What does it make possible? Change. Growth. Jesus Christ paid the price for us, for our sins, so that we are not lost, and can be changed from our lost and fallen state. Alma says that there is "... a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God." Alma 42:4 It's a good thing that we have this time. In fact, it's an opportunity (as Elder Tate said during our Stake Conference) to "Embrace the Atonement".
This is an interesting word, "embrace". The dictionary has several different definitions for the word embrace, one of which is to avail oneself of (to embrace an opportunity) President Monson strongly bore witness to this in the priesthood session: He said, "Men" - he was speaking to men, but could just as easily said women - He said, "Men can change". Perhaps I can use that as a mantra. "I can change."
Then comes the inevitable question, "How?". "I've tried", we think. "I've really put forth the effort. Several times I tried, but to no avail. In the end, I always seem to keep returning to where I was before, and I'm tired of fighting a losing battle."
I like analogies. I like to compare this struggle in our life to a contest on a show called "Top Shot", which is a sharpshooting contest. There is a head-to-head match where a group of targets are mounted such that they can swing back and forth. When you shoot one of your targets, it swings to the other side, and becomes your opponents target. You want to shoot all the targets over to the other side. Your opponent can shoot them back as you're trying to shoot others. Early in your struggle it may seem that we are shooting a target, just to have it flip back almost immediately. It seems like we are matched against a superior opponent. And we are! But we have an ally, a far superior ally. We need to turn our life to Him! We must be exacting in our sacrifice to Him. Prayer and scripture study are the bedrock on which we must build. After we start being exactly obedient in these things, we will see that we have increased power to fight this battle. We will be repentant and want to change.
We will have the courage to talk to the bishop. The bishop can help us to receive the grace (heavenly help) that is available through the Atonement of Christ, and through the power of the Priesthood, which he holds. The bishop's heart groans with compassion, and aches for those who are suffering, for whom the atonement could heal, but hold themselves back from true relief. People that he, as a common judge in Israel, can help through his priesthood keys. He can help us understand the true meaning of the scripture: "God sent not his son into the world to condemn [us], but that [we through him might be saved]." (see John 3:16)
When our life is flooded with the things of God (with light), the evil things start getting pushed out. When we do this, the targets start getting pushed to the other side. We will feel like we are making significant progress. We will even get to the point where all of them are on their side. But our enemy does not give up. We think, I am doing this! Here we see the pride cycle working in our life. The success that we see, the tangible result, makes us forget who is backing us up. We feel like we have arrived at our goal. We feel like we can rest - we can relax. We forget that it is our continual effort, which mostly involves keeping up our own spirituality, which is most important. We cannot stop doing those things which first helped us to start our change. If we do, our enemy will start making inroads. We become weak. We rely on our own strength, and we fail.
With a failure, we may feel like we have fallen back to the beginning. We will feel embarrassed and depressed and sorrowful about our mistakes. We feel despair, as though all we have done is worthless and that we have no hope to be free from these chains which hold us down. This is exactly what our enemy wants, for us to feed on these feelings. He wants us to be unhappy. He wants us to be miserable. We cannot allow ourselves to fall in this trap. If we do, he will be able to shoot back all those targets as we have stopped shooting ours. We should quickly acknowledge our mistakes and start the repentance process. We have to start shooting back immediately. But we cannot forget the source of the power we had to change in the first place. We must turn to the Lord. We must renew our exact obedience to His will. We must keep our supply line open to our true source of power.
This power, the Word of God, is like a sword that we can hold. The sword is an agent of change, a tool. This sword divides from us the "cunning and snares and wiles of the devil". (Helaman 3:29) It is like we are walking through a thick forest or jungle. Progress is extremely slow if we rely on our own strength. We may find the vines so thick that we cannot get through them. With a sword or machete, we can break through. Whenever we give up our grip on that 'sword', we lose its power in our life. Lehi's dream compared the 'sword' (the Word of God) to an iron rod, again something that we can hold on to. Those that held fast were protected, and those that let go fell away and were lost.
As we make progress, we can periodically look back over the trail and see where we have been and see the view from where we are. We must always humbly recognize by what power we have made it this far. We continue to hold onto the iron rod, for its safety and protection. We will not let go and walk over to the cliff of pride, for we know that the ground by that cliff is unstable. At any time that ground can give way, and wipe out the progress we have made. We know by looking up the trail that the view will be far better higher up. Our desire should be for that better view: the additional light, knowledge, and happiness that we can qualify for through our faithfulness, our faith, our repentance (which is our part), and overwhelmingly His divine help (His grace) and His mercy.
It doesn't matter where we are when we begin. It doesn't matter how vile a sinner we consider ourselves. It doesn't matter how worthless we may feel. He has promised that we can be forgiven, that we can be healed. He was sent, as a physician, to the sick. It is His desire to make us whole. He does not send us away. Remember the woman taken in adultery. Although her sin was abhorrent, the Master did not condemn her, and helped to place her on the path. There is hope. There is a way. That is through faith on Him.
We can start to exercise that faith through daily prayer and scripture study. These are our lifelines. We might feel like we do not have time for prayer and scripture study. If so, we will need to adjust our priorities, drop something less important if necessary. We may feel like, "I don't know how to study or pray well, or what to do." Don't worry so much about the form of this at first. It doesn't really matter yet. The point is to start on that path, and gain access to that spiritual strength we receive by our sacrifice of our time and energy and diligence to do these simple things. Like everything, we'll get better as we work at it.
The Spirit will start to teach us. Remember, the preaching of the word has a more powerful effect on our minds than anything else, and that it has a great tendency to lead us to do that which is just. This preaching has its most powerful effect when we are poor in spirit, and when we are the one searching out this preaching. The greatest sermons (those of greatest impact) are those that we receive in private and that no one else hears, that we get during our daily personal study and prayer. We are taught as we read and study teachings by prophets (called servants of the Lord) and by our Savior. As we are receptive, we will receive personal instruction from God through the Holy Ghost. We can also seek help from our leaders, from priesthood blessings, and by reading our patriarchal blessing (if we have one).
Alma asked an important question, especially to those of the church: And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? "Can you feel so now?" - the phrase is somewhat awkward. Let me ask the question a different way. Do you still feel that way? When is the last time you felt this way? Have you ever felt this way? Have you done what it takes to feel, or to keep feeling this way?
Another definition of embrace is “to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly”. Remember what Laman and Lemuel said to Nephi, “The Lord makes no such thing known unto us” in response to his question “Have you inquired of the Lord?” Remember the flying fiery serpents, and the brazen serpent that was lifted up? All the people had to do was look, and they would live. But many did not.
Brother Boswell in our bishopric shared an interesting analogy:
Late one afternoon, a package delivery man needed to make a delivery to a farmhouse in the country. Upon approaching the porch of the farmhouse, the delivery man was greeted by an old farmer. While conversing with the farmer, the delivery man could not help but notice the farmer’s dog. The dog was lying on the front porch whining and howling. The delivery man politely said, "Sir if you don't mind me asking, why is your dog whining and howling?" The farmer responded, "He's lying on top of a nail." The delivery man, in a confused tone, asked, "Why doesn't he move?" The farmer responded, "Best I can reckon, it doesn't hurt that much."
Why did Laman and Lemuel not ask? Why didn't the children of Israel look? Why didn't the dog move? Maybe because the answer was too easy. It was too good to be true! Do we really believe it possible? Do we believe that His burden is easy and that his yoke is light?
President Packer said that we are behind enemy lines. What does that mean? It means that there is real danger. Are we content to ignore the warning signs of the incoming tidal wave of filth that is approaching us? Or are we moving to spiritually higher ground? Isn't it easier to walk (or better yet run) away than wait for it to overtake us, and then try to swim away from its extremely strong currents? Are you leaving out of your life the things that really matter, at the expense of the things that really don't?
I think of the scene at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. He's holding the girl's hand, trying to keep her from falling into the pit. She's trying to reach for the Holy Grail, which is just barely out of her reach. He tells her “I can't hold on!” She doesn't listen, and falls. Then the ground by him gives way, and his father catches his hand. Now he is in the same position, trying to reach for the same thing. His father warns him, “I can't hold on.” And then his father whispers to him quietly, lovingly, calling him by name, “Let it go.” Is there something in our life about which we hear the still, small voice whispering, “Let it go”?
Here's a spiritual gem I got from our last stake conference: “Distractions don't have to be evil to be effective”. It is of no lasting significance that you got three stars on that angry birds level, or as President Uchtdorf so eloquently said, “Dedicating some of our time to studying the scriptures or preparing to teach a lesson is a good sacrifice. Spending many hours stitching the title of the lesson into homemade potholders for each member of your class may not be.”
It does matter what movies I choose to (or choose not to) watch, what books I read, what music I listen to, and what links I choose to click on. It does matter what my response is to evil stimuli when it is thrown up in my face, for Satan doesn't wait for us to go looking for it. It does matter how we prepare ourselves for the battle of each new day, whether or not we strap on the whole armor of God, or not.
Remember the Boy Scout motto - be prepared. Have you put on your armor today? Have you missed a spot? Can I use a football analogy? Is there a gaping hole in your secondary? Have you slacked off in the off season due to laziness or even perhaps pride (my talent will carry me through), and now the conditioning and training of your line not up to par? The other team is just blasting through your line and you can't seem to stop them. Do you feel like you're up a few touchdowns so you can slack off, maybe throw in the second stringers?
Let's go back to Alma 5 for a minute. What is this song of redeeming love that Alma talks about? Is it something musical, a tune we don't know? Probably not. I thought of an iconic scene from a great movie, “Signing in the Rain”. Gene Kelly's character is walking home in the middle of the night, in a pouring rain. His movie had just flopped, he had every reason to be miserable. Yet his heart was light, in his heart was joy. The stormy clouds, the darkness, the pouring rain around him didn't matter, because of what was in his heart.
Another definition of embrace is “to encircle; surround; enclose” Lehi said, “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.” It's a feeling of pure love, pure joy, pure peace. That you might shout, or burst into song, because the happiness cannot be contained in your heart. It's overwhelming. Immediately you want to shout it out, to proclaim it, I have found it, found this pearl of great price, and want to invite my friends over to share in my joy.
Paul wrote, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. This is not just talking about the future, after we die. It's for the here-and-now as well. The atonement can heal us. We should resolve to start today.
President Kimball said: “I am convinced that each of us at least some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves – and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again.” In your life, with your continual struggles, have you tried the virtue of the word of God?
Another definition of embrace is “to adopt, to include, to contain”. As a parent, how can I expect my children to learn these things from me if I have not practiced them? How can I bear resounding witness to something I have not experienced? As children and youth, how can we expect to be ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ if we have not followed him, and have no means to bear testimony of the fruit which we have not experienced?
Have we read, or do we remember the struggles of those that came before, who embraced the atonement in their life? Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not. And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.
What will it take for you to start? Would it change things for you if the Savior appeared to you? Is a physical manifestation really the thing that would have greatest impact for you? I would argue, no. Of far greater impact for you would be to feel, absorb, and embrace the fruits of the real change -- the impact on our heart and mind that comes through personal application of the atonement in our life.
This need not be a wholly ethereal concept that cannot be measured. We can apply the scientific method here. As we learn and then with faith (even only a desire to believe) do His will, we will see and feel the tangible result. Our rough edges will be shaved off. Our desires will change. Our ability to put aside the things that trouble us will increase. We will be more and more like Him. We will know that the fruit is good.
And when we do meet Him, we will fall at His feet, and praise Him for his goodness and mercy toward us, for we will know Him. Through His marvelous power we will have been changed, and we will be like Him. If we do His will, we will know of the doctrine, and know Him. And knowing Him IS eternal life.
This need not be a wholly ethereal concept that cannot be measured. We can apply the scientific method here. As we learn and then with faith (even only a desire to believe) do His will, we will see and feel the tangible result. Our rough edges will be shaved off. Our desires will change. Our ability to put aside the things that trouble us will increase. We will be more and more like Him. We will know that the fruit is good.
And when we do meet Him, we will fall at His feet, and praise Him for his goodness and mercy toward us, for we will know Him. Through His marvelous power we will have been changed, and we will be like Him. If we do His will, we will know of the doctrine, and know Him. And knowing Him IS eternal life.
Thus we must commit to walk the path each day, allowing Him to change us. Make no mistake, this change is not a passive process, it requires constant care, effort and attention. I know that we can and will succeed if we but do, because He has made it possible through His great mercy, immeasurable grace, and His love for us.
