I find it astonishing that the Atonement literally has infinite power to pay for sins, that every sin can be forgiven, and that every sinner can change. If a person is willing to repent and change their life, they can. If a person wants to put the mistakes of their past behind them and have those sins forgotten about, they can. Even serious sins can be forgiven.
What is required is change, or at least a desire to change, to get the repentance process started. Jesus Christ can cleanse any person from any sin, but it's up to us to stay clean. It's up to us to resist temptation and forsake the sins of which we've been forgiven. That's something that Christ can't do for
us, that we have to do for ourselves. That's part of the test of life, the struggle that makes us stronger.
But I wonder... Who changes our hearts? Who is it that changes our desires and makes us no longer desire to sin? Is that also on us? If it is, I'd really like to learn how to do it! And if it's God's job, I'd love to learn how to convince Him to do it. I can honestly say that I don't want to want to sin. Yet, we all do want to sin, to some extent. If we didn't, on some level, want to sin, it wouldn't be very tempting, and resisting it wouldn't be much of a test and it wouldn't make us any stronger. We need to be tempted, so sin needs to be tempting, so some part of us (the carnal part, perhaps?) needs to want to sin.
us, that we have to do for ourselves. That's part of the test of life, the struggle that makes us stronger.
But I wonder... Who changes our hearts? Who is it that changes our desires and makes us no longer desire to sin? Is that also on us? If it is, I'd really like to learn how to do it! And if it's God's job, I'd love to learn how to convince Him to do it. I can honestly say that I don't want to want to sin. Yet, we all do want to sin, to some extent. If we didn't, on some level, want to sin, it wouldn't be very tempting, and resisting it wouldn't be much of a test and it wouldn't make us any stronger. We need to be tempted, so sin needs to be tempting, so some part of us (the carnal part, perhaps?) needs to want to sin.
Then again, I've also heard of a "mighty change of heart," and I think that phrase came from the scriptures, so I don't think it's just a myth. I don't have time to look it up now, but I'd certainly like to know what a "mighty change of heart" means and how I can get one. I'll have to do some research and get back to you on this. But for this morning, let's just stick with what we know.
Our past is already behind us. We can't change it. What happened happened, no matter how much we wish it hadn't. If there are mistakes in our past, all we can do is give them to God for Him to fix and forgive. That's something that we can't do, but He can. On the other hand, the future is ahead of us. It hasn't happened yet, so it isn't set in stone. We can change it if we choose to, but we are the ones that have to make that choice. God can't make that choice for us. It's something we need to do for ourselves.
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