A Few Blessings Of The Atonement

The Way

Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

"To that end Jesus Christ entered a garden called Gethsemane, where He overcame sin for us. He took upon Himself our sins. He suffered the penalty of our wrongs. He paid the price of our education."

The very beginning of this quote is referring to Christ entering into Gethsemane so we can have His spirit to be with us.

He Overcame Sin For Us

Overcame is the key word here. Christ overcame so we can overcome. We wouldn't hold a chance if He didn't overcome sin, death, Satan and every evil. I think this means that through Him we can avoid sin in the first place. It is a lie that sinning gives us necessary experience. It is always better to avoid the sin in the first place than go through the painful process of repentance as critical as that is for every mortal alive.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have the least degree allowance for sin. This is another reason why He overcame our sins for us. What is your sin tolerance factor?

This takes on a new meaning when we understand the real nature of sin. We can't afford to take sin casually. Sinning is serious business.

There is no personal condition outside the reach of Christ. Anything that could possibly happen in your life He knows how to fix. You may not be able to get back what you have lost, but you don't have to suffer in the present and lose out in the future. This is another reason why you never gain anything through sinning.

He Took Upon Himself Our Sins

It is as if Christ literally committed our sins without actually doing so. He felt as if He actually committed them. Our sins is the keyword here not His sins. He was a proxy for us. He lived a perfect life. To say that Christ can sympathize with us is an understatement. He doesn't imagine what we are going through. He went through it first. He knows our pain better than we know our own pain.

He took upon our sins individually. He doesn't deal with us in the masses. Nobody fully understands how this happened.

He Suffered The Penalty Of Our Wrongs

Somehow He also suffered the consequences of our sins. This probably means that because He suffered the consequences of our sins we don't have to if we repent. The keyword in that last sentence is if and repent. If we don't repent we will suffer the consequences of our sins. If it weren't for the atonement we would have no ability to repent.

He Paid The Price Of Our Education

Christ's atonement goes much further than paying for our sins. The Lord's atonement covers all our pains and afflictions, weaknesses and anything that troubles us. This especially includes addictions of every kind. I believe it not only covers what is wrong and broken about us and which can be repaired, but endows us with grace to become something great.

The world will take away your agency, but Christ will give it back.

Elder Corbridge is describing a God of perfect love. Christ did not go through all that suffering so He could have the power to punish. He did it so we could be blessed and be truly happy.