All That is Unfair About Life

One of the most influential teachings from the missionary guide Preach My Gospel is this statement about the Savior: "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." It has been quoted multiple times in general conference. For example, Sister Linda K. Burton taught, “Without an understanding of Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of happiness and the Savior’s Atonement as the central feature of that plan, these challenges could seem unfair. We all share in the trials of life together. But in faithful hearts is written, ‘All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’” In the same general conference, Elder Shayne M. Bowen told the tragic story of the death of his eight-month-old son who swallowed a piece of chalk and stopped breathing. After relating his feelings of anguish and bitterness, he taught, “I have learned that the bitter, almost unbearable pain can become sweet as you turn to your Father in Heaven and plead for His comfort that comes through His plan; His Son, Jesus Christ; and His Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost.” He then quoted this statement about the atonement from Preach My Gospel and bore witness of one way this will happen for those who have lost loved ones: “I testify that on that bright, glorious morning of the First Resurrection, your loved ones and mine will come forth from the grave as promised by the Lord Himself and we will have a fulness of joy.”

                A year later Elder Timothy J. Dyches told the powerful story of Corrie ten Boon, a devote Christian who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She taught of healing and forgiveness and then was put to the test when she met one of the guards from the horrendous camp who thanked her for her message. He offered her his hand. She related, “I, who had preached so often … the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. … Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, [and] I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” Elder Dyches summarized with this comment: “If you feel unclean, unloved, unhappy, unworthy, or unwhole, remember ‘all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’” She had been made whole through the Savior despite her terrible, unfair suffering in the concentration camp.

                More recently, Elder Renlund also used this statement from Preach My Gospel in his conference address about the unfairness of life. He taught, “In the eternities, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will resolve all unfairness. We understandably want to know how and when. How are They going to do that? When are They going to do it? To my knowledge, They have not revealed how or when. What I do know is that They will. In unfair situations, one of our tasks is to trust that ‘all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ Jesus Christ overcame the world and ‘absorbed’ all unfairness. Because of Him, we can have peace in this world and be of good cheer. If we let Him, Jesus Christ will consecrate the unfairness for our gain. He will not just console us and restore what was lost; He will use the unfairness for our benefit.” He further explained in the footnotes to his address, “‘All that is unfair about life can be made right’ likely means that the consequences of unfairness to us will be resolved, mitigated, or lifted.” He referenced this scripture that the Savior used to summarize His mission: “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;… to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:1-3). Whatever form the unfairness we endure takes—whether ashes or mourning or the spirit of heaviness—the Savior promises that He will transform it into beauty and joy and praise. That this healing and restitution comes through His atoning sacrifice was clarified by Alma in these well-known verses: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11-12). He suffered in order to take on Him our pains, sicknesses, temptations, infirmities, and even death so that He can succor us. We must learn to trust as we face these terrible tests of unfairness in our lives that the Savior can and will make all things right in His time, and in the meantime we try to hear the Lord saying to us with Joseph, “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7).