Patient Without Excusing

Elder Neil L. Andersen spoke of Overcoming the World. In his conclusion, he said "May we each try a little harder in our efforts to overcome the world, not excusing serious offenses yet being patient with minor slips and falls." I wanted to isolate this part of his talk because I feel that it's important to find a way to be patient without making excuses.

God cannot tolerate sin. He has said that He "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance" (D&C 1:31). Yet, God can tolerate us. Imperfect and sinful and human as we are, God is patient with us, even though His patience and even His forgiveness do not excuse our behavior. We must become sinless, no exceptions, no excuses.

Of course, Elder Andersen wasn't talking about God when he said that. Elder Andersen was talking about us. Christ has told us "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." (D&C 64:10). God may not be able to tolerate "minor slips and falls," but we should. Even so, Elder Andersen warned us not to excuse serious offenses.

This may be a case where we must hate the sin, but love the sinner, or, in other words, we must be patient with the sinner, but not excuse the sin. The behavior may be inexcusable, but the people are not, and we should tolerate people, even if we cannot tolerate their behavior.

There's a thin line in there, and it's hard to find it, but it's worth searching for. If we don't learn how to do as Elder Andersen asks, many sinners may continue in their ways when they otherwise might have been persuaded to repent. However, if we can learn how to love people and be patient with them without accidentally giving them the impression that sin is okay, we might be able to persuade more people to abandon sin and seek Christ's love through the Gospel instead. I admit that this may be difficult, but if being patient with sin without excusing it helps sinners to repent, it might be worth figuring out how to do that.