Another Way He Saves Us

When I think of Jesus as the Savior, I think of Him saving us from our sins. We've all transgressed God's perfect laws at some point or another, and those sins would hold us back from Eternal glory were it not for Christ's Atonement saving us from them. That's the way I've always seen it.

But yesterday, at Institute, Brother Reynolds shared an insight that gave me a fresh perspective on how Christ saves us from our sins. He did so by looking up the definition of the word "Save." According to Dictionary.com, the first definition of "Save" is "to rescue from danger or possible harm, injury, or loss: to save someone from drowning." That's what comes to my mind when I think of Christ saving us from our sins, but the second definition is just as important, if not more so. It means "to keep safe, intact, or unhurt; safeguard; preserve: God save the king."

Jesus saves us from the effects of the sins we've already committed, but He also teaches us the commandments so we can avoid committing sins in the first place. Looking at it both ways, the kind of healing that Jesus Christ offers us is both a restorative and a preventative cure. The Atonement covers the sins in our past, but Christ's teachings help us to avoid the sins in our future. By following Jesus Christ and striving to keep His commandments, we'll have few sins that we need to repent of, so we can keep our slates clean rather than needing Jesus to wipe our slates clean afterward.

But there's something that bothers me about this. If not committing a sin in the first place is the same as committing the sin and being forgiven, why do we need to try so hard to avoid sin? Can't we just have Christ forgive us, and it'll be the same as if we never committed the sins in the first place (except that this way is easier and usually more fun)? There are several reasons why this doesn't work.

First, repentance isn't easy. An article on LDS.org says that "repentance is more than simply acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness." The next paragraph in the article expressly says that repentance requires effort. I personally believe that it's easier to avoid sin than to effectually repent of them, though neither of those things are easy.

Second, I'd like to address the matter of "fun." Some sins are fun, or popular, or simply more appealing than keeping the commandments forbidding them. Having fun and feeling popular are good feelings, but en even better feeling is the feeling of purity and worthiness, or in other words, joy. Eternal joy is what God offers those who keep His commandments. Fleeting fun is what Satan offers those who break them. And get this: You can keep the commandments and have fun, if you pursue such fun in wholesome ways, such as playing good, clean games with your family and friends. My family and I had fun camping a few weekends ago, and last weekend, we had fun at the Ward Dance and Game Night, and we didn't have to break any commandments to do so.

Also, repenting of a sin is not exactly the same as never committing the sin in the first place, just as making a mistake on a paper and erasing the mistake isn't the same as never having made the mistake to begin with. There will be some residue of the mistakes left behind after the erasing. Even if it's only a memory, that memory can give us feelings of guilt and shame, whereas if we kept the commandment, the memory of that good decision can fill us with pride (and I mean the good kind of pride, being proud of yourself. That's a good feeling, in my opinion).

It is better to avoid sins than to have to repent of them, and fortunately, Christ made it possible for us to do both. We have to do both in order to make it to the Celestial Kingdom, since we have to repent of all our past sins and we have to avoid such sins in the future in order to have truly repented of them. By repenting of sins and avoiding them, we can gradually grow to become more like God, and that's what we're all ultimately working toward. I'm grateful that Christ helps us with both.