Mercy Claimeth the Penitent

A little while after reading my letter to my six-year-old daughter yesterday encouraging her to be honest, she turned to me a bit troubled and asked, “Dad, if I lie just a little bit can I still go to the heaven where Jesus is?” I reassured her that yes, as long as she said sorry and tried her very best when she made mistakes, Jesus would forgive her and could indeed go to heaven with Him. We all have commandments that we struggle to keep all the time, even though we desire it, and perhaps we are all led to wonder some form of the same question as we seek to overcome our own mistakes. I appreciate that there were changes in the temple recommend questions recently like the one on honesty. It went from “Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?” to “Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?” If we strive to keep His commandments, and repent as we fall short, He will always forgive us. As He said to Alma these reassuring words, “Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me” (Mosiah 26:30). When we take the Sacrament each week we don’t promise that we will perfectly keep His commandments but rather that we are “willing” to, meaning that we will strive to do so though we will undoubtedly fall short. So we give thanks that God “hast turned [His] judgments away from [us], because of [His] Son” as we repent (Alma 33:11). For while we know that “the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance,” gratefully we have a Savior whose sacrifice and mercy “overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:15-16, 45:16). Thus for my daughter and for the rest of us, if we truly desire to go to that heaven where Jesus in, His mercy “can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles [us] in the arms of safety” if we will but exercise faith unto repentance.

               This idea is one that Alma focused on with his son Corianton who, like his father, ultimately was able to repent and receive mercy from the Lord despite serious transgressions. Alma taught, “There is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment.” For each law we break, even if we do it just a little bit, there is a punishment affixed that must be met. But with repentance, mercy can spare us the full demands of justice because the Savior took that upon Himself: “Mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement… For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own.” How we all want mercy and not justice to claim us! And mercy can claim us through the Savior if we have met the conditions of repentance that He set forth. After teaching this Alma then summarized the key point to his son which is vital for us to understand how mercy and justice apply to us: “And thus, none but the truly penitent are saved” (Alma 42:22-24). To obtain mercy from the Lord, for sins big and small, we must come humbly before Him. Salvation and mercy will only be ours if we are truly penitent before Him. Only the humble, those willing to confess their sins to the Lord, can find forgiveness from the Savior. I hope that I can be more like my daughter who, understanding that she was not keeping the Lord’s commandment perfectly, humbly asked how she could be with Jesus. As we similarly recognize our weakness and sins before Him in all lowliness of heart, He will raise us up to “come and partake of the waters of life freely” with Him in His heaven (Alma 42:27).