“Capture this scripture for yourself. What does it teach you personally? Freedom from the bondage of addiction is a gift from God. Here Alma
“And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.”
Gifts: That we might repent, forgiveness, and taking away guilt.
v.11 Taken away our stain and our swords have become bright
v.14 the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish
v.16 they buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright as a testimony that we have never used them…
v.18 “it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and thus they did, vouching and covenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.”
And they never did sin again since the time they were imparted the word of God.”
The gifts we see in v. 10 are the fruit of their harvest. Their guilt was swept away because they did all they could do. The emotional journey it took to go from hardened murderers to ones that were willing to give their lives for their brethren caused the deep commitment that they did never sin again. This happened for some through a long process of repentance and showing their change of heart when they did bury their weapons of war for peace deep in the earth. This happened for others in a matter of moments when they were in the very act of murdering those who had first repented. Then they too prostrated themselves on the ground to kneel beside those they had been slaying. (v.24-25)
These that chose to give rather than defend their lives in my mind reached the pinnacle of Christian discipleship. Christ said to “Love your enemies, do good to them that use you and persecute you”. We see here the results of one who chooses to ‘give rather than to take.’ They reversed the cycle of sin where bad is done and bad is repeated. Here bad was done, repented, then bad done to them and good returned, and good repeated. They reversed the cycle by returning good for evil.
So what does this have to do with me? These gifts: that I might repent, that I can be forgiven, and that my guilt can be swept away: Have I received these gifts? Sometimes I think my guilt has been swept away, and then other times I feel like my whole future life must be spent showing that I will never turn again to my sin as a dog returns to his vomit. Some of the sins of my past still cause me discomfort like ruptured relationships or how I was not a good friend in the past. I think I have apologized to them, but received no forgiveness that I know of from them. If this is all that I can do, then I need to let it go. If there is something more I need to do, then I WILL DO IT and be done with it, so that I will know I have done all I can do and stand still to see the salvation of my God.
Some sins like my anger must be worked through slowly because real change is slow and happens from the inside out. This is also true of my pride. Sometimes I feel like some things I need to repent of will take me the rest of my life to change the cycle, but even now I feel as I do this my sins have been put up on a shelf and I have gained a remission of my sins.
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