The Waiting Savior

     Would you like to know the one thing I hate most?  I hope so, because I’m going to tell you.  I hate my sins.  There is nothing in this world I find more loathsome than my sins.  They wouldn’t be so bad if I had a lapse in judgment once, learned from it, and never committed that sin again.  But unfortunately I have a rather thick skull and seem to learn very slowly.

     So I find myself sinning over and over and over again.  I’m not just sinning either.  I’m repeating the same sins constantly.  I do something I know I shouldn’t.  I beat myself up over it for a day or so, telling myself to grow up and never do that again.  Then the next time I’m tempted with this sin comes along, and what do I do?  I repeat it, having apparently learned nothing the first time.  I beat myself up over it again and began the process over.

     So I totally understand the words of the prophet Nephi when he writes, “O wretched man that I am!  Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.  I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.  And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins…” (2 Nephi 4: 17-19 in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

     But I know that a sinner such as I has hope.  I have hope because of the Hope of Israel, my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  He has descended below all things, taking upon Him all the sins and afflictions of the world.  He has suffered for my sins so I wouldn’t have to if I forsake my sins and repent.  So I have a hope in the Son of God.  And you do, too, even though you’re a sinner, too.

     You may think, “There is no hope for me.  I’ve done too many bad things to be able to be forgiven for my sins.”  But let me remind you of a couple stories I know showing otherwise.

     In the Book of Acts (The New Testament), we read that the apostles of Jesus Christ chose seven men to assist them in testifying of Jesus Christ.  One of these was a man named Stephen.  Stephen went throughout the land testifying of Christ, and for this he was taken and stoned by those who persecuted the followers of Christ.  One man, Saul, held the clothes of those who martyred Stephen and looked on with approval.  He then went about persecuting the followers of Christ, dragging men and women out of their homes to through them into prison.  (Acts chapters 6-8)

     Yet the time came that Saul repented of the things he had done wrong in persecuting the followers of Christ (Acts 9).  A careful study of his life from that time on will teach you that he became one of the greatest witnesses of Christ in his time.  He tells us in his own words that he is free from the blood of all men because of the testimony he has born.  (Acts 20:26) 

      Alma the Younger and his friends, the sons of Mosiah, were in a similar situation.  In the book of Alma (The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ), we read these men went about persecuting the followers of Christ.  But Alma called to repentance by an angel of God.  He tells us that for three days after this he was “racked with eternal torment” and “tormented with the pains of hell” because his sins were so great.  (Alma 36:12-13)  He states, “Oh, thought I, that I could become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.  And now for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.”  (Alma 36:15-16)

     But then Alma remembered his father teaching of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who would come to atone for the sins of the world.  When he remembered this, he cried out, “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.”  From that moment Alma could no longer remember the pain of his sins.  Instead he felt the intense joy of Jesus the Messiah.  He tells us there was nothing as exquisite and bitter as his pain had been.  But there was nothing as exquisite and sweet as his joy had become.  (Alma 36:17-21)

     That’s what the Savior wants to give us.  He has already paid the price for our sins.  He wants to give us the exquisite joy that comes from obtaining freedom from the damnation that comes as a result of sin.  He’s waiting for us to cry out with a repentant heart, as Alma did, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.”  He’s waiting for us, and He will come when we seek Him.  This I know to be true.