A Remission

I'm Robert Kinghorn for those who don't know me. About 12 years I met a beautiful woman. Her name was Renae and she was from Peachtree City. One of the first things I noticed about her, was her beautiful tan knees. And beautiful smile. We become friends, then girlfriend/ boyfriend, then broken up, then back together, then engaged, then married. Then Living, then disagreement, then making up and happy again and the cycles continues and as we grow together. 

For example, by the raise of hand, how many couples sleep with separate blankets? I sleep with a light blanket. Renae likes to sleep with the equivalent of 1000 lb michelin man marshmellow duvet that if you tossed it over Michael Phelps (the best Olympic swimmer in the world) in the pool he would surely drown. 

I didn't know this was a thing until I got married. Happy, miscommunication, disagreement, makeup. This is a pattern with the person I love most. I also love God and Jesus Christ. And I have a similar pattern with them described in 

Mosiah 4:2. His people are first Happy. After King Benjamin talks to his people: They 1. view themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. 

Their perspective changes. (Miscommunication, disagreement)

2.And they all cried aloud... saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things

2. They admitted they were wrong. And took action to change. (Makeup).

3 then the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.

IV. Happy again.

In James Clear's book Atomic Habits,

"Pg 27

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." If your systems are not daily or at least weekly and incremental it's very difficult to change yourself and your habits. No one 'goes to the gym once a week for 12 hours ' or 'brushes their teeth once a month for 1 hour' because we know small daily efforts compound into change. "

He continues to talk about habits:

P. 36

Over the long run, however, the real reason you fail to stick with habits is that your self-image gets in the way. This is why you can’t get too attached to one version of your identity. Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.

For example, I forced my son Dawson to run a week and a half ago and then last Saturday.

Both times we didn't know how fast our pace was how long we ran or even the distance we ran.

I encouraged Dawson by telling him to say repeatedly "I'm an athlete." and "I'm a good runner".

The 1st time we ran 1.17 miles in 18:21. The 2nd time 1.23 miles in 18.22.

Our pace improved. 

Now we CAN say. "I'm not an athlete" or "I'm not a scriptorian" but both the gospel, science, and self help books say that speaking the truth we want to become increases our likelihood of change.

The 10th and 11th steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and Sexaholics anonymous suggest this amazing cycle as well:

step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

BUT because we're mortal it's hard..

Some general real life examples:

"This jerk owes me money and hasn't paid me back in weeks, and is ignoring my phone calls."

"My kids are driving me insane and it's all I can do to not yell at them!"

"My friend is so negative and always complaining. And they have all the money in the world and everything seems to go right for them and here I am doing all the right things and paying tithing."

"I am trying so hard to stop but it feels like I'll always crave fill in the blank."

In Luke 15 it relates to the same wonderful cycle of remission of sins. 

Sometimes we don't know we are lost, like the sheep or the religious leaders. Sometimes we know we are lost and can barely think of returning to the father like the prodigal son. 

In each of the parables, the message to the tax collectors and sinners was clear: repent, come home to the father. The message to the religious leaders was also clear: be happy when the lost are found, when they repent and come home to the father.

Another example is in Matthew 18:21-35. It details the story of a servant who was forgiven a massive (unrepayable) debt, only to refuse forgiveness to another servant who owed a relatively small debt.

Becky Craven

King Benjamin taught his people in ancient America of the tremendous blessings we receive from our Savior, Jesus Christ. He created the heavens, the earth, and all the beauty we enjoy. Through His loving Atonement, He provides a way for us to be redeemed from sin and death. As we show our gratitude to Him by diligently living His commandments, He immediately blesses us, leaving us always in His debt. He gives us much, much more than the value of what we can ever return to Him. So, what can we give to Him, who paid the incalculable price for our sins? We can give Him change. We can give Him our change. It may be a change of thought, a change in habit, or a change in the direction we are headed. In return for His priceless payment for each of us, the Lord asks us for a change of heart. The change He requests from us is not for His benefit but for ours. So, unlike the purchaser at the market who would take back the change we offer, our gracious Savior beckons us to keep the change.

Eyring teaches: True conversion depends on seeking freely in faith, with great effort and some pain. It is the Lord who can grant, in His time, the miracle of cleansing and change. Each person starts from a different place, with a different set of experiences, and so a different need for cleansing and for change. 

For me and for most of you the change is imperceptible. How do you measure your spiritual gains? So you compare yourself to Justin who is benching 200 spiritual lbs? Or to Chris who is running 14 spiritual miles? 

Don't compare, celebrate. And realize that we are in an incredible cycle. Making constant gains. Like Teacum: Alma 52:6 "But he kept his men round about, as if making preparations for war; yea, and truly he was preparing to defend himself against them, by ^acasting up walls round about and preparing places of resort."

I believe many of us unknowingly accept a faulty assumption about the Lord’s pattern. And this faulty assumption then produces erroneous expectations about how we receive spiritual knowledge. And that faulty assumption and our misinformed expectations ultimately hinder our ability to recognize and respond to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Let me suggest that many of us typically assume we will receive an answer or a prompting to our earnest prayers and pleadings. And we also frequently expect that such an answer or a prompting will come immediately and all at once. Thus, we tend to believe the Lord will give us A BIG ANSWER QUICKLY AND ALL AT ONE TIME. However, the pattern repeatedly described in the scriptures suggests we receive “line upon line, precept upon precept,” or in other words, many small answers over a period of time. Recognizing and understanding this pattern is an important key to obtaining inspiration and help from the Holy Ghost.

Now, we all acknowledge that receiving a big answer quickly and all at once is possible and, in fact, does occur in some exceptional circumstances. Perhaps we give overmuch emphasis to the miraculous experiences of Joseph in the Sacred Grove, of Paul on the road to Damascus, and of Alma the Younger. If our personal experiences fall short of these well-known and spiritually dramatic examples, then perhaps we believe something is wrong with or lacking in us. I am suggesting that the particular spiritual process evidenced in these three examples with Joseph, Paul, and Alma is more rare than it is routine, more the exception than the rule.

Ref: Elder Bednar

Continuous improvement and change are the remission of sins.