The Very Accessible Atonement

The Sacrament hymn of that Sacrament meeting was Hymn #197, O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown. Much of this hymn is much like any other Sacrament hymn, talking about the pain that Jesus experienced and the great love He had and the duty we now have to love Him, but the second verse goes a step further, sharing additional insights and spiritual truths that are also important to consider.

No creature is so lowly,
No sinner so depraved,
But feels thy presence holy
And thru thy love is saved.
Tho craven friends betray thee,
They feel thy love's embrace;
The very foes who slay thee
Have access to thy grace.

 I don't often think about how far-reaching and unconditional Jesus' love for us is. Jesus loves everyone, no matter what they do or have done. He even loves those who are the worst sinners that have ever lived. And because of His great love, everyone, and I mean everyone, enjoys certain blessings, including the opportunity to repent and be forgiven.

I don't know hardly anything about you. I don't know what sins you've committed or what the circumstances were. I don't know where your heart is in relation to that of Jesus Christ. But I do know that Jesus loves you. No matter who you are or what you've done, Jesus loves you with all His heart, and He dearly wants for you to turn to Him and to come unto Him so He can heal you and welcome you home. Jesus' love extended even to the people who tortured Him to death; it certainly still extends to you.

Jesus Christ is easily the most loving and forgiving person who ever lived. No one else who ever walked on this earth has been as kind or as charitable as He was and is. Because He loves all of us with a purity and intensity we can scarcely comprehend, He loves and wants to forgive even those who have hurt Him badly, even those who have broken His heart, even us.

I know that I have broken the heart of my Savior on more occasions than I could count, but I haven't always kept count of those occasions, and I know that He hasn't either. Justice and repercussion are not as important to Jesus Christ as mercy and healing are. I'm sure that He would love to forgive, and would gladly forget, every sin that was ever committed against Him and would willingly welcome all of us sinners back into His loving arms, if only we would go to Him and ask Him to forgive us. I can hardly imagine anyone having such an incredible amount of love, but He does, and He is willing to extend His infinite love and forgiveness to literally everyone.